Phonics
At Arlies Primary School, 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 Arlies, 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.
Read, Write, Inc. Parent Information
At Arlies Primary School, we use the synthetic phonics programme called Read, Write, Inc. produced by Ruth Miskin. Read, Write, Inc. is a method of learning, centred around letter sounds and phonics, blending sounds together to read and spell words, and applying these skills across the curriculum.
Using Read Write, Inc. the children learn to read fluently so that they can put all their energy into comprehending what they read. It also allows them to spell effortlessly so that they can focus on composing what they write. Read, Write, Inc. lessons include reading and writing activities, allowing the children to apply their phonic skills to both.
The children are assessed and taught according to their ability and they work with a teacher or teaching assistant on the Read Write Inc. programme. The children are continuously assessed by the class teacher, to ensure that they move through the programme at a good pace. Every 6-8 weeks, all children are assessed and are regrouped according to their phonic knowledge and fluency when reading.
Reading
The children will:
· Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts.
· Learn to read words using sound blending (Fred talk).
· Read lively stories featuring words they have learnt to sound out.
· Show that they comprehend the stories by answering ‘Find It’ and ‘Prove It’ discussion questions.
· Take home Read Write Inc. Book Bag Books to consolidate their reading skills.
Writing
The children will:
· Learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds.
· Learn to write words by saying the sounds and graphemes (Fred fingers).
· Learn to say and write simple then more complex sentences.
· Compose stories based on picture strips.
· Compose a range of texts using discussion prompts.
Speaking and Listening- Partner work
They 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
- Give positive praise
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 30 minutes. Once children become fluent speedy readers they will move on to the RWI Spelling 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.
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.
There are 3 sets of sounds. Once children reach the end of Set 1, they know enough sounds to read simple sentences.
Children progress through a range of colour levels. Each level is carefully matched to the child’s current phonic ability. This means children are able to read and access texts by themselves and quickly grow in speed and confidence. The progression through book levels is shown below:
The following video is an example of blending sounds with Fred.
Read Write Inc Progression of skills
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| progression-of-skill-rwi.pdf | Download |