Dothill Primary School

Read, Write, Inc. Phonics

At Dothill, 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! Reading will give your child the tools to become independent life-long learners. We can achieve this together through:

• Read Write Inc: a phonics program that teaches your child to read at school
• Encouraging children to develop a love of books by reading to them daily, both at home and at school
• Giving children access to a wide range of books at school and at home

We use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) in Reception and KS1 to give your child the best possible start with their literacy journey. We have put together a guide to how the RWI programme works together with some useful links. Mrs Melville is our Read Write Inc lead teacher, so if you have questions about RWI, contact school who can refer you to her. Please take the time to read this invaluable information as it will help you to support your child with their reading.

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 children are assessed by the RWI lead teacher and grouped according to their ability. Small group phonics lessons are taught daily by trained staff and with consistent expectations across the range of abilities. At the end of each half term the children are assessed to check on their progress and regrouped.

Children learn sounds in school which help them to read and write. They will bring home both the book they are reading in their RWI group at school and a 'Book Bag Book' which are specifically pitched to both consolidate learning and provide challenge in an engaging and fun way! This is what they look like.

How will RWI be taught? 

Reception

In Reception all children will learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. Those who are ready, will begin to read simple words within books and write some of these.

Year 1 and above

Children follow the same format as Reception but will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last for 45 minutes.

The children are taught the sounds in 3 sets. 

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. Click on the hyperlink below to watch the films that show parents and carers how we teach children to read and write with Read Write Inc. Phonics. https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/

Set 2 Sounds

ay: may I play  

ee: what can you see 

igh: fly high  

ow: blow the snow  

oo: poo at the zoo  

oo: look at the 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

When they are confident with all Set 1 and 2, they are taught  Set 3 Sounds.

Set 3 Sounds

ea: cup of tea
oi: spoil the boy
a-e: make a cake
i-e: nice smile
o-e: phone home
u-e: huge brute
aw: yawn at dawn
are: care and share
ur: nurse with a purse
er: better letter
ow: brown cow
ai: snail in the rain
oa: goat in a boat
ew: chew the stew
ire: fire fire!
ear: hear with your ear
ure: sure it’s pure?
tion: (celebration)
tious / cious: (scrumptious / delicious)
e: he me we she be 

  Fred Talk and Blending

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. Fred is our Read, Write Inc. friend. He can only speak in sounds, so we help him learn to say words instead of sounds. For example, Fred says 'm-a-t' instead of mat. We also teach him not to add 'uh' to our sounds to keep them pure. For example, we say 'c' and not 'cuh'.

Help your child learn to read words by sound-blending (Fred talk) eg. c-a-t = cat, sh-o-p = shop. Children learn to read words by blending the letter-sounds that are in the Speed Sounds set. Help your child to say the pure sounds ('m' not 'muh', 's' not 'suh' etc.) as quickly as they can, and then blend the sounds together to say the whole word.

Reading 

The children use the following strategies: 

• Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts

• Learn to read words using Fred talk and blending 

• Read from a range of storybooks and non-fiction books matched to their phonic knowledge 

• Partner practice

• Develop comprehension skills in stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove It' discussion questions 

Nonsense words (Alien words) - What 'a load' of nonsense!   

Research has shown that incorporating nonsense words into teaching reading can be an effective way to establish blending and segmenting skills. However, it is important to ensure that children understand that they are reading nonsense words (and why) so that they are not confused by trying to read the words for meaning. By reading nonsense words children develop their ability to decode individual sounds and then blend them together to read. They are an indicator of early reading skills and work as a quick, reliable, and valid way of assessing children. However, reading nonsense words is only a small part of the Read, Write Inc. phonics teaching.

Talking 

The children work in pairs so that they can do the following: 

• Answer every question 

• Practise every activity with their partner 

• Take turns in talking and reading to each other 

• Develop ambitious vocabulary 

Writing 

The children use the following strategies: 

• Learn to write and form the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds with the help of fun phrases 

• Learn to write words using ‘Fred Fingers’ 

• Learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write  

Spelling with Fred Fingers

Children are taught to use their fingers to help them write words. The children say the word out loud and break it down into its individual sounds. If a word has 3 sounds children hold up 3 fingers, 4 sounds 4 fingers etc. Children pinch each finger as they say the sounds needed in the word then they write the letters that represent each sound. 

When using Fred Fingers each finger represents one sound. When children reach yellow Read Write Inc. storybooks, they will learn to trace the letters onto each finger and say the letter names.