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.
18 pages of ideas/activities for learning about clouds for KS1 (5-7): Science/geography/Language/Art plus supporting worksheets to record observations and learning. This short unit can be used alongside a project about weather.
See also our
Weather for KS1 Project Pack:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12616669
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
Autumn Nature hunt sheet.
Great to stimulate interest in autumn!
How many things can the children find?
See more Autumn Resources at Lilibette’s shop:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/lilibette
All of our EYFS/Y1 popular autumn PowerPoints in a bundle to help you:
Explain what happens in autumn and why
Why leaves change colour and fall
Where and when mushrooms grow and how they differ from plants with green leaves
Where conkers come from and why
Make autumn come alive and increase your pupil’s understanding of the world around them!
Take EYFS/KS1 children on a journey through autumn, finding out why leaves change colour and fall
Teaches:
Why trees have leaves: to make food so that trees can do their work
How the leaves capture light and air and roots take in water What work trees do - making seeds
Kinds of seeds: nuts and berries
The difference between deciduous and evergreen trees
Why the leaves change colour - changing season and shortening hours of daylight
Are the trees now dead? What happens next?
30 full-colour slides
Animated
No sound - teacher/pupils to read the simple text on each slide
Ideal as a springboard to outdoor learning - get out of the classroom this autumn!
No cartoons, no music, no dumbing down - for we must present learning as serious if it is to be credible and to nurture life-long, thinking, learners.
See our popular Free Leaf Sorting activity
See also our Horse Chestnut Tree Life Cycle Lesson Resources Pack
Find out more at KS1 Nature.
A simple introduction to autumn for EYFS/Y1 children.
Covers:
What is autumn? A season and a time of change
The four seasons
Change in temperature
Change in daylight
Plants get ready for autumn: leaves fall and change colour/make seeds/nuts/berries
Harvest time: fruit/vegetable harvest/ploughing fields and sowing seed
Mushrooms growing
Animals prepare for winter including hibernation
Birds migrate
The presentation ends with the words of the hymn ‘We plough the fields and scatter’, over 2 slides. These can be omitted if the hymn is not considered appropriate.
29 slides
PowerPoint format
Beautiful photos
Animated, but no sound - teacher to read the text
A good way to start a project on autumn, or to consolidate work covered at the end of a project about autumn.
See also:
Seasons: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12761222
Light and Dark: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12761117
[Why Leaves fall PowerPoint ]https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/why-do-leaves-fall-powerpoint-eyfs-ks1-12398686()for EYFS/Y1
[Conkers PowerPoint]https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/conkers-powerpoint-for-eyfs-ks1-12401942() and Conkers Mini Project
Our 20-slide Hedgehog PowerPoint for KS1 Science can help children to learn:
How seasons (in this case autumn) affect different animals, in this case, Hedgehogs.
Y1:
To identify and name Hedgehogs
To know that Hedgehogs are omnivores
Y2:
To identify and name Hedgehogs
About the hedgehogs’ diet and how they obtain food from other animals and plants
Why Hedgehogs hibernate (food and the need for survival)
That Hedgehogs are nocturnal
Full narration notes are provided in either PDF form, or under each slide that you can use in presenter mode.
Once your pupils have learnt about Hedgehogs, why not use our other PowerPoints to help them to compare them with other creatures - all in the local environment - and teach more of the UK National Science Curriculum?
Blackbirds: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12757848
Squirrels: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12742513
Frogs: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12410937
36 worksheets to teach children the meaning of multiplication. Suitable for KS1 National Curriculum work, or for those in later years who are struggling with the concept.
Start by adding the same number lots of times.
Then turn this into ‘lots of’ problems.
Learn how to cross out ‘lots’ of and see the times sum.
Watch the FREE video to reinforce learning. It can also be sent home to help parents support their child at home.
Once multiplication is understood, there are plentiful fun worksheets to help the children learn the 2,5 and 10 times tables facts.
Use as worksheets in class plus suitable as a work book for home-education.
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
25 Weather words flashcards in a clear font, phonetically coded to help young readers.
Use for:
Writing tasks
Science activities (groups weather by season/kind - e.g. heat/cold/wind etc…)
Word Walls
Literacy Centers
Pocket Charts
Dictionary work
Have you seen our Weather Project Pack?
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12616669
And our Clouds Project Pack?
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12056090
And our Clouds Power Point lesson?
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12056140
20 Autumn topic word cards for use however you wish:
display
flashcards
to aid with writing
etc… etc…
Phonetically coded to help early readers.
See our phonetically coded Autumn Word Mat too!
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!
10 birds to colour.
Hand-drawn originals.
Suitable for ages 5 +.
Help children to learn:
to identify different birds,
to appreciate their differing colourings and structures
to sort birds
Ideas for use:
Colouring for early finishers - much Science can be learned from colouring birds, so this would not be a ‘busy’ activity.
Once a bird has been coloured, more could be found out about it. This could lead to research, factual writing, as well as Science work as the bird’s characteristics are studied.
If different children take a different bird, then they can share what they have learned and comparisons can be made.
Not for use as Clip Art.
This 34- page Y1 teaching resource pack, based on Blackbirds, will help children to use the local environment throughout the year to explore and answer questions about animals in their habitat. It can be used to teach both science and English: reading and writing non-fiction.
Contains:
Two lesson outlines (but material for more)
3 differentiated factual reading pages (print A 3 and fold into A4, or print 2x A4)
The story of Blackbirds nesting (4 A4 pages with text and drawings)
1 page mini black and white pictures of the nesting story for ordering/writing about)
2 colouring pages
3 differentiated Blackbird Facts worksheets
4 differentiated reading comprehension sheets (based on the factual reading pages and matched in ability
2 differentiated writing sheets for factual writing
5 Photographs
Helps children to ask questions and find answers, first through observation and then from other sources. Learn about
colour/identification
what Blackbirds eat
where they live,
how they move and
nesting behaviour.
The pack will:
Help you to fully embrace the non-statutory guidance for the Year 1 National Curriculum for Science as well as teaching the statutory requirements.
Bring Science alive and help you to deliver excellent lessons based on squirrels in the local environment.
Use with our 41-slide Blackbird PowerPoint!
Get more hints and tips about teaching your lesson at KS1 Nature:
https://ks1nature.weebly.com/science-lessons/blackbirds-a-complete-lesson-for-ks1
Designed to appeal to the Y1 child, gently introducing key vocabulary.
Written by an Environmental Education, Early Years specialist (ages 3 to 8) who understands how children learn.
Year 1: Science curriculum covered:
• identify and name a variety of common animals, including birds.
• describe and compare the structure of a variety of common animals (including birds).
Identify and name a variety of common animals that are …omnivores.
Once the Blackbird has been studied you can compare it to other birds, or even other animals in the local environment.
See our Squirrel Resources fro Y1 here:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12742537
Brought to you by KS1 Nature: Helping teachers teach science, naturally, through the local environment.
These phonic-linked, letter formation sheets for EYFS/special needs children have been developed to accompany the learning of the initial sounds, to help the child who does not yet have the ability to write unaided begin to become familiar with letter shapes and correct letter formation.
The letters fade as the child progresses along the line, helping him/her to feel as if s/he is writing unaided.
The physical act of writing letters while learning initial sounds is important because the movement of the hand to write, alongside seeing the letters and saying their sounds helps to make the learning process multi-sensory, which in turn ensures that more children, including those with special needs, become successful readers and writers.
The sheets are placed in alphabetical order, but can be used in any order, according to the phonic scheme you are using.
Do ensure that the child has plenty of free drawing practice alongside the use of these sheets so that the child develops sufficient pencil control to move on to independent writing.
Tes paid licence
A factual easy reader all about water for those just beginning to take off in reading independently. Satisfying children’s thirst for knowledge with beautiful photos and clear factual information. Presented simply with clear text and a large font.
Ideal for use when studying a topic on weather/water cycle.
Where does water come from?
Different forms of water
What does water do?
How do we use water?
Use for guided reading sessions or for reading comprehension work.
Suitable for upper KS1 and early KS2 and reluctant/struggling readers.
Here is a chaffinch to oclour.
Learn about birds for KS1.
Develop art skills and learn bird ID all in one - combining science and art!
Great for home or school use.
Copy the picture as carefully as you can, with pens, pencils or paint!
Learn more about Chaffinches at:
https://ks1nature.weebly.com/tipsideasfreebies/the-chaffinch-for-ks1
And download our free phonics reading book:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ks1-reading-book-free-download-the-chaffinch-12284513
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/)
‘Air’ satisfies children’s thirst for knowledge with beautiful photos and clear factual information. Presented simply with clear text and a large font.
Ideal for use when studying a topic on weather.
Headings include:
What is air?
Why do we need air?
Other uses of air
The second book in a series of factual readers for those just beginning to take off in reading independently. See the others:
Clouds
Water
Frogs
Suitable for individual or guided reading activities.
Suitable for upper KS1, lower KS2 and struggling/reluctant readers of any age.