Free Roll Say Keep Printable

January 22, 2016January 22, 20164 Comments

I decided to “funk up” a very, very old favourite resource of mine: “Roll, Say, Keep”. “Roll Say Keep” is just one of those incredibly useful and versatile resources. All you need to play is a dice, relevant flashcards and a “Roll Say Keep” template per child.

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How to use “Roll Say Keep” in your classroom or home:

High Frequency word practice

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Phonics practice:

Here we were practicing phonemes and digraphs

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Here we were practicing “ee/ea” sounds

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Maths Facts:

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The list of uses for “Roll Say Keep” is pretty much endless!!!! My Differentiated Instruction Cubes are making another appearance in this blog post. They are one of my top 5 favourite teacher resources of all time. I swear that I’d be lost without them!!! You can purchase them here.

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I have inserted 5 Frame images in this instance to encourage “subitising” of number as well as literacy practice. Double whammy. Love it!!!

How to play:

Roll the dice and find the corresponding flashcards e.g Roll a 6 and you must read/answer the card in the number 6 dice box. If you can read/answer it you keep it.The card is removed from the gameboard and another placed in that box. The winner is the first to correctly win “X” number of flashcards. If the word/answer if unknown remove it from the board too and set aside for practice either/instruction.

You can download my free ‘Roll Say Keep’ template by clicking here: roll say keep.

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Frozen Themed Phonics Game

January 2, 20162 Comments

With “back to school” around the corner I figured that you might be in the market for a fun phonics game! By using “Frozen” as my theme it is still “Winter-themed” but with no reference to Santa!!! My Frozen themed phonics game is designed for your pupils to revise or explore “ai words”.

Frozen is very simple to make and to set up. You simply need a large bag of cotton wool balls /snowballs and to laminate the “ai” words sheets provided. Cut out the snowballs and toss them into a container. My pupils really loved “digging in the snow” to find the “ai” words. My Frozen themed phonics game would be a great addition to your Literacy Lift Off stations.

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The “winner” gets to take home a lovely certificate : Screen Shot 2016-01-02 at 14.47.18

Detailed instructions on how to play my Frozen themed phonics game are included in the download. Enjoy!!!

Click here to download my Frozen ai game.

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

The Gingerbread Man Dolch Pre-Primer Game

December 14, 2014December 5, 20151 Comment

Today’s post was heavily requested following the photos I uploaded to Facebook last week. It was a big hit with my kiddos so it should go down well with yours too 😉

I am always trying to create fun ways of learning/practicing Dolch Words. I will be teaching my class to read the Pre-Primer List:

Click here to download the above sheet from mrsperkins.com

I created the Gingerbread Man game as we were reading it for our story that week. I try to theme teach where possible. I found some fabulous glittery pipe cleaners in the art section of Tesco. The red ones were just perfect for a mouth, after I cut each pipe cleaners into thirds. I also used buttons and mini pop-poms from Mr. Price to allow them to “build” their gingerbread man. I slipped 5 words and fox into my Carson-Dellosa Differentiated Instruction Cubes. Regular followers will be acquainted with my long running obsession with my Carson-Dellosa Differentiated Instruction Cubes! Once they had coloured in their Gingerbread Man, we were all set to play!

They just roll the dice and read the word The first person to complete his/her Gingerbread Man shouts “Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!”. Rolling a fox is effectively “miss a turn” and the game rotates back the following direction. You should hear the groans and moans when the game swaps direction around the circle!!!

I create the Dolch Pre-Primer words and the Fox to exactly fit my Carson-Dellosa Differentiated Instruction Cubes. You could print multiple copies of the words, place them face down and have pupils draw a card to play. I would highly recommend purchasing the cubes if you are a classroom teacher!

Here are some photos of the game being played last week I particularly like to one with the sad face. Clever, no?!

Click here to download the Gingerbread Man sheet (available as colour and B&W)

Click here to download the game cards for your Differentiated Instruction Cube:

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Oral Language Resources that I use and love

January 13, 2014Leave a comment

I have had some questions about the Oral Language Schemes that I use so I thought that I would put together a small post about it. I just love, love, love getting comments and questions from you all. It is great to be able to blog about things that you are interested in and have questions about so keep them coming!

Here are the 4 Oral Language resources that I use and love, especially the last two!!:

Chatterbox 1, EDCO
Now You’re Talking, CJ Fallons
Talking Tables Chatter Box Kids Trivia, Talking Tables
Prim-Ed Listening Comprehension (Lower)

Here is a peak inside of “Now you’re talking” by CJ Fallon:

It is very nicely laid out and very user friendly. The objectives are very clearly marked and there are lots of ideas in each section. The downside is that lots of the book refers to the Starways Characters and Posters from their old reading scheme. I still have most of the posters so it’s not too much of hassle to use. Still, it’s a great resources and I am happy to continue using it.

I think that most of you are familiar with Chatterbox. This is still available for purchase according to the EDCO Price list that I just opened online. Again, very user friendly with lots of lessons to choose from. It is better than “Now you’re talking” in the sense that it does not refer to any particular literacy scheme so no posters or books are needed to supplement it. It looks a little dull but the games and activities held inside are certainly of a good standard and cover all of the necessary objectives. It is available at a cost of 27.95 and is worth purchasing if you don’t already have it.

I find that Oral Language Schemes can be a little, well…boring at times. It often seems to me that the topics are “serious” and children need to have a “worthy” conversation on the assigned topic. Sure, the above mentioned schemes have some fun games but I have never witnessed children rolling around my room in hysterics or whooping for joy when I read out the topic card. That was until I found this beauty!!! I found Chatter Box Kids Talk in Paperchase in Chiswick while on my Summer holidays two years ago. It was on a bottom shelf and I almost missed what turned out to be the bargain of the century!

Just look at how much it cost!!

I loved using this when I had Senior Infants. We had so much fun chatting and laughing about the topics. I love that they are a bit “zany” and unpredictable. I always make children give the reasons “why” the made their choice. I feel that ‘Think, Pair, Share” works very well as a methodology for these cards. You close your eyes and think about your answer, you talk to your partner, then you share your partners response and not your own. I like that there is a responsibility on partner to listen carefully and report accurately. No half-hearted listening will apply here!

Prim-Ed have an absolutely fantastic Listening Comprehension book for 14.95 that I use every year. Click here for a link. I forgot to take a photograph from my book so here is one from their website. Each child gets a copy of the Lion and then completes the verbal instructions given by you. There is a record sheet provided for you to keep score is necessary. This was one of my “go to” resources for the beginning of the year when I taught Senior Infants. We completed one a day for the month of September to promote good listening skills. It’s worth purchasing if you don’t already have it. I intend on using it during the final term with my Junior Infants.

Is anyone using some other resources that they just love? Please leave a comment and let us all in on the secret 😉 Any one using the new Wonderland Oral Language Scheme? Curious to hear about it if you are!

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Split Digraph Game

April 9, 2013Leave a comment

I am busy revising split digraphs (a_e, e_e, i_e, o_e, u_e) with my class this week. I had my fingers crossed that their knowledge was not displaced by Easter break! I think that Hot Potato was a great help with consolidating split digraphs! It was so much fun to play that we practiced them more than any other year. Will be rolling it out again next year, that’s for sure 😉

As we are having a week long break from “Power Hour” I was on the hunt for a fun, interactive game for split digraphs. I struck gold with this one! It is fun but pretty tricky. You really do need your wits about you!

The link below is for u_e words. They are the trickiest to decode and pronounce by far. The object of the game is to spell the word by tapping on the correct tiles. You must tap them in the correct order. Sounds simple, right? It would be if it wasn’t for the fact that the letter tiles keep moving!!!! You can, thank goodness, use the small arrow key to delete a letter if necessary.

I dare you to play is before your child/class. It is tricky to tap the tiles before they move. Lot of fun and laughter in my room when we played this. I had pupils decode the word before spelling it on the tiles.

Click here to play

I hope that you have lots of fun playing this game. Oh yeah, there is a harder, timed level for those of you who dare!

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

My Favourite Things for 3-4 year olds

March 29, 2013March 29, 2013Leave a comment

Hi Everybody,

Following some requests and queries I thought that I would share with you my “favourite things” for preschoolers or emergent readers, 3-4 year olds. I have reviewed all of these before but decided to put them together to make them easier to find.

Chicka Chick Boom Boom, Dr Seuss’s ABC, Sesame Street , My First Bob Books, Starfall

Do you have any favourite things for 3-4 year olds? I would love to hear from you if you do! It is great to get recommendations and to expand my collection of teaching resources. Mind you, the study and attic are already stuffed 😉

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Free Sight Word App

June 18, 2012Leave a comment

I had a rummage around last weekend for an iPad app for high frequency words. There are lots of great apps available but I was looking for one that was free 😉

I was delighted to find this one by “Teacher Created Materials Publishing”.

As you can see it covers 25 high frequency words (HFW) that children need to learn to read “by sight”. This means that they are not phonologically regular and cannot be sounded out.

I love the fact that the words are broken up into bite sized chunks. Your child can then learn or revise just a small number, experience success and move on to the next level. It can be frustrating to be staring at a very long list of words!

The app is very user friendly for children. It is brightly coloured and nice and large for little hands to use and to read.

How to use this app:

To hear the word- click on the “star” on the left of the screen
To record yourself saying the word- click the microphone button and keep it depressed while you say the word.
Write the word- use your pointer finger to write it on the screen
To erase the word- click the eraser icon

At the end of your 5 words you make a jigsaw, play hangman, concentration or Tic Tac Toe. Kids are all about the games…!

It’s nice to find an app that you can use as a test. You could use it to test your child’s level of recall by not pressing on the “star”. In fact, if you go to their website by following this link you will get a printable checklist for sight words 1-25.

You can also download these free printable flashcards from teachercreatedmaterials.com. You could print a double set and play “snap” or “go fish”. I just love how well thought out these teachercreatedmaterials.com games are.

I can hardly believe that this app is free! I was pleasantly surprised to see the cost of purchasing the full app. Please click here to be taken to teachercreatedmaterials.com app store.

I hope that you find this post useful. Are any of you already using this app? Have you others that you can recommend?

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Jolly Phonics Tricky Words Game (1-25)

February 24, 20123 Comments

“Tricky words” are those that do not follow conventional phonetic rules. Therefore, children need to learn to recognize them instantly by sight.

They are often referred to as “High Frequency Words” / HFW, Dolch or Fry’s. Jolly Phonics always uses the term ” tricky words”.

Dolch Words are a particular grouping of these tricky words that are sorted by grade, as are Fry 1000 Instant Words. All of these different listings cover broadly the same words but just introduce them in different orders.

No matter what scheme your child follows Jolly Phonics Tricky Words, Dolch or Fry’s, this game will help reinforce words in a fun, active way.

Click here to download

Grab some Bingo chips or Unifix cubes. Make sure that each player has their own colour.

Roll the dice. If you can correctly read a ” tricky word” from that column put down a counter to “freeze” it. The winner is the person who has read and covered the most words!

I am always trying to think up new ways to practice Jolly Phonics Tricky Words. I hope that you like my Jolly Phonics Tricky Word Game.

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

PDF list of “oa” words

February 14, 2012Leave a comment

Do you ever get weary of writing up words to blend and decode? I decided to create a short cut!

Here is a PDF of lots and lots of words, 20+, that contain the vowel digraph “oa”.

It am really looking forward to whipping it out tomorrow on my super duper interactive whiteboard! As it is a PDF document you should be able to open it with your software and have children highlight/circle the digraph and then blend the word.

Please let me know what you think! I will make lots more of them for different digraphs if they would be of use.

Here is a sample page:

Click here to download

It’s pretty simple but useful I think! Just grab your elastic band and blend those sounds 🙂

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Venetian Masks for Sight Word Practice Fun

February 8, 2012Leave a comment

I was in Tesco a few weeks ago picking up some treats for the 1st birthday of missmernagh.com. While in the party section I saw these cute masks and just couldn’t resist!

Tesco is just a fantastic place to pick of teaching and art resources. I would encourage you to wander around it some day when you have time. It is just a treasure trove!

I picked up my lollipop sticks in Freemans in Oylegate. Another shop with a great carousel of art supplies. You can also pick them up in Tesco. I just happened to have some already. When purchasing the lollipop sticks make sure that you pick up the wider, tongue depressor kind.

I simply snipped the elastic from the back of each mask and sellotaped on a lollipop stick. That’s it! These Venetian masks are a fun, cheap, and novelty way to practice sight words.

My class enjoyed using them today when we were practicing our sight words on our Interactive Whiteboard. The Venetian masks would also be just perfect for “read the room” activities.

If you have a particularly ” girly girl” or a child who enjoys dress up then they would be lovely for homework also.

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Teaching your child to read/spell Series: Initial Sounds

February 8, 2012Leave a comment

Have you been enjoying the phoneme popper? The game today is a quick and easy one. If your child enjoys jigsaw puzzles then this is the one…

Here is another fun game and video to help your child learn to recognise and hear initial sounds!

First you complete Theo’s initial sound puzzle:

Then watch a short video clip of children with objects that match that initial sound. Once again the initial phoneme/sound is highlighted.

Click here to play

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Teaching your child to read/spell Series: Initial sounds

February 3, 2012February 3, 2012Leave a comment

Here is another fun concentration game to practice initial sounds. This game is a greaterchallenge than Monkey Match as your child will not hear an audio of the letter sound. Letter sounds either need to be known in order to play or you could sit with your child and support/scaffold your child to figure out the beginning sounds.

It would be just perfect for children in Senior Infants as it could be played with complete independence.

It’s a little less cute so it may have greater appeal for boys, though I know plenty of girls who like it!

Click a card in the top row to see a letter, then click a card in the bottom row to show a picture.

If the letter matches the initial sound of the object in the picture then you have found a match.

Click here to play

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Teaching your child to read/spell: Initial Sounds

February 1, 2012February 1, 2012Leave a comment

So, what are we playing today? How about a phoneme popper! A what popper?!?!

Definitions:

Phonemes are the smallest units of sound ie the individual sounds that your child is learning to pronounce phonetically. When you say the sound of “c” ( not it’s alphabetic name) it is a phoneme When your write it down and represent it graphically the written letter is called a “grapheme“.

These are worth understanding as you will see them mentioned on many of the teaching websites I will recommend. You may also find that your child will use the term “phoneme”. I use the term with my class all the time.

The game!

Your child will have lots and lots of opportunities to hear the sounds of the phoneme and associate it with its written form, the grapheme.

I love how they have separated out the phonemes into groups. This allows you to focus on just a small number of phonemes until they are well known. It will also allow parents to match the game exactly to the sounds that their child has for homework or is struggling with.

Feel free to play it even if your child has not been taught every sound in the grouping. This game is really designed to be instructional!

Your child need to pop the correct phoneme bubble to earn a point. Popping and incorrect phoneme will result in lost points. It makes a fun “pop” sound like a bubble bursting. Don’t forget to click on any flying saucers that whizz by.

Click here to play

This game will not time out. Decide with your child how long you will play for or just let him/her at it until the novelty wears off! I prefer to use it as a “warm-up” or ” revision” before playing other games.

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Teaching your child to read/spell Series: Initial sounds

January 31, 20122 Comments

I hope that you found yesterday’s post useful on why we teach initial sounds first and enjoyed the game reinforcement game.

How about playing Monkey Match, a concentration game, today? Your child will be challenged to match the object to its initial sound.

Familiarity with initial sounds will benefit both reading and spelling. Concentration is great for, you guessed it, building up your child’s concentration and memory!

Our cool Hawaiian monkey friend gives clear explanations on how to play. The initial sounds are pronounced very clearly. The pictures are of everyday objects and animals, nothing too tricky.

Once you have successfully cleared your coconuts you are invited to play another round. The next round will contain different letters and sounds.

The lack of a timer makes the game user friendly for little ones just learning. They can take as long as necessary to play and win!

Click here to play!

If you are playing this with an older child for revision you could set a timer on your phone. Children love to try and beat a timer!!!

I would love to hear your comments on this and yesterday’s game. Did your child enjoy them? Any concerns or queries about sounds and phonics homework? I would be only thrilled to help!

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Gingerbread Man themed Jolly Phonics Tricky Words 1-20

December 10, 20112 Comments

I decided to make my Jolly Phonics Tricky Words 1-20 a little more festive in the hope that my Christmas obsessed class might actually do some work!!! Any one else finding it hard to get their class to settle down to work at the moment?

I have created the flashcards in both full colour and in black and white. Here are some ideas of how to use them. Snap, Concentration, write the room, a treasure hunt….

Here is a sneak preview of the Jolly Phonics Tricky Words 1-20 cards!

Here is the Jolly Phonics Tricky Words 1-20 treasure hunt worksheet:

Inspired by Angelia at http://extraspecialteaching.blogspot.com I have made my own Gingerbread Man Card Game to correspond with Jolly Phonics Tricky Words 1-20. My graphics are all from the Microsoft Website and are only in full colour. You could print the words in black and white and the extra cards in colour if you want to be frugal 😉