The Soundsmith’s Workshop
“Why, here’s a J,” said Joe, “and a O equal to anythink! Here’s a J and a O, Pip, and a J-O, Joe.”
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, Chapter 7
Each resource works on a single sound at a time - the sound in the middle of ‘fur’, ‘bird’, and ‘earth’, say. Each one comes with words chosen to build that sound and printable tiles for making and breaking words by hand. There are structured games to practise with too. These are the phonics resources from The Anvil, the resource shop here at Great Expectations Education. They’re made for the children I teach, to use between lessons - I make them as and when they’d be useful to my students, usually. They work just as well at home, in tutoring, or as part of a more structured intervention - the kind of catch-up programme a specialist might run.
How the collections are organised
The collections follow the order I teach sounds in, which is why they’re numbered. The numbering runs across my full phonics sequence, so the numbers you see won’t be consecutive - they’re just the collections I’ve added to the shop so far. I add new ones as I make them, so this grows over time. If there’s a sound you need that isn’t here yet, you can ask me for it (link to the request-a-resource form). I keep a list of requests and work through them, and if you leave your email address I’ll let you know when it’s ready.
Want to try one first?
If you’d like to see how the resources work before buying a full set. It works on its own, or as a taster before you pick up one of the collections.
Who these are for
The resources work for:
Children working on a specific sound that’s tripping up their reading
Older catch-up readers and adults who want the structure without materials pitched at much younger children
Home-educated children working through phonics at their own pace
Specialist tuition students, including those with dyslexia or poor working memory
Parents and tutors who want ready-made practice for one sound at a time
Where to start depends on the collection. The early ones - short vowels, consonant blends - suit a child just beginning to read simple words. The later sound-spellings assume the learner can already blend confidently and is ready for trickier patterns.
More on reading and phonics
If you’re not sure where your child sits, or what these resources are for, a couple of things on the site might help. The Phonics Screening Check, and what the result does and doesn’t tell you - for parents of Year 1 children, and anyone wondering what a phonics check is actually measuring. Decodable books - on choosing books a child can actually read, rather than ones that leave them guessing.
The collections here follow my full phonics sequence. The sequence itself isn’t much use as a list on its own - it makes most sense alongside a conversation about a particular child, working out the best place to start and how to move through it. That’s what I share with consultation clients, along with the password to the page that sets it out. If that would help, a Specialist Consultation is the place to start.
The Soundsmith’s Workshop is one corner of The Anvil, where you’ll also find resources for spelling and word-building, handwriting, and French and German.
