Here is a simple A4 poster to help kiddies understand the different rules when changing nouns from singular form to plural form. There are obviously always exceptions to every rule, however these rules apply in most cases.

Click below to download.
plural_rules_poster.pdf
File Size: 203 kb
File Type: pdf
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A simple set of phonics flash cards for each letter or the alphabet. I have put these up on the wall in my "classroom" so that the girls can constantly look at them and remember these without even really trying.

Alphabet Phonic Flash Cards
File Size: 505 kb
File Type: pdf
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I found these fantastic letter mazes on the www.education.com website. It makes your kids follow a path of make up of both upper case and lower case letters to get from one end of the maze to the other. 

This really helps with repetitive letter recognition.

I printed each page back to back (ie. A and B on one sheet of paper) and then laminated each page so that the girls can use them over and over again.

This is one of the things Jellybean is always begging to do.

To download these mazes free  from A - Z click here.

 
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Jellybean has suddenly started understanding that 2 letters together blend into one sound and she is now rapidly building words. She now also understands that every word must have a vowel after I explained that each word must have a yellow letter in it. This has helped make reading difficult words easier as she is learning that words can get broken down into sounds. 

I saw this on the net somewhere (if I remember where or I can find it again, I will post the link) but the one I saw was made up of post-it's. With the rate at which my girls manage to destroy things, Post-It's would never have lasted longer than 5 minutes, so I decided to make something a wee bit more sturdy.

To make this workbook, I used an orange file folder, self adhesive plastic, templates (laminated), self adhesive velcro strips and double sided tape.

I covered the orange file folder with the self adhesive plastic on both sides to make it sturdier and hopefully last longer. I then laminated the template pages and stuck to the folder with the double sided tape (not the thick puffy tape). I laminated the colour letters and cut each one out to fit onto the template. I then used the self adhesive velcro to attach each letter to the template so that they can be easily removed and placed back. In the "Make a Word" section, I placed a long strip of velcro so that the letters can be moved to build words.

Herewith template:

Make a Word Template
File Size: 11 kb
File Type: pdf
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Here is another great way to help your kids remember the letters of the alphabet. I printed out each letter (template below with 2 letters per page) and pasted it onto a coloured board 1cm thinner than an A5 size. Reason for this is so that i could laminate 2 letters per A4 page and still have a gap in the middle to cut them apart. I used 5 different coloured board and have 5 different coloured packets of buttons to correspond with the colours of the board.
  
The girls get to use the corresponding coloured buttons to "write" each letter. This helps them to remember its shape. We then spend time going over the sound that each letter makes and they need to think of at least 3 words that start with the letter they are working on.

Alphabet Button Cards Template
File Size: 14 kb
File Type: pdf
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Now that Jellybean is starting to read with phonics, I have noticed she is still battling with all her sight words and needs my help with reading those. I looked for a fun way to help her with learning sight words and came across a Sight Word Bingo here. I decided to re-type all of the boards as I had trouble downloading a few and also, with none of the boards being numbered or grouped, I wasn't sure how I would recognise which boards were which, so I made my own with titles.

I now have the list of words with me and get to call them out randomly depending on which set we are playing with. I like the fact that there are 6 boards per set as this ensures that she doesn't simply remember the place of each word, but instead had to remember the word itself. I have a set of 20 rather big buttons which I have used for markers, otherwise to make the game a bit more fun, we use sweets which she can eat after she wins!

I laminated each board so that it would be more durable and last for longer and have stored each board along with the markers in its own little box so as to keep everything together.

Herewith the downloads for the Sight Word Bingo Game in PDF format.

Sight Word Bingo Boards
File Size: 35 kb
File Type: pdf
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Sight Word Bingo Word List
File Size: 171 kb
File Type: pdf
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I decided to take on a different approach to teaching Genevieve her letters and the phonetic sound they all make.  Instead of the old fashion flash card, or making her write the letter over and over again until she remembers it, I gave her a ball of playdough (after making 8 colourful balls) and asked her build each of her letters with playdough. 

She decided on her own to build both the upper and lower case letter. It was amazing to see how quickly she grasped the ones that she was a little uncertain of. I have tried so many times before with flash cards, yet the information seems to go in one ear and out the rest. 

Not only did she get to learn the shape of the letter and the sound it makes. She had fun playing with the dough and developed fine motor skills too.  

Here is the perfect playdough recipe for you to try at home:

1 cup cake flour
1 cup warm water
¼ cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon oil
food colouring of your choice
food essence of your choice (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together in a pot and place on the stove on high heat. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon scraping from the bottom and the sides until dough forms. Remove the ball from the pot and immediately knead the dough until smooth. Leave to cool and place in a plastic bag to keep from drying. Dough can be kept for as long as it is soft (mine has kept for over a year in the past). It is also non-toxic so no need to worry if they eat it.

I use essence in my dough to give each dough a unique smell ie. orange essence in the orange dough, lemon in the yellow, peppermint in the green, almond in the white, etc. This just adds to the sensory experience.