You need coloured tiles, blocks, or cards that are in six different colours and all of a uniform size.  You want to have 2 of every colour, so you need 12 tiles in total per student.  I use glass tiles but there are lots of different things that can work.  Here are some of the different things used by my students in their lessons:

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• coloured poms poms from craft store

• glass beads like the ones you find in a fish aquarium

• lego blocks

• small squares of coloured paper

2 packs of small index cards will be used for the visual and auditory drills.  You will write the graphemes on which the student is currently working on the cards (one card per grapheme). 

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1 pack of large white Index cards will be used for making spelling rule cards.  

1 pack of large colour index cards are used in the syllable card drill

These cards contain one grapheme per card.  You will cut the cards out.  You will use these cards frequently.  For this reason, some people laminate them.  If you are working with only one student, there is probably no need to laminate.  It is your decision.  Below, are links to downloadable a card set.  You can choose the font and size of card that you think will work best for your student. 

The advantage of the OpenDyslexic font is that each letter is unique so that students are less likely to reverse letters such as 'b' and 'd.'  The downside is that the letter 'a' has a hook on the top just like the font that I am using as I type these words.  The hook on the 'a' can cause confusion for some students since it is different from how we teach kids to print that letter.  The Mangal pro font has the advantage of having a letter 'a' that looks like the one that children are taught to print, but the letters are not uniquely weighted like their are in OpenDyslexic.  Weigh the pros and cons and choose the set that is the best fit for your student.

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Download large card set (Mangal Pro font)

Download small card set (Mangal Pro font)

Download large card set (Open Dyslexic font)

Download small card set (OpenDyslexic font)

There are many different types of magnetic letter tiles. They vary widely in pricing from the fabulous but pricey set sold by Really Great Reading to the D.I.Y. option below.

If you want to make a set of magnetic tiles yourself, it is easy to do.  You can print out the same set of graphemes that you will use for the Blending Card Drill.  Reduce the size of the individuals cards so that the graphemes of the basic alphabet will fit on a cookie sheet when spread in a rainbow shape. Use thick paper and laminate it if you plan on using the tiles with multiple students. Buy magnetic strips from a stationary store. Cut the magnetic strips to size and stick them to the paper tiles. 

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Using a magnetic cookie sheet is a great way to keep letters organized.

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The teacher binder will contain the following sections:

progressions, drills, sight words, lesson plans, connected reading, rules, syllables, other

You need 8 dividers for the sections.

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The student binder will contain the following sections:

homework, sounds, rules, syllables, reading lists, connected reading, writing, other

You need 8 dividers for the sections. 

Here is a link to a video that provides more information about how to set up the student binder.

I like to have two black markers, one thick and one thin.  The thin one is useful when writing rules on index cards.  The thick marker is useful for writing graphemes for the visual and auditory drill card pack.  Any size or colour of highlighter will do.

It is nice to have a variety of pencils on hand for students to use.  I keep a colourful collection with fun pencil toppers from which the students can choose.  It is a good idea to build in little moments like this where students have choice.