Raising standards in KS1 and Special Needs: helping every child to succeed.
I have taught systematic phonics to all ages and abilities for over 30 years. My teaching degree was in Environmental Studies and I hate to see science reduced to box-ticking when there is so much to discover about the wonderful world we live in.
So, I produce Phonic resources that meet the real needs of children and teachers, along with science resources to engage children in learning about the natural world.
Raising standards in KS1 and Special Needs: helping every child to succeed.
I have taught systematic phonics to all ages and abilities for over 30 years. My teaching degree was in Environmental Studies and I hate to see science reduced to box-ticking when there is so much to discover about the wonderful world we live in.
So, I produce Phonic resources that meet the real needs of children and teachers, along with science resources to engage children in learning about the natural world.
A bumper pack of 75 differentiated Initial sounds phonics worksheets for Phases 2 and 3 of Letters and Sounds but can be used with any phonic programme.
Suitable for all abilities + SEND
This pack contains at least two sheets for each letter of the alphabet:
One worksheet for children learning to write the letters as they learn the initial sounds
One worksheet for children who can already write the letters to practice giving the correct initial letter.
PLUS…
General worksheets, for practicing mixed sounds.
The sheets, which although arranged for ease of reference alphabetically, have been written to support ‘Letters and Sounds’ (UK) in the progression of sounds.
Therefore, they can be used in the Letters and Sounds order ‘s,a,t,i,p etc…’ but they can also be used if teaching the sounds in order of the alphabet.
Hints on the best use of the sheets is provided.
The sheets can be enlarged for guided literacy sessions/whole class work
Use for homework/ESL/EFL etc…
See our initial sounds games here.
This pack of 32 FUN CK Worksheets will help every pupil in your class successfully read and spell words ending in CK. These sheets take the pupil from hearing the new sounds in words (developing phonemic awareness) to reading and spelling CK ending words.
ESL/EFL/Special needs: The simple design of these CK worksheets ensures they are accessible to all students. From sound-it-out-boxes to aid early readers to engaging no-prep games to reinforce learning there is plenty here for all your class.
Fully differentiated: cater for the less able while stretching the more able - you won’t have any unchallenged children in your CK lesson. choose the worksheets that are right for each child.
Most worksheets are provided at 2 levels: one without a consonant blend and one with.
The worksheets assume no knowledge of other digraphs.
They can be used with any good, systematic programme of phonic instruction including all popular programmes, such as Read, Write Inc, Letters and Sounds and Jolly Phonics.
Multiple activities to keep pupils engaged while providing ample practice.
Please see the preview to see the complete set.
Suitable for:
Classwork
homework to practice work given in class
Intervention
In two books, 140 differentiated worksheets. 70 for teaching initial sounds,and a further 70 to take the child on to blend and segment cvc and consonant blend words with a short vowel sound.
For stages 2 and 3 of Letters and Sounds, or Set 1 or RWI (excluding ‘Special Friends’)
These sheets provide plenty of practice of vital early reading and spelling skills and can also be used for assessment purposes to help the vigilant teacher to plan the next step forward.
These sheets are simple and yet they work! Created to meet the needs of children in the average classroom.
All beautifully illustrated by Vera Conway.
Preview here:
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A6e21d937-a35d-440e-ba0c-3ed5ad9a1bdb
and
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A5027d2de-1ad5-49d9-a9c2-2d15cff37d8a
Follow the life cycle of the Horse Chestnut tree through the seasons with this bright, engaging PowerPoint, starting with conkers.
Suitable for use all year, but especially in autumn when conkers are so appealing to children.
45 full-colour slides with easy-read text.
Teacher can control the speed of the slides to allow time for the reading of the text and discussion
Use as a stimulus for further study (see our Lesson Resource Pack for lesson ideas, worksheets and display pictures:
Stimulate the asking and answering of questions:
Where do conkers come from. What are conkers?
Take your learning to a new dimension by exploring the natural world out of doors with your pupils this autumn.
Bring learning to life!
Covers much of the National Curriculum for Science for Years 1 and 2.
Our Autumn Leaves and Horse Chestnut Life Cycle PowerPoints will help you take EYFS/KS1 children on an exciting journey to discover why leaves fall and change colour and where conkers come from and why.
Full colour and some animation in the Autumn Leaves PowerPoint.
Six phonics games to help children learn initial sounds for use with Read Write Inc Learning Set 1 sounds or any phonic programme. You may think up others of your own using the materials given.
It contains games:
to help with ordering the alphabet,
learning initial sounds,
helping children with b/d confusion and
learning the vowel sounds.
Matching objects to letters
Easy to make and play!
These games are very versatile: they can be enlarged for whole class/small group use, or used by parents/classroom assistants on a one-to-one basis, or with a pair of children. They could even be sent home in book bags for the child to play with a parent, reinforcing classroom work.
They provide the teacher with ample assessment while working with the children.
The games are already coloured in. Just print, cut and play! All you need is in the pack. Full instructions provided and tips on how to help your child/ren.
These games work well with my Initial Sounds Worksheets - 70 differentiated phonic worksheets for all ages.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-11998343
Six phonic simple games to help children learn to blend and segment cvc words.
Suitable for use with Read, Write Inc. Learning to blend with set 1 sounds.
These games work wonderfully to help disillusioned readers succeed, but great for helping all children Pre K to 2nd grade and older special needs pupils.
These games have all been written by a special needs teacher, who knows exactly where children get stuck and what is needed to help them progress. The children will not know they are learning!
Make Phonics learning fun and help it to stick!
Perfect for teaching assistants, to send home in book bags and for the home-school.
Supplied in pdf format, all ready coloured in. Just print and play! These games are very simple, but effective. All you need is in the pack. Full instructions provided and tips on how to help your child/ren. Laminating them will help them to last longer, but iw not necessary.
Contents:
Short vowel games: ‘a’, ‘e’/‘i’ and ‘o’/‘u’ (three games) - reading games
All vowels Game - a reading game
Missing Vowel Game - a spelling game
Final sound Game - a spelling game
See how a frog grows with our 18-slide, Frog Life-cycle PowerPoint.
Beautiful, original photos/drawings.
See the frog develop from the eggs, through tadpole, froglet to the adult frog.
Full suggested narration notes provided both in PDF form and under each slide for use in presentation mode.
For Year 1 pupils, why not use our Frog Life-cycle activity pack to follow up?
See our other life-cycle Lesson resources and Powerpoints:
Life-cycle of a Horse Chestnut Tree
Apples
Daffodils
Apples
Butterflies
31 ‘ng’ fully differentiated worksheets, for use with any phonic programme, catering for the needs of the average class and special needs.
Written for those at the early stages of phonics, e.g.: Letters and Sounds Phase 3 and Read Write Inc, Set 1 Special Friends and for catch up work, extra practice, ESL/EFL and special needs.
The worksheets give practice in:
Reading and spelling ‘ng’ words
Tracking the ‘ng’ sound in words and sentences
Proofreading
Comprehension
rhymes
Writing sentences using ‘ng’ words.
These worksheets are simple, but effective. For use by teachers and private tutors.
Find activities suitable for all abilities
Assume no knowledge of other digraphs (except on two stated worksheets where ‘th’ and ‘ck’ are used in higher level worksheets)
Two worksheets for most activities: one without consonant blend words, and one with consonant blend words.
Suitable for Special Needs/intervention work/homework.
Watch and learn the seasonal changes in an Apple Tree that lead to the formation of apples.
32 slide PowerPoint. Helps children to learn
The life cycle of an apple tree through winter, spring, summer and autumn with beautiful pictures. Watch leaves unfolding day by day and then see the blossom appear.
How apples grow on trees: watch the development of apples from the swelling at the base of the flower, through to ripe, juicy apples.
Learn the parts of an apple tree: leaves, buds, sepals, fruit, seeds, blossom, flowers,
Learn simply about pollination and the concept of seed dispersal
Great in Y1 to teach changes through the seasons.
Great in Y2 to
Help pupils to use the local environment throughout the year to observe how different plants grow. (Plants: Notes and guidance (non-statutory))
Begin to introduce the idea of food chains and how animals and plants in a habitat depend upon each other ( insects pollinating the flowers and animals eating the fruit and helping to disperse the seeds, seeds). These are not discussed in depth, but the PowerPoint could be used as a springboard to further explore these subjects.
This powerpoint is provided in two formats, narrated and un-narrated with narration notes supplied in PDF form as well as being written under each slide so that you can use presenter mode.
Suitable for use in either autumn or spring.
See our other life-cycle Lesson resources and Powerpoints:
Life-cycle of a Horse Chestnut Tree
Apples
Frogs
Daffodils
Butterflies
All you need to teach an amazing lesson about the life-cycle of a butterfly:
Lesson notes to make you feel like an expert, and guidance on how to teach the lesson
Supporting Science and language activities with worksheets, differentiated where necessary
Display pack with
Headers to arrange into a bright life-cycle display
4 original photos
Butterfly life-cycle word mat with multiple uses
Life-cycle matching cards for display or to make a game of ordering.
A bumper pack of 70 differentiated phonics worksheets to support the teaching and learning of blending and segmenting cvc and consonant blends words with a short vowel sound (not including special friends sh/th/ch/qu/ng/nk and ck).
Suitable for use with Jolly Phonics and Read, Write, Inc. Blending Level 1 sounds and any other good phonic programme, including Reading Made Simple.
Also suitable for use with Letters and Sounds
Note - this pack is for use during Phases 2 and 3 once the initial sounds have been learned. It also teaches Phase 4 consonant blends with words with a short vowel sound. It does not include the digraphs from Phase 3. These can be found here.
Here are worksheets to give plentiful blending and segmenting practice for all abilities. Written to meet the needs of the average class, with a range of differentiated worksheets from which you are sure to find one to meet the needs of every pupil.
Some children breeze through this stage quickly and you will find material to challenge them and to assess their readiness to move on. Others need much more reinforcement work and you will find here plenty of that too - a bountiful supply!
Some sheets focus on blending, others on segmenting and some on both. Other sheets encourage the child to see letter patterns and similarities between words including a focus on rhyming.
Hints on the best use of the sheets are provided - not least how to use them as an assessment tool. Suitable for use with SEND pupils and for reading catchup.
The sheets can be enlarged for guided literacy sessions/whole class work.
Find my decode-able FREE to download CVC Words reading books here.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12636791
Have you seen ‘Sound-it-out’ Pack of CVC Games, and the ‘Sound-it-out’ Pack of CVCC Games’ which complement these worksheets making a good fun way of reinforcing learning? They are ideal for sending home for extra practice after a lesson, or for use by classroom assistants.
Also Sound-it-out Initial Sounds Worksheets for those children not yet ready for blending.
A fun interactive bird-counting rhyme in interactive Power Point form, to learn numbers and 1:1 correspondence:
One little bird in the sky so blue, along came another and that made two etc…
Click to reveal numbers, and add one more and count again.
I enjoyed making this Power Point for a speech delayed 8yr old child who is having trouble grasping 1:1 correspondence and I am working with him to help him to understand the worth of ‘1’ and the effect of adding ‘1 more’. There is no sound (other than chimes on the practice slides), allowing the teacher/parent to give the child as much time as needed to respond. Full narration is given.
It can of course be used by others of younger and older ages - but it has a more grown up feel than that provided by early counting rhymes.
I hope it will be helpful to others.
A simple nature diary in which very young children can record their natural observations, with a helpful easy reading sheet to encourage young children to start observing and recording.
Encourage youngsters to get close to nature and start a lifetime of learning.
This diary keeps writing to the bare minimum, so that young children do not lose interest due to overkill while providing a means of building up an invaluable record of their discoveries.
This 40 page diary contains 31 pages for recording observations - one for every day of a month, and three pages for extra notes and sketches at the end.
See: https://ks1nature.weebly.com/free-science-lessons/keeping-a-nature-diary-for-ks1
Lilibette’s Resources: Making learning simple.
A simple 23-slide PowerPoint to introduce Y1 children to the world of mushrooms.
Where and when they grow
What they do - decomposers
The parts of a mushroom
Compare them to plants with green parts:
How do they feed?
Do they have seeds?
An activity to see the spores
Learn the names of different kinds:
Bracket mushrooms
Puffballs
This PowerPoint is silent for teacher narration. this allow greater interaction withe the pupils according to their level of understanding. Full narration notes are provided in both PDF form and in Presenter View, the text under each slide can easily be read by the teacher with time for discussion of each point made.
Help your class engage meaningfully in the study of science today!
See lesson notes to help you plan a lesson at:
https://ks1nature.weebly.com/free-science-lessons/mushrooms-for-ks1
A simple but effective spelling programme for Phase 5 of Letters and Sounds teaching the new graphemes.
Help children become good spellers, and help struggling readers and spellers make progress.
Take one sound a week, study the word list and practice the new sound and the following week do a dictation for that sound. It is that SIMPLE!
Just a few minutes a day for 16 weeks!
This programme works because:
Each sound is studied for a whole week. This gives time for the new knowledge to be assimilated - time that the middle to lower ability groups desperately need to succeed and for whom most programmes go way too fast.
The child is NEVER asked to spell a word that has not yet been systematically taught. This develops confidence and works for ALL children regardless of ability. The programme is** truly systematic**.
Each dictation builds on the one before and is carefully worked out to revise the sounds.
There is no SPELLING TEST that the child can fail - the dictation is the test, while also teaching children to apply their new knowledge. The child finds his/her own errors and corrects them by using phonics. It WORKS!
Can be used with a whole class (where appropriate) or groups, or even individually by special needs teachers or TA’s.
Note: Progress is dependent on the quality of teaching.
Please ensure children can spell confidently words with the Phase 4 sounds before starting this programme.
Worksheets to go with this programme can be found here:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/phonic-worksheets-for-phase-5-of-letters-and-sounds-12456406
A bumper pack of 50 pages of differentiated Weather ideas for Y1 and y2, to aid project planning plus helpful differentiated worksheets and puzzles to make learning fun.
Teaches the Weather element of the Science and Geography UK National Curriculum, but can be used with any curriculum.
Tried and tested in KS1 classrooms
All the resources you need in one place for a super project on Weather!
Covers:
General weather activities
Rain
Wind
The sun
Ice and Snow
Cross-curricular activities
Weather and plants and animals activities
See also our Cloud project that will go well with this Weather Pack.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12056090
Our Cloud Power Point presentation:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/clouds-powerpoint-presentation-for-y2-3-12056140
And our Weather related FREE Easy Readers:
Clouds: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12263077
Water (including the water cycle): https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12263066
36 pages of fun consonant blend activities arranged in 2 little workbooks to accompany our Consonant Blends reading books.
The first book covers mainly initial blends while the second book mainly covers final blends. Common CCVC words with a short vowel sound are introduced.
Each booklet 18 pages long (A5 size prints as a booklet).
Suitable also for special needs pupils.
Suitable for use at home/for home-education.
They can be used alone or with our Consonant Blend Reading Books:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12645240
These books give extra reading and writing practice, using the vocabulary introduced in the reading books, building confidence.
These books are compatible with Letters and Sounds, Jolly Phonics and Read, Write Inc, but were written for Reading Made Simple.
An phonetic easy reader aout Owls for those beginning to read longer simple texts - with words that can be sounded out using phonic knowledge and only a few most common sight words.
Learn about Owls through a simple story. Learn Science at the same time!
See more at([ KS1 Nature]https://ks1nature.weebly.com/)
This is a listening game to help the child to hear the ‘oo’ sound in words, as different to the ‘o’ sound as some children have difficulty hearing the new ‘oo’ sound.
One of my pupils has a speech delay. When I introduced him to ‘oo’, he tried to sound out the words saying ‘o’ instead of ‘oo’. It was as if ‘oo’ was a foreign sound to him. So, I devised this game to help him to hear the ‘oo’ sound in words he uses frequently in speech. After playing it a few times he is now happily sounding out to read and spell words with the ‘oo’ sound.
This game uses only the ‘oo’ sound as heard in ‘moon’.
For more help teaching phonics, see my FREE Phonic reading and Spelling programme, Reading Made Simple. https://readingmadesimple.weebly.com/level-1---oo.html