Read Write Inc- Our Phonics Scheme
The government strongly recommend the use of synthetic phonics when teaching early literacy skills to children. Synthetic phonics is simply the ability to convert a letter or letter group into sounds that are then blended together into a word.
Here at Darton Primary School, we are using the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme to get children off to a flying start with their literacy. RWI is a method of learning based upon letter sounds and phonics, and we use it to aid children in their reading and writing. Reading opens the door to learning. A child who reads a lot will become a good reader. A good reader will be able to read more challenging material. A child who can read more challenging material is a child who will learn. The more a child learns, the more he or she will want to find out.
Using RWI, the children learn to read effortlessly so they can put all their energy into comprehending what they read. It also allows them to spell effortlessly so they can put all their energy into composing what they write. The children are assessed regularly and grouped according to their ability.
The Read Write Inc Leader at Darton Primary School is Miss Hall. If you have any questions or need any guidance on the programme, please pop into the school office or give them a call and they will arrange an appointment for you.
Reading
When using RWI to read the children will:
Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple prompts.
Learn to read words using sound blending (Fred talk).
Read lively stories featuring words they have learnt to sound out.
Show that they comprehend the stories by answering ‘Find It’ and ‘Prove It’.
Writing
When using RWI to write the children will:
Learn to write the letter/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds.
Learn to write words by saying the sounds and graphemes (Fred fingers).
Learn to write simple then more complex sentences.
Compose stories based on story strips.
Compose a range of texts using discussion prompts.
Talking
When using RWI the children will also work in pairs:
To answer questions.
To practise every activity.
To take turns talking and listening to each other.
To give positive praise to each other.
Blending
Help your child learn to read words by sounding-blending (Fred talk) eg. c-a-t = cat, sh-o-p = shop. Children learn to read words by blending the letter-sounds that are in the Speed Sounds set. Help your child to say the pure sounds (‘m’ not ‘muh’, ‘s’ not ‘suh’ etc.) as quickly as they can, and then blend the sounds together to say the whole word.
Support your child at home using the guide below:
Reading Books Sent Home
Once children can blend fluently and know the first 44 sounds they will bring home a red Ditty book. Children on Green level to Orange level will bring home a RWI book.
Children on Yellow level to Grey level will also bring home a RWI book.
Read Write Inc Books: Please encourage your child to read though the speed sounds page first, then the green and red words page and then check your child understands the meaning of words on the vocabulary check page, before they start reading the book. Your child will have read this book before they bring it home. They should be able to read this book with fluency and expression by the time they bring it home and they should have a good comprehension of what the book is about. At the back of the book are find it/prove it questions for you to do with your child.
OTHER RESOURCES
1 General Sound Discrimination – environmental sounds
The aim of this aspect is to raise children’s awareness of the sounds around them and to develop their listening skills. Activities suggested in the guidance include going on a listening walk, drumming on different items outside and comparing the sounds, playing a sounds lotto game and making shakers.
2 General Sound Discrimination – instrumental sounds
This aspect aims to develop children’s awareness of sounds made by various instruments and noise makers. Activities include comparing and matching sound makers, playing instruments alongside a story and making loud and quiet sounds
3 General Sound Discrimination – body percussion
The aim of this aspect is to develop children’s awareness of sounds and rhythms. Activities include singing songs and action rhymes, listening to music and developing a sounds vocabulary.
4 Rhythm and Rhyme
This aspect aims to develop children’s appreciation and experiences of rhythm and rhyme in speech. Activities include rhyming stories, rhyming bingo, clapping out the syllables in words and odd one out.
5 Alliteration
The focus is on initial sounds of words, with activities including I-Spy type games and matching objects which begin with the same sound.
6 Voice Sounds
The aim is to distinguish between different vocal sounds and to begin oral blending and segmenting. Activities include Metal Mike, where children feed pictures of objects into a toy robot’s mouth and the teacher sounds out the name of the object in a robot voice – /c/-/u/-/p/ cup, with the children joining in
7 Oral Blending and Segmenting
In this aspect, the main aim is to develop oral blending and segmenting skills.
To practise oral blending, the teacher could say some sounds, such as /c/-/u/-/p/ and see whether the children can pick out a cup from a group of objects. For segmenting practise, the teacher could hold up an object such as a sock and ask the children which sounds they can hear in the word sock.
PLEASE FIND BELOW THE DOCUMENTS THAT WERE SHARED AT OUR PARENT PHONICS SESSION
- Rhythm and Rhyme Home Learning Challenge Nursery FS1.pdf
- T-L-5616-Alliteration-Home-Learning-Challenge-Sheet-FS1.pdf
- Phase 1 Aspect 3 Body Percussion Home Learning Challenges.pdf
- Phase 1 Aspect 1 Environmental Sounds Home Learning Challenges.pdf
- Phase 1 Aspect 6 Voice Sounds Home Learning Challenges.pdf
- Phase 1 Aspect 7 Oral Blending and Segmenting Home Learning Challenges.pdf
- Phase 1 Aspect 2 Instrumental Sounds Home Learning Challenges.pdf
- Phase 1 Phonics Workshop.pptx
USEFUL WEBSITE
- Read Write Inc – For more information and ideas for supporting your child, visit the RWI website
- Oxford Owl – Visit the Oxford Owl website which has over 100 free Ebooks for to enjoy with your child
- Family Learning: Phonics Games – Phonics games will help your child to practise sounding out words, which will help them to read
- ICT games – Phonics and Early English games– Listen to the word and choose which flower has that word underneath it
RWI SET 1
First, your child will learn to read:
- Set 1 Speed Sounds: these are sounds written with one letter:
- Set 1 sounds written with two letters (‘special friends’).
- Simple words containing these sounds, by sound-blending
- Read words in carefully levelled Red, Green and Purple Storybooks.
Clear pronunciation of sounds is extremely important. This video will demonstrate how to say sounds clearly.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkXcabDUg7Q
Set 1 sounds
Your child will learn to read words containing Set 1 Speed Sounds by blending sounds together to create words. We call this ‘Fred Talk’.
m-a-t mat
c-a-t cat
g-o-t got
f-i-sh fish
s-p-o-t spotb-e-s-t best
s-p-l-a-sh splash.
RWI SET 2
Now that your child knows all their single sounds, some simple ‘special friends’ and has learnt to blend simple words, they will now learn:
- To read and recognise Set 2 Speed Sounds: ay ee igh ow oo oo ar or air ir ou oy
- To read words containing these sounds
- Read a wider range of ‘red words’. (Words that cannot be read using phonic skills)
- To read Pink, Orange and Yellow Storybooks, building speed and fluency.
SET 2 SOUNDS
Each sound is linked to a picture hook and a rhyme to help the children learn and remember the sounds.Clear pronunciation of sounds is extremely important. This video will demonstrate how to say sounds clearlyhttps://youtu.be/TkXcabDUg7Q
Useful Websites
Parent guide to Read Write Inc. Phonics | Oxford Owl – Really useful website that includes a worksheet for each letter of Set 2 to practise letter formation.
Amazon – RWI Flashcards Set 2 and 3 – A useful pack of flashcards to use when practising sounds and blending.
Your child is now growing in reading ability and confidence. In SET 3, they will learn to:
- Read Set 3 Speed Sounds ea oi a-e i-e o-e u-e aw are ur er ow ai oa ew ire ear ure
- Read words containing these new sounds
- Read further ‘Red words’ that cannot be read using phonic skills.
- Read Blue and Grey Storybooks with increasing speed.
Each sound is linked with a picture and rhyme to help the children learn and remember them.
The pronunciation of these sounds can be found near the end of the below video.
https://youtu.be/TkXcabDUg7Q
This useful video, made by an RWI lead teacher, shows how you can help to teach your child set 3 sounds at home.
USEFUL WEBSITES
Parent guide to Read Write Inc. Phonics | Oxford Owl – Really useful website that includes a worksheet for each letter of Set 3 to practise letter formation.
Amazon: RWI Parent Pack 3 – This is a useful pack that includes sound flashcards, a letter formation booklet and a poster to display at home.
Amazon – RWI Flashcards Set 2 and 3 – A useful pack of flashcards to use when practising sounds and blending.
Technical Vocabulary:
- Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound. There are 44 phonemes in English. Phonemes can be put together to make words.
- Grapheme: way of writing down a phoneme. Graphemes can be made up from 1 letter e.g. p, 2 letters e.g. sh, 3 letters e.g. tch or 4 letters e.g ough
- Digraph: a grapheme containing two letters that makes just one sound (phoneme).
- Trigraph: a grapheme containing three letters that makes just one sound (phoneme).
- GPC: grapheme-phoneme correspondence
- Blending: Looking at a written word, looking at each grapheme and using knowledge of GPCs to work out which phoneme each grapheme represents and then merging these phonemes together to make a word. This is the basis of reading.
- Oral Segmenting: Hearing a whole word and then splitting it up into the phonemes that make it. Children need to develop this skill before they will be able to segment words to spell them.
- Segmenting: Hearing a word, splitting it up into the phonemes that make it, using knowledge of GPCs to work out which graphemes represent those phonemes and then writing those graphemes down in the right order. This is the basis of spelling.
Reading at home
We would like to share with you our practice of home reading. Once your child is confident with set 1 sounds and associated words, they will then begin to bring home reading books. There are 2 types of books that your child will be bringing home per week. Both books must be read everyday to help your child develop fluency in their reading.
Book Bag Books:
Your child will bring home a ‘book bag’ book. This an unfamiliar text where they will need to use their phonic knowledge to decode the words. The book only contains sounds that your child knows.
Book Bag Books are changed every Friday so please ensure that these are returned to school.
Please continue to write in their reading record daily.
Story Books:
As soon as your child starts to read the Read Write Inc. Phonics Storybooks, he or she will bring home a black and white Storybook. This is a copy of the colour version he or she will have read at school.
Your child will have read this story at least three times within school, so should be able to read the story confidently.
A brief explanation of how to follow the activities is included in the books.
Story Books are changed every Friday so please ensure that these are returned to school.
Please continue to write in their reading record daily.
Please don’t write on or damage the books as the books will be used by other children.
How to listen to your child read
- Ask your child to read the sounds and words before he or she reads the story.
- When your child reads the story, ask him or her to sound out.
- The words that he or she can’t read automatically. Don’t allow your child to struggle too much. Praise your child when he or she succeeds.
- Read back each sentence or page to keep the plot moving. (Your child’s energy is going into reading the words not the story.)
An aid for letter formation