Read Write Inc Phonics

At Eileen Wade Primary School we aim for all our pupils to become fluent, confident readers who are passionate about reading.

Children who read or are read to regularly have the opportunity to open the doors to so many different worlds! More importantly, reading will give your child the tools to become independent life-long learners.
We can achieve this together through:
• Read Write Inc, a program to help to your child read at school
• Encouraging children to develop a love of books by reading to them daily, at home and at school
• Giving children access to a wide range of books at school and at home

At Eileen Wade we use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) to give your child the best possible start with their literacy. We have put together a guide to how the RWI programme works together with some useful links.
Mrs Auld is our Read Write Inc lead teacher, so if you have questions about RWI, contact school who can refer you to her. Please take the time to read the information as it will provide invaluable information as to how you can help and support your child in reading.

What is Read Write Inc?

Read Write Inc (RWI) is a phonics complete literacy programme which helps all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. The programme is designed for children aged 4-7. However, will continue teaching RWI to children beyond the age of 7 if they still need support in their reading.

RWI was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found at https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/.

How will RWI be taught?

All children are assessed regularly by their teacher so they work with children at the same level. This allows complete participation in lessons.

Reception

In Reception all children will learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down.

Reading

The children:

learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts – see below
learn to read words using Fred talk and sound blending
read from a range of storybooks and non-fictions books matched to their phonic knowledge
work well with partners
develop comprehension skills in stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove It' discussion questions

Writing

The children:

learn to write and form the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds with the help of fun phrases
learn to write words by using Fred Talk
learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write

Talking

The children:

They work in pairs so that they:
answer every question
practise every activity with their partner
take turns in talking and reading to each other
develop ambitious vocabulary

Year One & Year Two

Children follow the same format as Reception but will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last for one hour. Once children become fluent speedy readers they will move on to literacy in Year One and Active English in Year Two.

Five key principles underpin the teaching in all Read Write Inc. sessions:

Purpose – know the purpose of every activity and share it with the children, so they know the one thing they should be thinking about

Participation – ensure every child participates throughout the lesson. Partnership work is fundamental to learning

Praise – ensure children are praised for effort and learning, not ability

Pace – teach at an effective pace and devote every moment to teaching and learning

Passion – be passionate about teaching so children can be engaged emotionally.

Children will be taught how to read as follows:

Before you start to teach your child, practise saying the sounds below.These are the sounds we use to speak in English.

Fred Talk

We use pure sounds (‘m’ not’ muh’,’s’ not ‘suh’, etc.) so that your child will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily.

At school we use a puppet called Fred who is an expert on sounding out words! we call it, ‘Fred Talk’. E.g. m-o-p, c-a-t, m-a-n, sh-o-p, b-l-a-ck.

The following video is an example of blending sounds with Fred. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEzfpod5w_Q

The children are taught the sounds in 3 sets.

Set 1

Set 1 Sounds are taught in the following order together with rhymes to help children form the letters correctly and instantly recognise sounds ready for blending.

m - Down Maisie then over the two mountains. Maisie, mountain, mountain.

a - Round the apple, down the leaf.

s - Slide around the snake

d - Round the dinosaur's back, up his neck and down to his feet.

t - Down the tower, across the tower,

i - Down the insects body, dot for the head.

n - Down Nobby and over the net.

p - Down the plait, up and over the pirates face.

g - Round the girls face, down her hair and give her a curl

o - All around the orange

c - Curl around the caterpillar

k - Down the kangaroos body, tail and leg

u - Down and under the umbrella, up to the top and down to the puddle

b - Down the laces, over the toe and touch the heel

f - Down the stem and draw the leaves

e - Slice into the egg, go over the top, then under the egg

l - Down the long leg

h - Down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back

sh - Slither down the snake, then down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back

r - Down the robot's back, then up and curl

j - Down his body, curl and dot

v - Down a wing, up a wing

y - Down a horn, up a horn and under the yak's head.

w - Down, up, down, up the worm.

th - Down the tower, across the tower, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back

z - Zig-zag-zig, down the zip.

ch - Curl around the caterpillar, , then down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back

qu - Round the queen’s head, up to her crown, down her hair and curl

x - Cross down the arm and leg and cross the other way

ng - A thing on a string

nk - I think I stink

Please do not use letter names at this early stage.

Children will also use pictures for each sound to help recognise the sound and then form the shape of the sound.

Step 2:

The children are then taught Set 2 Sounds - the long vowels. 

Long vowel sound

Set 2 Speed Sound cards

ay: may I play

ee: what can you see

igh: fly high

ow: blow the snow

oo: poo at the zoo

oo: look at a book

ar: start the car

or: shut the door 

air: that's not fair

ir: whirl and twirl

ou: shout it out

oy: toy for a boy

When they are very confident with all of set 1 and 2 they are taught Set 3 Sounds.

Set 3

a-e: make a cake

ea: cup of tea

i-e: nice smile

o-e: phone home

u-e: huge brute

ai: snail in the rain

oa: goat in a boat

ew: chew the stew

aw: yawn at dawn

are: share and care

ur: nurse for a purse

ow: brown cow

oi: spoil the boy

ire: fire fire!

ear: hear with your ear

ure: sure it's pure

ai: snail in the rain

e: he me we she be

oa: goat in a boat

ew: chew the stew

er:  a better letter