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I am a primary school teacher of 30 years, with experience in mainstream education in the Republic of Ireland and England. Over half of that time has been spent working with children and adults with Special Educational Needs (SEN). I have a B.Ed and an M.Ed , Level 2 NVQ in Support Users of IT, and I have been blessed with a curious and creative mind.

This compilation began over 10 years ago when I was trying to come up with new ways of teaching the common/sight words or tricky words as they are sometimes termed, also known as Dolch/ Fry/ Hearn Lists. For the purpose of this book I have used a list compiled by Alan Sayles, representing half of the words that readers are ever likely to meet. Each page looks at the phonetic makeup, blending, shape and structure of each word, spelling, visual discrimination and context of each word. The word is reinforced up to 20 times on each page. My colleagues and I have used these worksheets for some years now and find them very useful. They include ideas from many schemes such as the National Literacy Strategy UK, Dyslexia Association Ireland, Units of Sound, Alan Sayles's Handbook, Culligan's Corewords, Boxes Font Crossbow Education, ideas from courses with ICEP and INTO, colleagues in particular Maria Carolan and Orla Briscoe and the wonderful pupils that I have had the pleasure of teaching.

Some pupils will learn these words really quickly while others find it difficult to retain them e.g. pupils: with SEN, learning English as another Language, or beginning readers. These sheets can be used by Classroom/SEN/EAL teachers or by parents who are home schooling or simply reinforcing reading and spelling.

I have not tried to reinvent the wheel here, only to reassemble it in a slightly different way!


I work closely with my Job Sharing partner, fellow SEN teachers, Special Needs Assistants (SNAs), classroom teachers and two Principals in supporting the inclusion of pupils with SEN in mainstream school. I have also worked with various Dyslexia groups, Adult Learning in Devon, private students, and have a City and Guilds qualification in IT. My current post is shared between two rural schools which I job share. I completed a Masters in Education in 2010 with the University of Ulster and have two documents published there.