We are a “Get Reading. Keep Reading. Change Everything.” school.
We use the highly successful Read Write Inc. Phonics programme to teach our children to read, write and spell.
What is Read Write Inc?
To visit the parent pages on the Ruth Miskin Training website go to:
To visit Oxford Owl (more help for 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, at St Therese’s we begin the programme in Nursery and will continue teaching RWI to children beyond the age of 7 if they still need support in their reading.
How will RWI be taught?
All children are assessed regularly by our RWI lead teacher so they work with children at the same level. This allows complete participation in lessons.
Nursery
When appropriate, children will be introduced to the initial sounds in short sessions. To begin with we learn a sound a day. We use pure sounds so that your child will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily.
e.g. mmaisie mmmountain is morphed into m, t-t-t-tower is morphed into t
Reception
In Reception all children will learn how to ‘read’ and ‘write’ all of the sounds in Set 1 and then taught how to blend these into words. Fred the frog helps the children to blend the sounds together which is then used to help children read. The teachers will often use the phrase ‘fred talk’ to sound out words.
The children take part in lessons every day progressing to reading books by the end of the Summer term. They also learn how to spell red words (words that cannot be sounded out) and 3/4 letter words during these lessons.
Year One & Year Two
Children follow the same format as Reception but will work on complex sounds (Set 2 and 3 sounds) and read books appropriate to their reading level. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last for 45 minutes. Once children become fluent speedy readers they will move onto the Comprehension programme.
Speed Sounds Sets 2 and 3: The long vowels:
Once your child knows all Set 1 sounds by sight and sound and uses them to blend to read words, we start teaching Set 2 initially and then Set 3 long vowel sounds. Your child will need to learn that most vowel sounds have more than one spelling.
There are 12 Set 2 ‘speed sounds’ that are made up of two or three letters which represent just one sound, e.g. ay as in play, ee as in tree and igh as in high. It is important that your child does not pronounce these as 2 or 3 separate sounds. When your child sees the ‘speed sound’ letters together in a word, they must say just one sound for these letters.
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.
| Set 1 | |
| Sound | Rhyme |
| 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 |
Help Video: How to say the sounds:
Help Video: Blending Sounds
Help Video: Listening to your child read:
Once confident with Set 1 sounds including Special Friends, children progress to Set 2 & 3 Sounds:
| Long vowel sound | Set 2 Speed Sound cards Teach these first | Set 3 Speed Sound cards | |
| ay | ay: may I play | a-e: make a cake | ai: snail in the rain |
| ee | ee: what can you see | ea: cup of tea | e: he me we she be |
| igh | igh: fly high | i-e: nice smile | |
| ow | ow: blow the snow | o-e: phone home | ao: goat in a boat |
| oo | oo: poo at the zoo | u-e: huge brute | ew: chew the stew |
| oo | oo: look at a book | ||
| ar | ar: start the car | ||
| or | or: shut the door | aw: yawn at dawn | |
| air | air: that’s not fair | are: share and care | |
| ir | ir: whirl and twirl | ur: nurse for a purse | er: a better letter |
| ou | ou: shout it out | ow: brown cow | |
| oy | oy: toy for a boy | oi: spoil the boy | |
| ire | ire: fire fire! | ||
| ear | ear: hear with your ear | ||
| ure | ure: sure it’s pure? | ||
Colour Groups:
| Books | Year Group Expectations | |
| Red Ditty 1-10 | Reception | |
| Green 1-10 | Reception | |
| Purple 1-10 | Reception | |
| Pink 1-10 | Reception/Year One | |
| Orange 1-12 | Year One | |
| Yellow 1-10 | Year One | |
| Blue 1-10 | Year One | |
| Grey 1-13 | Year Two |
Spelling with Fred Fingers
Your child will learn to spell using their ‘Fred Fingers’. They will be encouraged to ‘push’ the sounds onto their fingers to help them hear the sounds in the word for spelling.
Each finger represents one sound:
c-l-ay – 3 sounds for spelling
f-r-igh-t – 4 sounds for spelling
Alien words
Alien words are ‘nonsense words’ that the children must carefully FRED talk and blend to read the word. This is to show that they can apply their phonic skills to unfamiliar words. ‘Nonsense words’ are an important part of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check taken at the end of Year 1.
For example: froyg (f-r-oy-g) zewpy (z-ew-p-y)
Simple Speed Sound Chart
Complex Speed Sound Chart
Red Words
Red words are sometimes known as ‘common exception words’ or ‘tricky’ words. These are words that children will need to learn on sight because they contain parts that are not decodable. For example the word ‘the’ could be decoded as ‘theh’, but children must learn the correct pronunciation and spelling. Some of the red words are only tricky until a specific sound is learnt or because people pronounce them differently in different parts of the country.
Reading at Home
Link: https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/
Oxford Owl has lots of free Read Write Inc. Phonics resources to help your child continue learning, including eBooks, practice sheets, Ditty sheets, slideshows, and parent films.
Your teacher will give you a class log in to log in and access the books or sign up yourself!
Follow the link: https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/