Read Write Inc

Phonics

Read,  Write Inc. Phonics is a structured programme that uses systematic phonics to teach all children to read and write. The ability to read and write is a key life skill that paves the way to success at school and in the world beyond.

To begin children are taught individual sounds daily during 'Speedy Sounds' sessions. After these have been learnt, children begin to learn how to blend these sounds into words during regular 'Word Time' sessions. It is vital that children are taught to pronounce ‘pure’ sounds. Sounds are either stretchy, like ssssssss or bouncy, like b,b,b,b.
Please follow the link below to find out the correct pronunciation of all the sounds taught through the Read, Write Inc. programme.

http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/resources/sound-pronunciation-guide/

Green words

 'Green' words are phonetically decodable words that the children learn to read. They allow children to become fluent readers because regular reading of these words mean that they become familiar and are able to recognise/read them on sight. They can then use their knowledge of these words to read similar words more quickly.

Red words

Red words are sometimes known as ‘common exception words’ or ‘tricky’ words. These are words that children will need to learn on sight because they contain parts that are not decodable. For example the word 'the' could be decoded as 'theh', but children must learn the correct pronunciation and spelling. Some of the red words are only tricky until a specific sound is learnt or because people pronounce them differently in different parts of the country.

Nonsense words

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 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 and valid way of assessing children which is why they form part of the Phonics Screening check that all children in Year 1 have to take.  However reading nonsense words is only a small part of the Read, Write Inc. phonics teaching.

Fred talk

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

Fred Fingers

We use 'Fred Fingers' to help make the transition between oral sounding out and spelling with magnetic letters or on paper.

Firstly we count how many sounds we can hear:

"cat, c-a-t, 3 sounds".

Then we hold up that many fingers.

For each sound we use our other hand to squeeze a Fred Finger and say the sound

"c-a-t".

Watch out - words such as fish needs 3 Fred Fingers - "f-i-sh". Words such as flight need 4 Fred Fingers - "f-l-igh-t".

 As children become more confident with their sounds and spelling words they will move away from using their Fred Fingers and instead rely on sounding out in their head.

Read, Write Inc. books

After children have learned and are confident in pronouncing enough sounds they will begin to read 'Ditty' books in their Read, Write Inc. lessons. Ditty books contain 3 short stories that the children read and these stories are made up from green and red words.

Following Ditty books children continue to read groups of books that have been specially written to support progress through the scheme. These books follow their own colour scheme and do not tie in with the previous home/school reading books scheme.

Children will bring home the RWI books they have been reading in class. Please hear your child read these books. By the time children bring the books home, they should be able to read them fluently therefore you will be able to celebrate their excellent reading with them!

Children will still bring home other books to share that they have chosen. They will not necessarily work the books bands of the previous scheme in the same way.

As part of the RWI scheme, children are now reading on a daily basis in school. Only reading done on top of this will be recorded in their reading record books so please don’t worry if you do not see much evidence of school reading in these books. 

Writing in Read, Write Inc. sessions

A typical Read, Write Inc. session contains a mix of learning and practising sounds, reading and writing. Each of the coloured storybook bands have a matching 'Get Writing' book that contains activities that the adults can use to build on the reading activities the children will have completed. The activities are designed to support the learning of sentence structure and grammar but also developing vocabulary and generating ideas for writing. Activities often include:

Hold a sentence - listening to, orally repeating and then writing a sentence linked to the book they were reading.

Edit a sentence - correcting errors in a sentence, for example missing capital letters, punctuation and spelling mistakes.

Create a sentence - writing about a stimulus, often a picture from the storybook they were reading, for example filling in a speech bubble, completing a 'Wanted' poster or writing a simple recipe.

 

Useful links

The websites below contain more information and resources that can be used to support your child at home. There is also a parent pack available to buy online. If you wish to have a look at one before buying then we have now got one in school.
Please see Mrs Pimperton if you would like to have a look at the parent pack or if you have any further questions.

http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/

https://www.facebook.com/miskin.education

http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Reading/  This site does require you to register but it is free to do so.