English – Reading

At St Clement’s we use the highly successful Read Write Inc. Phonics programme to teach our children to read, write and spell.
Ruth Miskin Training recognise us for teaching the Read Write Inc. programmes with fidelity and passion – we know what it takes to make literacy pleasurable and rewarding for our children.

To visit the parent pages on the Ruth Miskin Training website go to:
https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents

To visit Oxford Owl (more help for Read Write Inc)
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/

To watch phonics videos using Set 1, 2 & 3 sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo7fbLgY2oA_cFCIg9GdxtQ

What is Read Write Inc?

Read Write Inc (RWI) is a phonics 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.
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 our teachers so that they work with children at the same level. This allows complete participation in lessons.

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 40 minutes. Once children become fluent speedy readers they will move onto the Language and Literacy programme.

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.

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

Set 2 sounds

Set 3 sounds

Help Video: How to say the sounds:
Phonics pure sounds video (oxfordowl.co.uk)

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.

Phonics Screening Check Year One

What is the Year 1 phonics screening check?
The Year 1 phonics screening check is a short, light-touch assessment to confirm whether individual pupils have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard.
It will identify the children who need extra help so they are given support by their school to improve their reading skills. They will then be able to retake the check so that schools can track pupils until they are able to decode.

Further information can be found here: DfE external template (publishing.service.gov.uk)

To help at home:

Your child will start to bring books home when they are confident readers. Please help them to read and give lots of praise!

If you have any other questions about RWI, please see your class teacher or Mrs Chappell.

Sound pictures

Top ten tips when reading at home

Speed sounds sets 1,2 and 3