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Literacy Sites

Phonological Awareness

These sites all have an emphasis on developing phonological awareness. The term Phonological Awareness began to appear in research literature in the late 70s and refers to an individual's awareness of and ability to manipulate the sound structures of spoken words at syllable, onset-rime and phoneme level (Gail Gillon, 2004:4).

Phonological Awareness can be taught. Training in this awareness has been shown to positively influence the development of beginning reading and writing skills. Dr Kerry Hempenstall from the Psychology and Disability Study Dept of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology reported the research concerning phonological awareness as being the “single most powerful advance in the science and pedagogy of reading this century” (Adams, 1991 in Hempanstall, 2004).

Site Comments Target Age Group
Woodlands Junior School: Words and Spelling This outstanding English site has plenty of online games to reinforce letter/sound relationships, blending/segmenting skills as well as a range of activities to practise spelling skills such as using prefixes/suffixes, compound words and homophones 7-11
Starfall: Learn to Read An excellent American site with online games, books and animations to teach single sounds, letter strings and blending skills 5-6
Adrian Bruce: Boardgames-Blending Printable boardgames for teaching CVC words including digraphs. 5-9
Carl's Corner Worksheets-Syllables Delightful worksheets for practising identifying syllables in words 5-7
BBC Kids Games Online games and printable worksheets for a range of skills 5-7
Lesson Plans: University of Virginia Lots of simple lesson ideas from University of Virginia to teach phonological awareness skills 5-8
Primary Resources Many worksheets and charts to reinforce alphabet knowledge. 5-6
Lanternfish: Phonics Worksheets An excellent site with worksheets and games to teach various sounds and skills. 5-9
Superteacher Worksheets Worksheets to practise phonic skills5-8
Superteacher Word wheels to make word families5-8
Sparklebox Literacy Games and Charts An incredible number of high quality, creative and colourful games, flashcards and charts that can be simply printed! 5-8
KidZone Plenty of games and worksheets focussing on Word Families 5-7
School Express 17 worksheets on word families 5-8
Letters and Sounds Good range of games to practice sound/letter link skills 5-6

Grammar

Site Comments Target Age Group
BBC SkillswiseFactsheets, worksheets, quizzes and online games 7-11
Woodlands Junior School: Grammar and PunctuationA range of simple games 7-11
Mark's English SchoolGames with a sports theme 7-11
Superteacher WorksheetsAn extensive collection of worksheets7-11
The Worksheet PlaceWorksheets focussing on capital letters, compound words, contractions and editing7-11
SuperteacherMany worksheets to practice grammar skills7-11

Spelling

Site Comments Target Age Group
BBC Skillswise: SpellingFactsheets, worksheets, quizzes and online games for development of spelling skills.8-11
Boardgames:SyllabificationPrintable gameboards for teaching syllabification.8-11
Woodlands Junior SchoolExcellent online spelling games 7-11
GamequariumGames that include activities for putting in your own lists and and strategies such as Look, cover, Write, Check7-11
SparkleboxExcellent set of posters and templates for learning spelling strategies7-11
Super Teacher IdeasLots of ideas for spelling games and activities7-11
A-Z Teacher StuffPlenty of spelling lesson ideas5-7
School ExpressQuick and easy way to create wordsearches for spelling lists7-11
School ExpressMake a quiz for spelling list words7-11
PBS KidsMany reading and spelling interactive whiteboard games5-8
Learning PlanetInteractive whiteboard game to make many words within a time limit7-11

Reading

Site Comments Target Age Group
BBC SkillswiseFactsheets, worksheets, quizzes and online games targeting skills such as skimming, scanning, summarising and analysis of text types.8-12
Starfall: It's fun to ReadA variety of online games to practise early reading skills.5-6
Sight WordsA useful online game for practising sight words5-7
SparkleboxExcellent visual aides to go with popular books and fairy tales.5-8
SparkleboxSets of high frequency words and themed words on flashcards, beautifully illustrared5-8
MES EnglishAn extensive collection of flashcards available for printing or as powerpoint presentations5-8 (or older if using to teach English)
Kelly's KindergartenA range of ideas and reading games to make.5-6
Learning TodayOnline reading games to reinforce word knowledge5-8
Woodlands Junior SchoolA collection of bookds to read online7-11
Mrs Jones RoomA collection of printable mini books5-8
School ExpressSimple practice activity worksheets focusing on sight words and rhyming5-8
Coconut WordsInteractive whitebooard game using close activity5-8
PBS KidsMany reading and spelling interactive whiteboard games5-8
SuperteacherLarge range of worksheets focusing on various comprehension strategies6-11

Writing

Site Comments Target Age Group
BBC SkillswiseFactsheets, worksheets, quizzes and games targeting skills such as planning, structure and proofreading8-12
Primary School EnglishA number of sites with writing prompts and lesson ideas.8-12
Creativity PortalAn excellent range of writing and photo prompts8-12
Writing FunGood information on text types and graphic organisers for writing8-12
CharactersInteractive whiteboard activity for developing characters5-8

Listening

Site Comments Target Age Group
BBC SkillswiseFactsheets, worksheets, quizzes and games targeting skills such as listening for specific information8-11
Teaching IdeasGames and ideas for encouraging speaking and listening skills8-11
Teacher's TVvideo clips with great ideas for teaching5-8