Phonics & Reading
At Wimborne First School and Nursery we use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) to give your child the best possible start with their Literacy development. 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.
Understanding Phonics
To find out more about phonics please click on the picture below.
Reading at Wimborne First School and Nursery
At WFSN we aim for all our children to become fluent, confident readers who are passionate about reading.
Children who read regularly 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
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, at WFSN we begin to expose children in Nursery to skills that will help them access the taught programme in Reception. We continue teaching RWI to children beyond the age of 7, as we use a stage not age approach.
Parent video: What is Read Write Inc Phonics - click on the picture below
How will my child be taught to read?
We start by teaching phonics to the children in the Nursery during the half term before they start school. Then in Reception we recap previously taught sounds before continuing through the RWI stages. This means that the children learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to spell well. We teach the children simple ways of remembering these sounds and letters.
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 learn to 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
Progressing through the stages
Children in Early Years are introduced to initial sounds. Children then begin to learn how to 'read' the sound in words and how those sounds be can be written down. As children progress, they follow the same format as Early Years but will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last approximately 40 minutes.
The children are assessed regularly and grouped according to their ability. They will work with a RWI trained teacher or teaching assistant.
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, practice saying the sounds below. These are the sounds we use to speak in English. Children initially begin using pictures for each sound, this will help children recognise the sound and then form the shape of the sound.
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
RWI Set 1, 2, 3
How to say the sound correctly
Please use the video below to support your child pronouncing each letter correctly at home.
The children are taught the sounds in 3 sets.
Step 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. At this stage we do not use the letter names.
Please click on the document below for a copy of the letter formation rhymes for the set one sounds.
Letter formation rhymes
| Name | |
|---|---|
| letter-formation-rhymes.pdf | Download |
Step 2:
The children are then taught Set 2 Sounds - the long vowels. When they are very confident with all of set 1 and 2 they are taught Set 3 Sounds.
|
Set 2 Speed Sounds |
||
|
Sound
|
Phrase |
Words to practice reading and spelling |
|
ay |
ay: may I play |
play, day, may, way, say, spray |
|
ee |
ee: what can you see |
see, three, been, green, seen, sleep |
|
igh |
igh: fly high |
high, night, light, fright, bright, might |
|
ow |
ow: blow the snow |
blow, snow, low, show, know, slow |
|
oo |
oo: poo at the zoo |
too, zoo, food, pool, moon, spoon |
|
oo |
oo: look at a book |
took, look, book, shook, cook, foot |
|
ar |
ar: start the car |
car, start, part, star, hard, sharp |
|
or |
or: shut the door |
sort, short, horse, sport, fork, snort |
|
air |
air: that’s not fair |
fair, stair, hair, air, chair, lair |
|
ir |
ir: whirl and twirl |
girl, bird, third, whirl, twirl, dirt |
|
ou |
ou: shout it out |
out, shout, loud, mouth, round, found |
|
oy |
oy: boy with a toy |
toy, boy, enjoy |
|
Set 3 Speed Sounds |
||
|
Sound
|
Phrase |
Words to practice reading and spelling |
|
ea |
Cup of tea |
clean, dream, seat, scream, real |
|
oi |
Spoil the boy |
join, voice, coin |
|
a-e |
Make a cake |
make, cake, name, same, late, date |
|
i-e |
Nice smile |
smile, white, nice, like, time, hide |
|
o-e |
Phone home |
home, hope, spoke, note, broke, phone |
|
u-e |
Huge brute |
tune, rude, huge, brute, use, June |
|
aw |
Yawn at dawn |
saw, las, dawn, crawl, paw, yawn |
|
are |
Care and share |
share, dare, scare, square, bare |
|
ur |
Nurse with a purse |
burn, turn, spurt, nurse, purse, hurt |
|
er |
A better letter |
never, better, weather, after, proper, corner |
|
ow |
Brown cow |
how, down, brown, cow, town, now |
|
ai |
Snail in the rain |
snail, paid, tail, train, paint, rain |
|
oa |
Goat in a boat |
goat, boat, road, throat, toast, coat |
|
ew |
Chew the stew |
chew, new, blew, flew, drew, grew |
|
ire |
Fire! Fire! |
Fire, hire, wire, bon/fire, in/spire, con/spire |
|
ear |
Hear with your ear |
hear, dear, fear, near, year, ear |
|
ure |
Sure it’s pure |
pure, sure, cure, pic/ture, mix/ture, ad/ven/ture |
Nonsense words (Alien words)- What 'a load' or nonsense!
As well as learning to read and blend real words children will have plenty of opportunities to apply their sound recognition skills on reading ‘Nonsense words’. These words will also feature heavily in the Year One Phonics Screening check in the summer term. These words provide endless opportunities for children to apply and practice their thinking in a range of different contexts.
Click on the Alien picture below for some examples of 'Alien Words'.
Step 3:
Within all the RWI sessions/books children will be exposed to red and green words to learn to help them to become speedy readers. Red words are words that are not easily decodable and challenge words to extend children’s vocabulary. Green words are linked to the sounds they have been learning and are easily decodable.
Dots and dashes are used to represent the sound each letter makes.
During the RWI session children will read text/ books matched to their phonic knowledge three times and at each new reading they will have plenty of opportunities to practise using their developing comprehension skills. You may also hear your child talking about ‘hold a sentence and build a sentence’.
Hold a sentence is an activity that encourages children to remember a whole sentence while focusing on spelling and punctuation.
Build a sentence is to give children the opportunity to create their own sentence to that shows the meaning of a word and edit a sentence allows the children to critique a sentence using their knowledge of spelling punctuation and grammar. Children complete a longer piece of independent writing, which gives them the opportunity to show off their creativity and to practice their spelling, grammar and punctuation.
To help at home:
Your child will start to bring books home when they are confident readers, relating to their reading stage. You will find they will bring home a phonics based book, this will aid application, speed and fluency- developing speedy reading!
Children in Reception who have learnt the set one speed sounds but are not yet blending fluently will bring home 'My Set one speed sound book' and a 'love to read' library book for you to read with them.
Once children can blend fluently and know the set one sounds they will bring home Ditty sheets or a red Ditty book. When the children are ready they will progress onto the next stage of RWI storybooks.
Reading at home
When sharing your child's RWI books at home 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 at least three times 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.
Finally, don't worry if your child is struggling at first with their sounds and words, they will get there in their own time. If you have time (we know it is very precious!), we would urge you to try and read stories to your child before they go to bed. This will help develop a wider vocabulary which makes a vast difference to their quality of writing but it will also encourage them to enjoy a good story.
To find out more about Reading at WFSN and our various reading incentives click on the books in the picture below to take you to the reading page on our website.
To find out more about RWI and Phonics and Reading at WFSN click on the document below where you will find the RWI presentation that Mrs Rees our Assistant Head and English Lead shared with parents at this years RWI presentation.
RWI presentation to parents 2023
| Name | |
|---|---|
| Powerpoint for RWI talk to parents 2023.pdf | Download |
Useful websites for Parents
Please find a list of websites that you may find useful in helping you and your child learn about phonics. Games and fun activity websites are also included. Some you can subscribe to but many have lots of free games that you can access.
https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/ - Information and resources to support phonics learning at home
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/3-5-years/letters-and-sounds - fun game for the children to play
https://www.phonicsbloom.com - fun games for the children to play - focus on the free games in Phase 2 and 3
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zf2yf4j - fun games for the children to play