At Upton St James, we use the Read Write Inc. (RWI) programme to get children off to a flying start with their literacy. Read Write Inc. Phonics is a method of teaching reading and writing, which is centred around learning the sounds of the letters (phonics) and then blending them together to read words. The children also learn to break down words into individual sounds in order to write them.
When using RWI to write the children will:
Children learn to read words by blending the letter sounds that are in the Speed Sound sets. Help your child learn to read words by sound-blending e.g. c-a-t = cat. Help children to say the pure sounds, as quickly as they can and then to blend the sounds together to say the whole word.
Each letter has an attached rhyme to ensure the children are forming their letters correctly. See the attached mat of how we teach each letter from Reception.
There is a wealth of further support and materials on the Read Write Inc website for parents and carers, which can be found here:
Parent guide to Read Write Inc. Phonics - Oxford Owl
Where else can I find information?
How can I support my child’s reading and writing?
What will my child bring home to read?
How can I support my child to learn Set 1 sounds and to blend?
How can I support my child to learn Set 2 or 3 sounds?
How do I listen to my child read?
What do I do with the picture books?
How can I help my child to practise their handwriting?
How can I help my child to spell words?
How else can I develop my child’s language?
What resources can I buy to support my child’s reading and writing at home?
Where else can I find information?
Watch video tutorials on http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/ to help you to understand more about Read Write Inc. Phonics and how to help your child read and write at home.
Other useful websites:
Ruth Miskin Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/miskin.education
Free e-books for home reading:
http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Reading/
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/ruthmiskintrainingedu?mc_cid=63bfb74b56&mc_eid=4ec2ad9cea
‘Special Friends’
Special friends are a combination of two or three letters representing one sound, e.g. ck, ay, igh, oa.
Fred Talk
Fred the Frog helps children read and spell. He can say the sounds in words, but he can’t say the whole word, so children have to help him.
To help children read, Fred (the teacher) says the sounds and then children say the word.
For example, Fred says c-a-t, children say cat, Fred says l-igh-t, children say light.
Teachers are encouraged to use Fred Talk through the day, so children learn to blend sounds.
For example:
Play Simon Says: Put your hands on your h-ea-d/ f-oo-t/ kn-ee.
Put on your c-oa-t/ h-a-t/ s-c-ar-f.
Set the table with a b-ow-l/ f-or-k/ s-p-oo-n.
‘Fred in your head’
Once children can sound out a word, we teach them to say the sounds silently in their heads.
We show them how to do this by:
1. whispering the sounds and then saying the whole word;
2. mouthing the sounds silently and then saying the whole word;
3. saying the whole word straight away.
Perfect pencil grip
Children sit at a table to write.
They hold up a pencil in a tripod pencil grip with the non-writing hand flat holding their paper.
How can I support my child’s reading and writing?
Here are the top five things you can do.
See the other FAQs for further detail.
What will my child bring home to read?
How can I support my child to learn Set 1 sounds and to blend?
We teach children to read and spell using Fred. He is a toy frog who can say the sounds in words, but not the whole word. Children have to help him.
To help children learn to blend, we say the sounds as Fred and then children repeat the sounds and say the whole word.
Here are two ways you can use Fred Talk at home:
How can I support my child to learn Set 2 or 3 sounds?
How do I listen to my child read?
Your child has a Storybook matched to the sounds and words they know – a decodable book – so they should be able to read all the words.
Please avoid saying, “This book is too easy for you!” but instead say “I love how well you can read this book!”
‘Special Friends’, ‘Fred Talk’, read the word
Remind your child to read words using ‘Special Friends, Fred Talk, read the word’ (see glossary).
For example ‘ship’: spot the ‘sh’, then Fred Talk and blend to read the word e.g. sh, sh-i-p, ship.
Red Words
Red Words are also known as common exception or tricky words. They occur in stories regularly (said, what, where) but have unusual letter combinations (‘ai’ in the word ‘said’ makes the sound ‘e’).
Remind your child not to use Fred Talk to read Red Words but instead to ‘stop and think’.
Tell them the word if you need to.
Read the same book again and again
Children love reading the same book again and again. Their reading becomes speedier and they understand what they are reading.
What do I do with the picture books?
One of the most important things you can do as a parent at home is read to your child.
Loving stories is important because children who love stories want to read stories for themselves. Children who read a lot become better readers.
Here are some top tips for storytime:
How can I help my child to practise their handwriting?
Remind your child:
Challenge your child to see how many sounds they can write in a minute.
Say the sound and children write e.g. ‘write m’, ‘write s’, ‘write w’.
How can I help my child to spell words?
How else can I develop my child’s language?
Children will have a large vocabulary if they are part of a ‘talk-a-lot’ family:
What resources can I buy to support my child’s reading and writing at home?
You can purchase the below from Amazon to support your child with blending at home:
Mr Rob Carr
At Upton St James (USJ) we are passionate about ensuring all children become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers who are able to ‘Rise to their best’. We believe that Read Write, Inc (RWI) phonics provides the foundations of learning to make the development into fluent reading and writing easier. Children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. Through RWI phonics, children learn a simple alphabetic code followed by a more complex code. All reading books progress cumulatively, matched to the sound’s children are learning and already know. The teaching of phonics is of high priority.
The systematic teaching of phonics has a high priority throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 1. Phonics is taught daily to all children in EYFS, Year 1 and those in Year 2 who have not passed the phonics screening in Year 1 or completed the Read, Write, Inc (RWI) phonics programme.
In the EYFS, a vital aspect in the development of essential knowledge in phonics is the use of continuous provision. This means that children are using and developing their knowledge and understanding throughout the year on a daily/weekly basis.
Children also take part in daily synthetic phonics sessions, which follow the Read Write Inc. scheme. Children are encouraged to transfer their learning from these phonics sessions into their independent reading and writing in the continuous provision.
Children are taught to:
decode letter/sounds correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills
read ‘tricky’ (red words) on sight
understand what they read
read aloud with fluency and expression
write confidently, with a strong focus on vocabulary and grammar
spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words
acquire good handwriting
Children are grouped, according to their progress in reading rather than their writing. This is because it is known that children’s progress in writing is likely to lag behind progress in reading, especially for those whose motor skills are less well developed.
Partner work enables children to explain and consolidate what they are learning and by supporting each other in their learning children are able to ‘Love their neighbour as themselves’ (Mark 12 v30-31).
Staff ensure that children read decodable books that are closely matched to the children’s increasing knowledge of phonics and the ‘red words’. This is so that, early on, they experience success and gain confidence that they are readers.
Adults read a wide range of stories, poetry and non-fiction to the children every day where a love of reading is promoted.
Those children who are not making the expected level of progress in phonics and reading will have 1:1 or small group interventions.
Through the teaching of systematic phonics, our aim is for children to become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage 1. The children read books in line with their phonics knowledge. Children can then focus on developing fluency and comprehension throughout the school. Embedding the alphabetic code early on means that children quickly learn to write simple words and sentences. Attainment in phonics is measured by the phonics screening Test at the end of Year 1 and ongoing assessment throughout the Read, Write, Inc programme.
| Subject Documents |
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| Expectations of Progress Jan 25 |
| What to teach when May 25 |