Free Printables

Monster Phonics Card Games

Courtesy of www.bogglesworldesl.com

These free printables are excellent games to reinforce phoneme awareness as well as reinforcing the phonics sounds and rules. This is a two person card game, where you get points when you create a real word while reading nonsense words. As students reveal new cards, they also create new, imaginative monsters! Students love playing with their parents or tutor. They especially love to win! The best part about this game is that reading nonsense words is essential for review with an Orton-Gillingham reading program, and this game does this in a fun manner.

We recommend printing on heavy stock paper. Cut along the guidelines, so that you have three piles (the middle pile is thinner than the others). A rotary cutter is recommended.


Instructions: Divide the cards into three piles for the beginning sound, middle and ending sound. Then take the first card from each pile and place them in front of the piles (this is where words will be built, we will call this pile the "word pile"). Now, have your student choose a single card from one of the three piles to make a real word on the "word pile". Have them place the card on the "word pile" and read the word (it may be a real word or a nonsense word). If it is a real word, the student takes all three cards that make up the word, and they get a point. If not a real word, then the next player chooses a card to try to make a real word. Note that if it's not possible to make a real word, then the player can choose any card they wish and add it to the top of the "word pile". Then the player must then read the nonsense word. Then it's the next players turn to pick a card to try to make a real word. This keeps going until all cards from the choosing pile are used. Then the players count up their points to see who is the winner. To see a video on how to play: click here  (note that the video shows the original version).

We love this game so much, we created decks for many sounds and rules so this game can be played along with our reading programs!
To Monster Phonics - CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant): click for PDF
Monster Phonics - Beginning Blends: click for PDF
Monster Phonics - Ending Blends: click for PDF
Monster Phonics - VC'e' (vowel-consonant-e, such as "fine"): click for PDF
Monster Phonics - VV (vowel teams for long vowel sounds): click for PDF
Monster Phonics - Original Version (use after long vowel lesson): click for PDF

We recommend these be printed on 80lb stock paper, which can be purchased at this link.

Alphabet Writing Practice - click here to download the PDF

Writing the letters of the alphabet takes a lot of practice. This free downloadable PDF is nine pages that you can print, as many times as you need, for writing practice. We recommend your youngster uses a pencil to write and you should make sure that (s)he is correctly holding the pencil before beginning, watch this video to see how this is done. Habits are very difficult to break, so making sure your child starts out properly is very important. This will help them with handwriting, as well as limit fatigue that often occurs when a pencil or pen is incorrectly held.

We also recommend that, once your child knows the letter names, they say (out loud) the letter sounds as they write. This will help them in both reading and spelling.

d-b Reversal Sheet - click here to download the PDF

Lowercase 'b' and 'd' are the most common letters that get reversed. Although reversals are usually resolved after age 8, those with dyslexia may have this difficulty for many years. Learn more about reversals in dyslexia.

To help remember the direction of the lowercase 'b' and 'd', we try to provide a framework by using the uppercase letters, 'B' and 'D', which are rarely reversed. Have your student trace lowercase 'b' on top of the uppercase 'B', noting how 'b' fits inside its uppercase counterpart. In fact, you can see a lowercase 'b' right inside the uppercase 'B'. Then have your student draw a lowercase 'd' starting on the vertical line that makes the uppercase 'D'. Note how 'd' does not fit in its uppercase counterpart.

We recommend your student say the letters sounds out loud as they write for reinforcement.

Homophone Sheets - click here to download the PDF

Homophones are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Words such as "pair" and "pear" are homophones.

There are many homophones, and usually they are learned while one reads, however, teaching the common homophones is useful in that it makes the student aware that these words exist, and, in addition, for those with reading difficulties, such as dyslexia, learning the common homophones is useful to avoid confusion.

These sheets are not a complete lesson in homophones. They are simply an introduction with some activity pages. For more, please see our web app for homophones (coming in 2021).

Here is a list of many common homophones and their meanings.

Multiplication Array Sheets - click here to download the PDF

These Multiplication Array sheets are for students who are learning their times tables. They illustrate how one can find the answer to a multiplication problem by skip counting. With the array, one can also see how math facts are related to each other, and patterns can be seen.

For many students with learning difficulties, memorizing the math facts can be difficult. We recommend an understanding using the Multiplication Array as well as understanding grouping. This is explained in our Just the Facts Math book.

Multiplication Double Facts - click here to download the PDF

These are three practice sheets for double fact practice, which have both vertical and horizontal problems.

Although students can arrive at these answers by skip counting, memorizing them is very important for when the student does higher level math and speed is needed.

Multiplication Double Facts Matching Game - click here to download the PDF

Students learn best though play, and this matching game will help your student commit the double math facts to memory in a fun manner.

Play as a traditional matching game, or play with cards face up using a timer. Either way, your student will have fun matching the double fact questions to their answers.

For this game, we recommend printing the sheet on heavy stock paper (80 lb).

Nine Times Tables with Hands - click here to download the PDF

Learning the nine times tables is difficult, but there's an easy way to find the answers by just using your two hands!

Give this PDF to your students and they will never have problems with these facts again.

For a complete math curriculum (for Common Core 3rd Grade) see our Just the Facts Math Workbook. This book is perfect for homeschooling or for summer help. This book will give step-by-step lesson instructions, examples, and worksheets for independent work. What's different about this book is that it is geared for visual learners. We use math stories to help memorize the math facts that are difficult to remember, as well as other visuals to understand key math concepts.