Tag: dyslexia

My Dyslexia Resource Kit

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I’ve had a few requests to fill you in on all of the resources I brought with me to my dyslexia talk. Here it goes people… I’m going to list them by table starting with the back left one:

I hope that you find this useful in your classroom/home. Leave a comment below if you have any resources that you think should be on my list!!!

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

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Dyslexia Must Buy Resources

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I was delighted to have the opportunity to hold a talk last night on Dyslexia. The Wexford Library Service have always been a great support and encourager mine. It was great to get to “talk” and demonstrate rather than just blogging. It was actually really, really hard to keep to time and I had 1.30hrs!!! There was just soon much to cover. I tried to have a good mix between understanding the neurobiology and what you can and should actually do in a classroom or home setting. I lugged as much as I could from my personal resources.

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Here are two of the key resources that any teacher or indeed parent should have. Knowledge is power. These little gems will be a great reference tool to add to your collection. I’ve had both of these for years and they are pretty wrecked from use. I really struggled to find a ‘clean page’ to photograph. By this I mean a page that didn’t look worn,  selloptaped etc. I really, really use these: Jolly Phonics Word Book and Prim-Ed Spelling Essentials.

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The Jolly Phonics Word Book is a fantastic resource for phonetically regular word list. Here is a peak at the menu:

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I always keep my Jolly Phonics Word Book by my side for literacy lessons in class. I actually am the proud owner of two of these. I have a copy for home use as I find the Jolly Phonics Word Book so vital for my fortnightly planning and literacy schemes.

The Jolly Phonics Word Book is worth its weight in gold for your phonics lesson or indeed home practice to support classroom learning. It’s simply a compilation of word lists that correspond to the phonemes and digraphs (a.k.a “sounds”) taught in Jolly Phonics. It’s worth noting that the Jolly Phonics Word Book would be a great buy even if you are using an alternative phonics programme.

You will never again run out of or blank on words that contain the chosen sound. When you have 34 kids in your class and you are looking for a different word per child then this is “the bomb”.

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Click here to purchase the Jolly Phonics Word Book. It costs 3.47 Euro and the postage is free.

Prim-Ed Spelling Essentials is another god send for lesson planning. It’s more a great reference for lesson planning or homework support. It helps to explain all of the most common and important spelling patterns that we need to teach all readers but especially those with language processing difficulties such as Dyslexia.

Prim-Ed Spelling Essentials is a really easy to use reference tool for parents, teachers and kids. It is extremely comprehensive as you can see from the image of the index:

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Here is an even more detailed look inside the front cover of Prim-Ed Spelling Essentials:

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These spelling rules, taught in a multi-sensory and systematic way would make a huge impact on reading, writing and spelling.

As you can see, Prim-Ed Spelling Essentials, is like a dictionary for spelling rules. Find the rule in the index and refer to the relevant rule. This could be an indispensable reference tool for an older child to check if they are spelling a word correctly.  I think Prim-Ed Spelling Essentials would complement any instructional programme. I wore this book out when I was studying for my Masters in Special Education and tutoring children with Dyslexia.

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It’s hard to believe the price of this book. Prim-Ed Spelling Essentials is 2.99Euro!!! I know, it’s incredible!!! Click here to purchase from the Prim-Ed Website.

For less than 7.00Euro you can  have an amazing amount of information at your fingertips. I hope that you find these books as indispensable as I do.

Do you have an essential that you would like to recommend? Please leave a comment below or message me on Facebook. I’m always on the hunt for new resources.

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Magic E Work Pack

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You might like to use my Magic E work pack with your class or with your child. It contains cutting, sorting, graphing, illustrating and writing activities.

It is a great way to encourage blending as there are 15 words in the pack. Some of them are real and some are nonsense. Children with reading difficulties, such as Dyslexia, often find it hard to distinguish nonsense words from real. They will need lots of practice to improve this.

Click on the image to download

What do you think? Have you any ideas to make it better? Leave me a comment 🙂

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Word Slide for tricky words (the, then, them, there, they, these)

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Some of my students are having terrible trouble with the following tricky words:

  • then
  • them
  • they
  • there
  • these

The don’t call them “tricky” for nothing! They look similar, too similar, and only some can be “sounded out” correctly. So, where to begin?!

It is important to draw their attention to the familiar chunk in all these words :

  • then
  • them
  • they
  • there
  • these

I have created a word slide to help make the similarities and differences between the words more obvious.  I also think that it is kinda cute! What do you think?

You just slide the letter up into the window to create a “tricky word”. Generally, after doing this for a few days the penny will drop 😉

To download your free word sliders please click on the image below. There are two different images to choose from, a Gingerbread Man and Monkey Business.

It is pretty easy to put together. Just have a look at the photo. Fold it in half across the flap. Cut out the window and a tiny piece from the top to allow the letters to slide up and down.

Note: When downloading don’t forget to have your gmail or google docs account open. Click save when requested to do so at the bottom of your screen ( the warning is because the document is large, not because it is unsafe!)

I really hope that you find this useful. Please let me know if you would like me to create some more word sliders.

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂

Clipart by DJInkers

Give your brain a workout with Lazy 8’s

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Lazy 8’s are used in Brain Gym to help your child:

  • think more clearly
  • relax and calm
  • improve hand-eye co-ordination
  • improve visual tracking (moving you eyes and not your head to see something)
  • increase attention span
  • increase writing flow and speed
  • balance emotions
  • improves memory
  • improve cross laterality (crossing the midline of the body, your belly button, connects the right and left hemisphere)
  • to develop hand dominance (being right or left handed)

This activity is especially useful and beneficial  for children with Dyslexia, ADD, Dyspraxia, Developmental Delay or a Sensory Processing disorders.

Pretty useful stuff, eh?

How to:

You are basically writing the number 8 on it’s side. That’s why it’s lazy .

Start with a large sheet of white paper ( A3 would be best) or a white board in a landscape position.

Place it in front of you so that the middle of your page is parallel to the middle of your body, your belly button.(You want to be crossing over your belly button to get to to the left and right of your page as you draw)

The aim is to keep your hand steady and let your eyes follow what you are doing.

I have included arrows as directional aids. You will not be drawing the arrows, just the curved shape 😉

  • start with your marker in the middle of your page
  • Move your marker  down, up and around to make a “c” like shape


  • Continue  moving down until you intersect with your start point and keep going.
  • Continue to move down, up and around to make a backwards “c”


  • Your marker should now be in the middle of your page, at your starting point.
  • That’s your Lazy 8!

  • Now keep tracing around your shape, without taking your marker from the page.
  • Continue for about 1 min, until it is a fluid movement.

Note:

Tape down the edges of your sheet if it keeps moving.

The bigger the paper the better as it forces you to cross further over your midline.

You can always draw a Lazy 8 for your child to trace over if they find it difficult. Just make sure that they start at your start point and continue in the correct direction.

As you can see Lazy 8’s have lots of benefits for your child. It can be very useful to do some Brain Gym activities before starting homework. It calms, and focuses the mind.

Have fun 🙂