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Read, Write, Inc. Phonics

Read, Write, Inc Phonics is a whole school initiative which we have adopted at our school. It is an inclusive literacy programme for all children learning to read. It is aimed at children reading at Level 2b or below and teaches synthetic phonics. Children learn the 44 common sounds in the English language and how to blend them to read and spell. The scheme includes both a reading and a writing focus.

Reading is the key that unlocks the whole curriculum so the ability to efficiently decode is essential. The R.W.I sessions are expected to occur each day with no exceptions, as the continuity and pace of the programme is key to accelerating the progress of children’s reading development.

Aims and Objectives.

To teach children to:

• Apply the skill of blending phonemes in order to read words.
• Segment words into their constituent phonemes in order to spell words.
• Learn that blending and segmenting words are reversible processes.
• Read high frequency words that do not conform to regular phonic patterns.
• Read texts and words that are within their phonic capabilities as early as possible.
• Decode texts effortlessly so all their resources can be used to comprehend what they read.
• Spell effortlessly so that all their resources can be directed towards composing their writing.

Teaching and Learning Style

This is based on the 5 Ps.

Praise – Children learn quickly in a positive climate.

Pace – Good pace is essential to the lesson.

Purpose – Every part of the lesson has a specific purpose.

Passion – This is a very prescriptive programme. It is the energy, enthusiasm and passion that teachers put into the lesson that bring the teaching and learning to life!

Participation – A strong feature of R.W.I. lessons is partner work and the partners ‘teaching’ each other (based on research which states that we learn 70% of what we talk about with our partner and 90% of what we teach).

It is important to remember to never give up! Every child can learn to read if you persevere.

Delivery of Phonics

• Initial sounds are to be taught in a specific order.
• Sounds taught should be ‘pure’ i.e. ‘b’, not ‘buh’ as this is central to phonic teaching and ability to recognise sounds in words.
• Blends are to be declustered. E.g. bl is two specific sounds.
• Children are to be taught that the number of graphemes in a word always corresponds to the number of phonemes. This greatly aids spelling.
• Set 2 sounds are to be taught after Set 1 (initial sounds).
• Letter names are to be introduced with Set 3.
• R.W.I. across the school

Foundation Stage:

R.W.I. is fully implemented in Reception but the class will not be split into groups until the initial sounds have been taught. Once the sounds have been taught assessments will take place to determine groupings.

Sessions will take place daily between 9.00-10.30am. Within this time a 10 minute speed sounds session will occur with follow up handwriting sessions while children access continuous provision, in line with the EYFS.

Key Stage One:

R.W.I. groups will be set following assessments carried out by the R.W.I manager. The sessions will occur daily for 1 hour. These sessions will replace literacy teaching from the Literacy Framework with a 10 minute Speed Sounds session followed by Reading and

Get Writing!

Sessions.

Once children ‘come off’ the programme they will then access literacy and language sessions.

Sessions will take place daily from 9.30-10.10am.

Key Stage Two:

R.W.I. groups will take the form of an intervention during literacy sessions for those children with the greatest need in Year 3/4-RWI. The rest of the children will be taught using Literacy and Language in class from Yr2-6.

SEN/Able Pupils:

SEN pupils are fully involved in R.W.I. lessons as all pupils work in ability groups and teaching is geared to the speed of progress of each group. 1:1 tuition (if and when needed) will be identified by the RWI manager if required.

Able pupils are catered for as groups are based on ability and there is the flexibility to accommodate gifted younger pupils within groups of older children.

Other Reading interventions and initiatives:

Inference groups:

Inference training is a group intervention for pupils at St Luke and St Philip’s Primary School from Year two through to Year six who decode adequately but fail to get full meaning and enjoyment from their reading.

The inference training demonstrates key comprehension strategies through ‘instructional conversations’ in groups to help boost reading comprehension.

Home reading and Guided Reading:

All our Reading and Guided Reading books are labelled and boxed according to colour bands which give us a National Curriculum level for each child and help us to differentiate our reader’s ability. The Project X reading scheme and colour band system are used from Year One through to Year Six. The books are used engage our children and inspire a love of reading across the school. The band colour changes in accordance with the complexity of the text.

The children in school have their home reading books changed every week and are heard on a weekly basis in school. We encourage parents to listen to their children read at home to help develop their reading skills, confidence and enthusiasm.

Guided Reading is a classroom activity in which pupils are taught in groups according to their reading ability. The teacher works with each group on a text carefully selected to offer an appropriate level of challenge to the group. The books selected should be comfortable for the readers, but offering some challenge.

Challenges may be in terms of reading cues and strategies, language and vocabulary, or sophisticated aspects of grammar, inference, skimming and scanning.

At St Luke and St Philip’s Primary School, the Guided Reading session forms an important part of our strategy to raise standards in all areas of literacy across the age range from Year One to Year six.

The twenty minutes Guided Reading session everyday allows teachers and children to share a period of sustained reading that will lead the way to confident, independent and interpretive reading. We then use the AF focuses as objectives and means of teacher assessment to guide our Reading sessions and help indentify next steps in reading for the groups.

At St Luke and St Philip’s Church of England Primary Academy we teach phonics through a synthetic phonics scheme called Read, Write Inc.

READING

The children:

learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts
learn to read words using sound blending
read lively stories featuring words they have learned to sound out
show that they comprehend the stories by answering ‘Find It’ and ‘Prove It’ discussion questions

WRITING

The children:

learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds

learn to write words by saying the sounds and graphemes

write simple sentences

TALKING

Children are assessed so they work with children at the same level. This allows them to take a full part in all lessons.

They work in pairs so that they:

answer every question
practise every activity with their partner
take turns in talking to each other

How can I help my child learn to read?

Read as many stories to your child as you can. Talk about the stories.

Explain the meaning of new words. Most importantly though, show the fun that can be gained by listening to stories.

What you read to your child today, they will be able to read for themselves very soon.

Help your child to learn Speed Sounds Set 1

Before you start to teach your child, practise saying the sounds below. These are the sounds we use to speak in English.
We use pure sounds so that your child will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily. At school we use a puppet called Fred who can do this beautifully! When we say words in sounds we call it ‘Fred Talk’. E.g. d-o-g, c-a-t, m-a-n, sh-o-p, c-l-a-p.

Your child’s class teacher has been trained in the programme she can show you how to pronounce these sounds if you are finding it difficult.

Please do not use letter names at this early stage.

These first sounds should all be stretched slightly. Try to avoid saying uh after each one.:

e.g. /mm/ not muh, /ss/ not suh, /ff/ not fuh.

m – mmmmmmountain (keep lips pressed together hard)

s – sssssnake (keep teeth together and hiss – unvoiced)

n – nnnnnnet (keep tongue behind teeth)

f – ffffflower (keep teeth on bottom lip and force air out sharply – unvoiced)

l – llllleg (keep pointed curled tongue behind teeth).

r – rrrrrrobot (say rrr as if you are growling)

v – vvvvvvulture (keep teeth on bottom lip and force air out gently)

z – zzzzzzig zzzzzag (keep teeth together and make a buzzing sound)

th – thhhhank you ( stick out tongue and breathe out sharply)

sh – shhhh (make a shhh noise as though you are telling somebody to be quiet!)

ng – thinnnnngg on a strinnnngg (curl your tongue at the back of your throat)

nk – I think I stink (make a piggy oink noise without the oi! nk nk nk)

These next sounds cannot be stretched. Make the sound as short as possible avoiding uh at the end of the sound:

t – (tick tongue behind the teeth – unvoiced)

p – (make distinctive p with lips – unvoiced)

k – (make sharp click at back of throat)

c – as above

h – (say h as you breathe sharply out – unvoiced)

ch- (make a short sneezing sound)

x – (say a sharp c and add s – unvoiced)

You will find it harder to avoid saying uh at the end of these sounds.

d – (tap tongue behind the teeth).

g – (make soft sound in throat).

b –(make a short, strong b with lips).

j – (push lips forward).

y – (keep edges of tongue against teeth).

w – (keep lips tightly pursed).

qu – (keep lips pursed as you say cw – unvoiced).

The short vowels should be kept short and sharp:

a: a-a-a (open mouth wide as if to take a bite of an apple).

e: e-e-e (release mouth slightly from a position).

i: i-i-i (make a sharp sound at the back of the throat – smile).

o: o–o-o (push out lips, make the mouth into o shape).

u: u-u-u (make a sound in the throat).

Help your child to learn Speed Sounds Set 2

The Long vowel sounds are all stretchy sounds

ay: ay may I play

ee: ee what do you see?

igh: fly high

ow: blow the know

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

Help your child to learn Speed Sounds Set 3, whilst repeating Set 2.

Long vowel sound
Set 2 Speed Sound cards Teach these firs
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 the 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?

Useful websites, please click the links below.

Useful websites for parents to use to support reading and phonics at home

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ParentsMenu.htm

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Interactive.aspx?cat=40

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/phonics/play/

Useful resources for parents:

BBC Revise wise

Mathletics

Educationcity

First News

CEOP – Internet Safety

CEOP – ThinkUknow

Ofsted

The Diocese of Blackburn

The Department for Education