Phonics at Westrop 

Read, Write, Inc is the phonics scheme we use to teach reading and spelling in Early Years, Key Stage One and Lower Key Stage Two if needed. We have chosen Read, Write, Inc because we want our children to learn to read as quickly as possible, then read widely, becoming lifelong readers. Read Write Inc. teaches children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. They learn to form each letter, spell correctly, and compose their ideas step-by-step. Children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes.

​​​​​​Our phonics programme ensures that:

• We foster a love of reading and sharing stories, poems and rhymes to develop vocabulary and comprehension.

• Children experience success from the very beginning.

• Children have a secure, systematic, synthetic phonics programme taught from the summer term in nursery/beginning of reception.
• We Create opportunities for children to read and re-read books that match the phonics stage taught ensuring fluency and comprehension.

• Children engage with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion and are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice.

• Reading teachers use effective use of assessment to quickly pick up children falling behind, giving targeted support. 

RWI overview

How we teach your children to read and write.
Every child deserves success right from the start. We know that the sooner children learn to read, the greater their success at school. This is why we put reading at the heart of what we do.

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.  We begin the programme in the summer term in Nursery and will continue teaching RWI to children until they can read fluently.

RWI was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found at

https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/.

How do we make phonics easy for children to learn?
Read Write Inc. Phonics depends upon children learning to read and write sounds effortlessly, so we make it simple and fun.
Children learn to read words by sound-blending using a frog called Fred. Fred says the sounds and children help him blend the sounds to read each word. Children learn to do this orally first.

We teach them one way to read and write the 40+ sounds in English. We use pictures to help, for example we make ‘a’ into the shape of an apple, ‘f’ into the shape of a flower. These pictures help all children to read the sounds easily.

 Set 1 Sounds 

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. 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.

Set 1 Speed Sounds 

These are the Set 1 Speed Sounds written with one letter:

m  a  s  d  t  i  n  p  g  o  c  k  u  b  f  e  l  h  r  j  v  y  w  z  x

These are the sounds written with two letters (your child will call these ‘special friends’):

sh  th  ch  qu  ng  nk  ck

Check if your child can read these sounds. Make sure they say sounds like ‘mmm’, not letter names like ‘em’. Watch the Sound Pronunciation Guide video to help you.

If your child is learning Set 1 Speed Sounds, help them to:

• Complete the Speed Sounds practice sheets for the Speed Sounds they have learnt.

 

 Learning to blend with Set 1 Speed Sounds

Your child is learning to read words containing Set 1 Speed Sounds by sound blending. For example:

m-a-t mat

c-a-t cat

g-o-t got

f-i-sh fish
s-p-o-t spot

b-e-s-t best

s-p-l-a-sh splash.

If your child is learning to sound blend, help them to:

• You could watch the Sound Blending video to help you support your child with sound blending.

  

Set 2 & 3 sounds

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 3 teaches children the different spellings of the same sounds, for example, they learn that the sound ‘ay’ is written ay, a-e and ai; the sound ‘ee’ is written ee, e and ea. We use phrases to help them remember each sound for example, ay, may I play, a-e – make a cake?

 

Set 2 sounds

 These are the Set 2 Speed Sounds:

ay  ee  igh  ow (as in blow)  oo (as in zoo)

oo (as in look) ar  or  air  ir  ou (as in out)  oy

Check if your child can read these sounds.

If your child is learning the Set 2 Speed Sounds, help them to:

• Complete the Speed Sounds practice sheets for the Speed Sounds they have learnt.

 Set 3 sounds

These are Set 3 Speed Sounds:

ea (as in tea)

oi (as in spoil)

a–e (as in cake)

i–e (as in smile)

o–e (as in home)

u–e (as in huge) 

aw (as in yawn)

are (as in care)

ur (as in nurse)

er  (as in letter)

ow (as in brown)

ai  (as in snail)

oa (as in goat)

ew (as in chew)

ire (as in fire)

ear (as in hear)

ure (as in pure)

Check if your child can read these sounds.

If your child is learning Set 3 Speed Sounds, help them to:

• Complete the Speed Sounds practice sheets for the Speed Sounds they have learnt. 

If your child has learnt all three sets of Speed Sounds, they need to practise them and read books with words made up of those sounds. They could:

• Complete the Speed Sounds practice sheets for the Set 3 Speed Sounds.

 

Nonsense words (Alien words)      

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.  

 How do we ensure children can read every book?
The first thing we do is to give children books we know they can read – without any guessing. (We read lots of other stories to them, but do not expect them to read these yet.)

Before they read the story, children sound out the names of characters and new words, practise reading any of the ‘tricky red’ words, and are read a thought-provoking introduction to get them excited about the story.

Then, over 3 / 5 days, children read the story three times: first to focus on reading the words carefully; the second to help them read the story fluently; and on the third, we talk about the story together for example, how characters might be feeling and why.

By the time your child reads the story to you at home, they will be able to read it confidently with expression. Children also take another ‘book bag’ home to read, which are matched phonetically to the book they have read in school. They will also take a book that they have chosen from our school library. This book is to share with an adult and is picked for reading for pleasure. 

 

How do we teach children to spell confidently?
We use just two simple activities: Fred Fingers to spell regular words and Red Rhythms for tricky words. 
 

Fred Fingers
We teach children to spell using ‘Fred Fingers’: we say a word and then children pinch the sounds onto their fingers and write the word, sound by sound.

Red Rhythms
We teach tricky words with Red Rhythms. We say the tricky letters in a puzzled or annoyed voice and build the letter names up into a rhythm, for example, s-ai-d.

 

Story and poetry time 
Storytime is the highlight of every day. We have a bank of stories that children get to know well, and others we read for fun. Children learn to retell the story, learn the refrains by heart and act out the stories. Children will also learn poetry too.

  

PARENTS READ WRITE INC. Guide

Parent's Phonics Guide

 

Phonics Workshop For Parents

RWI parents meeting 11th Oct with notes

Here are the handouts:

RWI sounds and Mnemonics

Ten Top Tips

Reading at home booklet

 

Parents letters

Reading at Home reminder Feb 2024

REC Reading at Home reminder Feb 2024

NEW Read Write Ink Information

 

RWI Glossary:

Term	Definition
Fred	Fred is a frog puppet we use in sessions. He can only speak in sounds.
Fred talk	sounding out a word, saying each of the sounds before blending
Fred fingers	‘Pinching’ each sound from a word on your fingers to help spell a word
Green words	Decodable words
Red words	Irregular words that cannot be sounded out
Story Green words	decodable words that will be included in the storybook
Speedy green words	decodable words in the storybook that children should be able to read at speed rather than fred talking first.
Fred in your Head	still sounding out a word but doing so in your head rather than out loud, helps build fluency.
Special friends	Two or three letters working together to make one sound e.g. sh, ch, igh, air, a-e, i-e.

  

Reception - Reading at home reminder

Many thanks for your support so far this year with RWI and your child’s reading journey.

Please can we remind you that…

• If your child brings home a Blending book then they should be reading the Blending book at home.
• If your child brings home a Black and White RWI book then they should be reading the Black and White RWI book book at home, including practicing the speed sounds / speedy and story green and red words found at the front and back at least 3 times a week. This should be recorded in their yellow reading.
• Your child should be reading the book bag book for extra practice too, recording it in their yellow reading diary.
• ALL RWI in books are kept in the named small plastic wallet provided to keep them safe and in good condition.
• ALL RWI books should be brought in the named small plastic wallet Every Day as some children will be heard read outside of book change days.

 

Key Stage 1

•  Your child has been placed in a Read Write Inc (RWI) group following RWI phonics assessments. They will be revising, building on and securing what they already have been taught from Reception and Year 1.

•  Your child will be assessed again at the end of each term on their speed sound knowledge and placed in ‘Story book groups’ where they will bring home NEW ‘Book bag Books’.

• Reading at home reminder

  Many thanks for your support so far this year with RWI and your child’s reading journey.

  Please can we remind you that…

  • Your child should be reading the Black and White RWI book including practicing the speed sounds / speedy and story green and red words found at the front and back at least 3 times a week. This should be recorded in their yellow diary or on the Y3/Y4 reading App.
  • Your child should be reading the book bag book for extra practice, recording it in their yellow diary or the App.
  • ALL RWI in books are kept in the named small plastic wallet provided to keep them safe and in good condition.
  • ALL RWI books should be brought in the named small plastic wallet EVERYDAY as some children will be heard read outside of book change days.

   Unfortunately, some of our books have already been lost or damaged significantly. There will now be a charge for a lost or damaged Black and White book of £2.50 and a colour Book Bag Book of £5.00. Sadly, sets are being depleted and there are not enough for some groups to all take home.

  Of course, we appreciate that some books do go walk about in school. We find that when found left lying around in the named wallet they are returned to the class / reading teacher ASAP or are left in individual trays. We do speak to the children regularly about their responsibility to look after their books and the importance of reading at home.

 

Around the World Reading Challenge

The reading Around the World Challenge is linked to our Host Countries (Countries we learn about every term) and your child will receive badges and medals for their how many reads you do together at home.

Around the World Reading Challenge.

Number of reads at home	country	Star badge or medal
25	Thailand	I-star badge
50	Netherlands	2-star badge
75	Kenya	3-star badge
100	Norway	Bronze medal
125	USA	Silver medal
150	New Zealand	Gold medal
175	Home (England)	Reading Challenge Certificate
200 225 250	Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland	Reading diamonds to collect

 

  Please record in the yellow reading diary the date / title of book and count your reads as you go, writing them in the diary. You can comment on …. if you enjoyed it / any discussions / favourite bits/ not so favourite bits/ funny parts / characters or something else. If you really don’t like a book, please change it for another one asap!

Recording the number of reads (your child may like to write the numbers in) is a huge incentive for your child to see how well they are doing towards getting their badges and medals.

We will be moving your child ‘around the world’ to keep track of their progress at school and asking them about the books they have been reading at home too.

Aim for at least 3 times a week, choose the best time, get yourselves in a routine – building in reading everyday would be amazing!

You can record 1 to 2 books a day but remember IT IS THE QUALITY of time spent reading together - not how many books you can quickly read to get lots of reading points!

Please watch the short video links below for some great tips.

Why read to your child?

10 ways to read with your child.