Phonics & Early Reading (Read Write Inc)

At LMPS we use the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme.  Learning to read is the most important thing your child will learn at our school. Everything else depends on it, so we put as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible.

We want your child to love reading – and to want to read for themselves. This is why we put our efforts into making sure they develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read. 

How will my child be taught to read?

We start by teaching phonics to the children in the Reception class. This means that they learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to spell well. We teach the children simple ways of remembering these sounds and letters. Ask them to show you what these are. 

The children also practise reading (and spelling) what we call ‘tricky words’, such as ‘once,’ ‘have,’ ‘said’ and ‘where’. 

The children practise their reading with books that match the phonics and the ‘tricky words’ they know. They start thinking that they can read and this does wonders for their confidence. 

The teachers read to the children, too, so the children get to know all sorts of stories, poetry and information books. They learn many more words this way and it also helps their writing. 

How will I know how well my child is doing?

We will always let you know how well your child is doing. 

We use various ways to find out how the children are getting on in reading.  We use the information to decide what reading group they should be in.  Your child will work with children who are at the same reading level as them.  Children will move to a different group when they are making the correct progress.  Your child will have one-to-one support if we think he or she needs some extra help to keep up - this is called 'Fast Track!'  

We also use reading assessments so that we can ensure that all our children are at the level that they should be for their age, compared to all the children across the country. 

In the Summer Term, the government asks us to do a Phonics Screening Check of all the Year 1 children and any child in Year 2 that did not pass the screener when they were in Year 1.  That gives us extra information about their progress.  We will talk to you about how well your child has done.

 

How long will it take to learn to read well?

By the end of Year 2, your child should be able to read aloud books that are at the right level for his or her age. In Year 3 we concentrate more on helping children to understand what they are reading, although this work begins very early on. This happens when the teacher reads to the children and also when the children read their own story book. 

 

How do I know the teaching will be good? 

All our staff have been trained to teach reading in the way we do at LMPS. Our staff team also has weekly CPD sessions where best practice is shared across the team.  We believe that it is very important that all the teachers and teaching assistants work in the same way.  Senior Leaders regularly coach and team teach with our teachers to make sure that the children are learning in the way we want them to learn. 

 

What can I do to help? Is there anything that I shouldn't do?

When your child starts school in reception, you will be invited to a meeting so that we can explain how we teach reading.  Please come and support your child. We would very much like you to know how to help. 

Your child will bring different sorts of books home from school. It helps if you know whether this is a book that your child can read on their own (LEARN TO READ BOOK) or whether this is a book that you should read to them (LOVE TO READ BOOK). Your child's class teacher will have explained which is which.  Please trust your child’s teacher to choose the book(s) that will help your child the most.

Help your child to sound out the letters in words (Fred Talk) and then to ‘push’ the sounds together to make a whole word.  Try not to refer to the letters by their names. Help your child to focus on the sounds.  You can hear how to say the sounds correctly at this link: https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/#lg=1&slide=2

Sometimes your child might bring home a picture book that they know well.  Please don’t say, ‘This is too easy.’  Instead, encourage your child to tell you the story out loud; ask them questions about things that happen or what they think about some of the characters in the story.

We know parents and carers are very busy people. But if you can find time to read to your child as much as possible, it will really help your child to learn about books and stories.  They also learn new words and what they mean. Show that you are interested in reading yourself and talk about reading as a family.  You can find good stories to read to your child here: https://www.facebook.com/miskin.education

 

Does it matter if my child misses a lesson or two?

It matters a lot if your child misses school. The way we teach children to read is very well-organised, so even one missed lesson means that your child has not learnt something that they need to know to be a good reader. 

 

What if he or she finds it difficult to learn to read?

We want children to learn to read, however long it takes us to teach them.  We will find out very quickly if your child is finding reading difficult.  First, we may move children to a different group, so that we can make sure that they have learnt what they need to know.  If they still struggle, we give them extra time with an adult, on their own. These adults are specially trained to support these children. Your child will still be in the same group with the other children and won’t miss out on any of the class lessons. 

If we have any concerns about your child’s reading, we will talk to you about this.  If you have any concerns, please speak to us!

Some children take a bit longer to learn to put sounds together to read a word, e.g. c-a-t to make the word ‘cat’. That is ok and children learn at different rates.

What if my child turns out to be dyslexic? 

The way we teach reading is especially helpful for children who might be dyslexic. This is because we use a very well-organised programme that has a strong focus on phonics. This is very important for children who find learning to read difficult. If you are worried about your child, please come and talk to us. 

 

My child has difficulty pronouncing some sounds. Will this stop them learning to read through phonics?

This isn’t a problem for learning to read as long as we know what sound the child is trying to say. This is not something to worry about. Many children have a few sounds that they can hear clearly but find it difficult to say, particularly the l-sound, r-sound, w-sound, th-sound, s-sound, sh-sound and j-sound.

Often they say a t-sound for the c-sound; "tttssh" for the s-sound; "w" for the r-sound and "r" for the l-sound. You can help your child by encouraging him or her to look at your mouth when you say the sound. Children can easily learn to read, even if they find sounds difficult to say.

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns. We are here to help.

Mrs Dominey

Deputy Headteacher

When using RWI to read the children will:

• learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts
• learn to read words using Fred Talk    
• read lively stories competently featuring words they have learned to sound out
• show that they comprehend the stories by answering questions.

When using RWI to write the children will:

• learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent 44 sounds, using a helpful handwriting phrase.
• learn to write words by saying the sounds using 'Fred Fingers'

Please see the parent information and reading policy in the attached documents, for more details. 

Pronouncing the sounds

We believe that teaching your child to read relies on a good partnership between home and school. When you are teaching your child to read at home, it is important that the sounds you say are the 'pure sounds.' 

Please see the attached pronunciation guide: 

The children are taught the sounds in 3 sets.

Step 1:

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 1
Sound	Rhyme
m	Down Maisie then over the two mountains. Maisie, mountain, mountain.
a	Round the apple, down the leaf.
s	Slither down the snake
d	Round the dinosaur's back, up his neck and down to his feet.
t	Down the tower, across the tower,
i	Down the insects body, dot for the head.
n	Down Nobby and over the net.
p	Down the plait, up and over the pirates face.
g	Round the girls face, down her hair and give her a curl
o	All around the orange
c	Curl around the caterpillar
k	Down the kangaroos body, tail and leg
u	Down and under the umbrella, up to the top and draw a puddle
b	Down the laces, to hell, round the toe
f	Down the stem and draw the leaves
e	Lift off the top and scoop out the egg
l	Down the long leg
h	Down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back
sh	Slither down the snake, then down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back
r	Down the robot's back, then curl over his arm
j	Down his body, curl and dot
v	Down a wing, up a wing
y	Down a horn, up a horn and under the yak's head.
w	Down, up, down, up the worm.
th	Down the tower, across the tower, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back
z	Zig-zag-zig, down the zip.
ch	Curl around the caterpillar, , then down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back
qu	Round the queen’s head, up past her earrings and down her hair
x	Down the arm and leg, repeat the other side
ng	A thing on a string
nk	I think I stink

 

Step 2:

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.

 

Long  vowel sound	Set 2 Speed Sound cards	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 a 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?

 

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. 

Step 3:

Children will be introduced to ‘Ditty books’ when they successfully begin to read single words. The short vowels should be kept short and sharp:

Children use sound-blending (Fred Talk) to read short ditties. They will bring these home once they have read and discussed the book in class. Children will then be challenged to use their developing phonic knowledge to write short sentences.

Within all the books children will have red and green words to learn to help them to become speedy readers. Red words are words that are not easily decodable and challenge words to extend children’s vocabulary. Green words are linked to the sounds they have been learning and are easily decodable.

Please find the links at the bottom of the page which explain which green words are taught at each coloured level. 

If you would like any further information, the Ruth Miskin Wesbite has a plethora of useful videos and information. 

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parentsandcarers/

 

We are also here to help, if you have any questions.

But most importantly, please have fun reading!