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Grade 1 Reading Starter Pack
A week of systematic phonics (s a t p i n): sound cards, a blending ladder, sight words, a decodable story, comprehension, handwriting and a fluency check.
12 pagesGrade 1PDF
⬇ Download
🌼 Reading & maths help for Grades 1–4
Teacher Daisy
Hi! I’m Daisy Jane Escaro, a licensed teacher. For almost 20 years I have helped children read, count and believe in themselves. Try a free reading or maths check, practise a mock exam, play a game, or print a worksheet.
🎓 Licensed Professional Teacher
📍 Cebu, Philippines · Thailand
💻 Online classes
Reading
Quick reading checks a parent or teacher can run in about five minutes, scored the way Philippine schools score reading. Plus free storybooks in English, Filipino and Cebuano.
1 · Choose2 · Read for 1 minute3 · Questions4 · Results
How it works: the child reads the passage aloud while you follow on this screen. Tap any word they misread, skip or need help with. After one minute (or when they finish), ask a few questions.
Tap a word to mark it as an error. Tap again to undo.
Ask each question aloud and tap the child’s answer. Let them answer without looking back at the text.
Dolch pre-primer words: the 40 most common words in early reading. Show each word and let the child read it aloud. Count it only if they read it straight away, without sounding it out.
1 / 40
the
📚 Storybooks & levelled readers
Let’s Read ↗
letsreadasia.org
Free illustrated children’s books in Filipino, Cebuano and many more languages, to read online or print.
Filipino · Cebuano · EnglishBloom Library ↗
bloomlibrary.org
Thousands of levelled and decodable books in Philippine languages. Every book can be printed or read aloud.
Mother tongueStoryWeaver ↗
storyweaver.org.in
An open library of stories sorted by reading level, with read-along audio for many titles.
LevelledGlobal Digital Library ↗
digitallibrary.io
Free early-grade readers in many languages, made for children who are just learning to decode.
Early grades🏫 Official materials & assessment tools
DepEd Learning Portal ↗
lrmds.deped.gov.ph
Official lesson materials, learning modules and activity sheets for every K–12 grade.
PhilippinesPhil-IRI (DO 14, s. 2018) ↗
deped.gov.ph
The Philippine Informal Reading Inventory. The reading check above uses its scoring levels.
AssessmentBRIGANCE ↗
curriculumassociates.com
The reading, maths and early-development assessment I am trained to give. I use it to plan individual remedial programmes.
Used in my practiceKnowledge Channel ↗
knowledgechannel.org
Filipino educational videos for basic education, good for listening and read-along practice.
VideoThese checks run in your browser: nothing a child reads or answers is sent anywhere. They show where to start; they don’t replace a full assessment by a teacher who knows the child.
Maths assessment
A 12-question skills check for Grades 1–4 that shows which maths skills a child has mastered and which need practice, with tips for home. Or test fast number facts in a one-minute sprint.
Choose the child’s grade. They answer 12 questions, two for each skill, by tapping a bubble. There’s no timer, and no right or wrong is shown until the end, so they can work calmly. Sit with younger children and read the questions aloud.
Question 1 of 12
How many facts in one minute? Pick a set of facts. Type each answer; it checks itself as soon as the right number of digits is typed. Speed comes after accuracy, so practise little and often.
7 + 5
0 correct
Skills follow the Philippine K–12 and Thai primary maths curricula for Grades 1–4. Everything stays on this device.
Mock exams
Practice tests in English, Maths and Science for Grades 1–2 and 3–4. Answer all ten questions, then check your score and see why each answer is right. Printable papers with answer keys are in Downloads.
English · Grades 1–2
0 / 10 answered 00:00Games
Short learning games for spelling, reading and numbers, in English, Filipino and Cebuano. Picture clues help the youngest players, and stars are saved on this device.
Pop the bubble with the right answer before it floats away!
Ran the sight-word check? The words that were “not yet” appear here under My words.
Downloads
Free printables I made for my own pupils. A4 PDFs, free to print and photocopy for home or class.
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Sight-word flashcards
All 40 Dolch pre-primer words as big, cut-out flashcards. Use them with the sight-word check above.
5 pagesGrades K–1PDF
⬇ Download
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Maths worksheets · Grades 1–2
Two worksheets for each grade (counting, adding, taking away, tens and ones, money in pesos, skip counting) with answer keys.
9 pagesAnswer keysPDF
⬇ Download
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Maths worksheets · Grades 3–4
Times tables, division, fractions, rounding, decimals, perimeter and area, and big numbers, with answer keys.
9 pagesAnswer keysPDF
⬇ Download
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Mock exam papers · Grades 1–2
The English, Maths and Science mock exams from this site as paper tests, with an answer key that explains every answer.
3 subjectsAnswer keyPDF
⬇ Download
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Mock exam papers · Grades 3–4
English, Maths and Science paper tests for Grades 3–4, with a full answer key.
3 subjectsAnswer keyPDF
⬇ Download
Make a fresh maths worksheet
Every click makes a brand-new 18-question worksheet with an answer key, ready to print or save as PDF.
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Meet Teacher Daisy
My story, my résumé, and a one-minute video introduction.
▶ My 1-minute introduction
Hi, I’m Daisy Jane Escaro
I am a Licensed Professional Teacher and a graduate in Elementary Education, major in Special Education. I started my teaching career as a nursery teacher in a Catholic school in the Philippines, teaching early reading and maths. I then worked as the main playgroup teacher at a Waldorf school, creating warm, meaningful, play-based learning for young children.
Since 2010 I have focused on reading and maths remediation. In 2018, my colleagues and I founded our own remedial learning centre, Decoding Minds, in Lapu-Lapu City. When the 2020 pandemic closed our doors, we moved our classes online, and we still teach there today. I was trained to assess reading and maths with the BRIGANCE tool, and I use the results to design an individual programme for each child.
Today I teach Science, Mathematics and English Communication to Grades 1–4 at Ban Prang School in Thailand. After school and on Saturdays, I still teach remedial reading and maths classes, because I love seeing a child’s face when reading finally “clicks”.
🎓 BEEd, major in SPED
🪪 Licensed Professional Teacher
📖 Reading specialist since 2010
🌏 Philippines · Thailand · online
📋 Experience
Elementary School Teacher
Current · Grades 1–4
- Teach Science, Mathematics and English Communication
- Inquiry-based, student-centred lessons in an international setting
Reading & Maths Remediation Teacher · ESL Teacher · Administrator
Aug 2018 – present · Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu · co-founder · onsite, online since 2020
- Individualised remedial instruction in reading and maths
- Class schedules, teacher–student assignments and progress monitoring
- ESL teaching and centre marketing
Online ESL Instructor
Self-employed · remote
Jan 2017 – present · part-time
- Conversational and academic English for Korean, Japanese and Spanish adult learners (ages 27–57)
- Pronunciation, grammar, business English and fluency
Remedial Reading & Maths Teacher
Apr 2010 – May 2022 · Cebu
- Wrote and carried out individualised education plans (IEPs) for pupils with learning challenges
- Worked closely with parents and specialists to track progress
Waldorf Playgroup Teacher (main teacher)
Jun 2010 – Jun 2012 · Cebu
- Play-based learning, daily rhythm and seasonal celebrations
- Handwork, baking and gardening to build independence
Nursery Teacher
Catholic school, Philippines
Where my teaching career began
- Early literacy and numeracy: first reading and maths skills
🎓 Education & licence
- Bachelor of Elementary Education, major in Special Education
- Licensed Professional Teacher (Philippines)
🧪 Assessment training
Trained to give BRIGANCE reading and maths assessments by a US-trained colleague, and to turn the results into individual remedial programmes.
💛 Specialties
🌱 How I teach
- Assess first, then teach to the child’s exact next step
- Differentiated, inclusive lessons for every learner
- Close partnership with parents and specialists
- Warm, playful classrooms where mistakes are safe
“I want every child to leave my classroom believing they are a reader, a mathematician, and someone worth listening to.”
— Teacher DaisyLet’s talk
Schools, learning centres and parents: I’m open to teaching roles, reading and maths intervention, and one-to-one tutoring, in person or online.
- ✉️daisyjanees@gmail.com
- inLinkedIn · Daisy Jane Escaro
- fDecoding Minds on Facebook
- 📍Cebu, Philippines · Thailand · online