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.
Read Match and Spell is an activity to help children to read (sound out), find a matching picture and then spell CVC words with a short vowel sound using magnetic letters.
Great for Literacy centers, or for group/individual work
Great for EYFS/Early Intervention/Special Needs
You can use this Read, Match and Spell activity as a worksheet and let the child copy the word + picture and write the letters in the boxes, but I prefer to use the picture and word cards. This makes the activity more fun and stress-free.
Included are 6 words and pictures for each short vowel sound.
Print as many baseboards as you require.
Start by limiting the child to words and pictures from one vowel sound, and as confidence grows, extend the choice to other vowel sounds. You can target the ones the child needs the most practice with.
I made it for a pupil who lacks confidence: by having the word already in front of him he felt safe to sound the word out to spell it. The activity acted as a bridge to him being able to spell CVC words by himself. In addition, the picture served as a reward for having correctly sounded out the word.
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Encourage children to write about winter with our phonetically coded Winter Word mat. Use for display or as a poster, or as desired - it has been used in many ways!
See our spring and [autumn]https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12176861() word mats too!
This ck reading book is a sample of my graded, systematic, phonic reading books with nearly 100% decodable words for the sounds:
ck,oo, ee, sh, ch, th, ng, ing, ar and or.
Suitable for use with any phonic programme, including Letters and sounds Phase 2 and RWI Speed Sets 1+ 2, once a child cna blends words with a short vowel sound, including those with consonant blends.
You can find the complete Red Level Set 1 books in a package with the simple lesson notes and all you need to help your child learn to read, including the necessary flashcards and phonic word lists here, saving you time and effort:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12863669
Special Features of these graded phonic reading books:
As each new phonic sound is introduced, words from that phonic family are practiced and words met in previous readers revised, while new words from phonic sound families already taught are gradually introduced.
Because of this highly structured nature they are suitable for all children to enable good progress , but particularly for those who are struggling to learn to read.
The books should be read in sound order as above.
They only use the sight words: he, we, me, be, she, so, give, have, says. they, are
The pictures are minimal and do not encourage guessing so that meaning has to be gleaned from the text.
Each book tells a simple story with humour where possible
They have been tried on tested on many children now, including some with profound difficulties.
Matching workbooks consolidate and revise learning.
Vocabulary repeats so aiding reading fluency and building security and confidence.
They are based on the latest research and evidence based methods.
If your child is struggling to learn to read for whatever reason, these books can help.
Who are the graded phonic reading books for?
These books can be used older struggling readers with dyslexia, or any with a processing difficulty of any kind.
Teaching reading
Reading intervention
They were written for Reading MadeSimple but can be used with Letters and Sounds Phases 3 and 4, and RWI Speed Set 2.
You can help a struggling reader today!
A colourful chart to show the sounds of Levels 1 and 2 of Reading Made Simple - a 100% FREE phonic reading and spelling prgramme that works where others have failed.
Use as handy prompt, to help the pupil find the correct digraph when spelling
Use to practice saying the sounds made by each group of letters
Laminate and use as a place mat, or pin it up as a poster!
Learners will enjoy tracking their progress each week and testing themselves!
Reading Made Simple: https://readingmadesimple.weebly.com/
Find the FREE word lists to accompany the Level 1 teaching programme here:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12889313
Here is a pack of flashcards to help in the teaching of phonics. Start by teaching the initial sounds, then practice the five vowels especially as you start to build CVC/CCVC/CVCC words with a short vowel, then introduce the most common digraphs:
ck, oo, ee sh, ch, th ng, or, ar, a-e, i-e, o-e, u-e, ai,ea, oa, igh, ir, ay, ou, aw, oi, ur, al, er, y, ow, ew and oy.
More more help in using them see:
https://readingmadesimple.weebly.com/level-1-teaching-notes.html
See also the Reading Made Simple digraphs reading books: fully systematic, containing words that can be sounded using previously taught digraphs and only introducing key, non-phonic vocabulary slowly. These books restore confidence to readers who have failed with other reading programmes.
https://readingmadesimple.weebly.com/level-1-reading-books.html
Here are three simple activities to help a child to learn to blend (updated from advert).
I wrote them for an 8 yr old child whom I tutor. He has a smattering of phonic knowledge, but having not learned to blend properly is now guessing and unable to read fluently. This is a common problem, but it must not be allowed to persist or the child will not learn to read fluently, or will take a very long time to do so.
These activities are listening activities. This is a deliberate act to limit the amount of exposure a child has to seeing CVC words, before working on blending with him/her, and so further limiting the possibility that a child will memorise the words before having learned to blend.
By all means use ‘robot’ talk as you do these activities with your child.
Before doing these activities with your child:
Do ensure that a child can give the correctly pronounced sounds on sight of the letters of the alphabet.
Remove any distractions/background noise.
Have the child’s full attention.
Full instructions and black and white pictures provided.
This game will help children to hear the sounds ‘sh’ and ‘ch’ in words. The child is not expected to read the words, just to listen for the sounds.
Some children, especially those with a speech delay, have difficulty differentiating between ‘sh’ and ‘ch’. This game will help to focus the pupil’s attention on the difference between them.
Games can be very effective when helping such children to progress to the next step, taking the fear of failing away and making it alright to make mistakes. They are wonderful for already de-motivated learners.
Four phonics lessons for Phase 3 Set 3 Letters and Sounds:ch,sh,th and ng. suitable for all abilities, but especially helpful for special needs/catch-up work.
Video or Power Point to give more control over the speed of the lesson.
Produced by a teacher with over 30 years experience of teaching phonics to special needs children.
Great to help parents support the learning of their child at home.
Shows parents what to do and what is needed to help their child succeed as well as instructing the child.
Totally phonetic
No guessing!
REAL READING!
These lessons are intended to be watched with a teacher/parent/guardian.
A bright, 26 slide PowerPoint/video to help children to learn the initial sounds.
One slide per lesson.
Can the children find the objects that start with the given sound?
Can they find the odd ones out (there are two on each slide that do not begin with the given sound).
What sound do these begin with? (They will be sounds already learned, except for ‘Aa’.)
Good for revision and to help those having trouble hearing initial sounds.
Great for home learning.
Pause the video/Power Point as necessary to give your child time to answer.
A Power Point lesson to introduce the digraph ‘ee’ to children, especially suitable for those who have special needs or need a slower pace. This is one of a series.
This is a taught lesson. The Power Point allows for control over the speed, but the video is for those who cannot use PowerPoint.
Just like having your own phonics teacher.
Written by a teacher with over 30 years experience of teaching phonics to all abilities.
Can either be used by the child, with support from an adult, as well as to give the parent a feel for what is necessary - i.e. for training purposes.
A Power Point or video lesson to introduce the consonant digraph ‘ch’ to children, especially suitable for those who have special needs or need a slower pace. This is one of a series.
This is a taught lesson. Stop the video if you need more time on a slide. The Power Point allows for more control over the speed.
For supporting flashcards/worksheets/reading book and game see:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/complete-ch-sh-lesson-for-special-needs-home-learning-12462988
Just like having your own phonics teacher.
Written by a teacher with over 30 years experience of teaching phonics to all abilities.
Can either be used by the child, with support from an adult, as well as to give the parent a feel for what is necessary - i.e. for training purposes.
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
An easy phonic reader about spring flowers 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 garden flowers through a simple story. Learn Science at the same time!
See more at [KS1 Nature]https://ks1nature.weebly.com/)
A Power point or video lesson to introduce young children to the concept of blending, starting with words in the ‘a’ family.
Simple, to the point and short.
Stop the video if you need more time on a slide.
This is a taught lesson, but the Power Point allows the teacher to have more control over the speed.
Like having your own phonics teacher!
By a teacher with over 30 years experience of teaching phonics.
Can either be used by the child, with support from an adult, as well as to give the parent a feel for what is necessary - i.e. for training purposes.
A Power Point or video lesson to introduce the consonant digraph ‘sh’ to children, especially suitable for those who have special needs or a slower pace, but fine for all abilities.
This is one of a series of videos.
This is a taught lesson. Stop the video if you need more time on a slide. The Power Point allows for more control over the speed.
For supporting flashcards/worksheets/reading book and game see:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/complete-ch-sh-lesson-for-special-needs-home-learning-12462988
Just like having your own phonics teacher.
Written by a teacher with over 30 years experience of teaching phonics.
Can either be used by the child, with support from an adult, as well as to give the parent a feel for what is necessary - i.e. for training purposes.
Reading Made Simple: helping parents to teach their child to read.
A Power Point or video lesson to introduce the digraph ‘ck’ to children, especially suitable for those who have special needs or need a slower pace. This is one of a series.
This is a taught lesson. Stop the video if you need more time on a slide. The Power Point allows for more control over the speed.
Find flashcards, worksheets, reading book and game here:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/complete-ck-lesson-for-phase-2-letters-and-sounds-home-learning-12457905
Just like having your own phonics teacher.
Written by a teacher with over 30 years experience of teaching phonics to all abilities.
Can either be used by the child, with support from an adult, as well as to give the parent a feel for what is necessary - i.e. for training purposes.
A simple phonic board game to practice reading words containing the phonic sounds: ck,oo,ee and sh.
As your pupil has fun, his/her confidence will get a boost!
Use with any phonic programme provided the above sounds have been taught.
Great for any pupil, but especially those with a special need.
*Written especially for use with Reading Made Simple, a 100% FREE reading and spelling programme of systematic phonics, for use by home-educators, parents and schools. So systematic it works even for those who have failed with other programmes.
Here are 12, FREE to download, phonic reading books to support the blending of CCVC words with a short vowel sound, for the very earliest stages of learning to read with phonics.
Suitable for use with all phonic programmes.
The focus is purely on sounding out with only the key words
** I, and go, to**
being gradually introduced.
Pictures are minimal to encourage the child to gain meaning from the text and not to guess.
Phonic words are introduced and then met again in subsequent readers, to help develop confidence and fluency.
The stories are based around farmer Tom with his animals, his wife, his son Sam and daughter, Pam, dog Jiff and the cat.
Highly suitable for special needs children who have failed with other programmes.
Many parents have told me they wished they had found these books sooner, or had found them at all, as they would have been ideal for their struggling reader.
They have been thoroughly tested by my current pupils all of whom are boys. Even my nine-year old boy pupil loves them. He is just so glad to be able to read.
For more help see READING MADE SIMPLE, the 100% FREE, systematic, synthetic phonic reading and/or spelling programme.
How to teach phonics effectively is a resource to help schools improve their delivery of phonics, through which ever programme they choose.
The author has 30 years experience of teaching phonics, both in a main stream school, where she had responsibility for the teaching of phonics throughout the whole school and with individual, special needs children.
She draws on her experience of helping both parents and teachers to use phonics to best effect.
20 spring vocabulary cards, all phonetically coded.
Use for:
display
Word walls
Language development
Reading and spelling phonic work
Make picture dictionaries to go with your topic work
Use them in pocket charts - children just love these!
Science work and much more…
Use your imagination!