All children are assessed regularly by our RWI lead teacher, so they work with children at the same level. This allows complete participation in lessons.

Reception

In Reception all children will learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down.

KS1

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 between 30 minutes – 1 hour, split over 2 sessions. They will continue their journey through Talk for Reading.

KS2

Identified pupils in Year 3 and Year 4 will continue to follow RWI Phonics, working on complex sounds and reading appropriate books. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last between 30 minutes and 1 hour.

• Reading

  The children:

  • learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts – see below
  • learn to read words using Fred talk and sound blending
  • read from a range of storybooks and non-fictions books matched to their phonic knowledge
  • work well with partners
  • develop comprehension skills in stories by answering ‘Find It’ and ‘Prove It’ discussion questions
  • talking

  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

  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 (‘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 Fred Talk to sound out words, for example, m-o-p, c-a-t, m-a-n, sh-o-p, b-l-a-ck.

  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	Slide around 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 down to the puddle
  b	Down the laces, over the toe and touch the heel
  f	Down the stem and draw the leaves
  e	Slice into the egg, go over the top, then under 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 up and curl
  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 to her crown, down her hair and curl
  x	Cross down the arm and leg and cross the other way
  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 sets 1 and 2, they are taught Set 3 Sounds.

  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.

  Dots and dashes represent the sound each letter makes.

  Once your child has been introduced and taught these words in school, we will send them home for you to continue practising with your child.

  For more information go to: https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parentsandcarers/

1. Play Fred Games together – see Fred Games document on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/
2. Speak like Fred throughout the day e.g. time for l-u-n-ch! Let’s p-l-ay!

• Watch the ‘Sound-blending’ parent film on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/

Your child has a Storybook matched to the sounds and words they know – a decodable book – so they should be able to read all the words.

Please avoid saying, “This book is too easy for you!” but instead say “I love how well you can read this book!”

• ‘Special Friends’, ‘Fred Talk’, read the word

Remind your child to read words using ‘Special Friends, Fred Talk, read the word’ (see glossary).

For example ‘ship’: spot the ‘sh’, then Fred Talk and blend to read the word e.g. sh, sh-i-p, ship.

• Red Words

Red Words are also known as common exception or tricky words. They occur in stories regularly (said, what, where) but have unusual letter combinations (‘ai’ in the word ‘said’ makes the sound ‘e’).

Remind your child not to use Fred Talk to read Red Words but instead to ‘stop and think’.

Tell them the word if you need to.

• Read the same book again and again

Children love reading the same book again and again. Their reading becomes speedier and they understand what they are reading.

• Encourage your child to read words using ‘Fred in your head’ (see glossary)
• Show your child how to read the story in a storyteller voice
• Share your enjoyment of the story when they read it again and again.

Children will hopefully follow the order listed below. The expectation is that all children will leave Year One as confident, speedy readers, ready to take on the challenges of Year Two. However, some children may need extra support and your teacher will talk to you about this.

Books

Remind your child:

• To hold their pencil in ‘perfect pencil grip’ (see glossary)
• Say the handwriting phrase to help them form the letter correctly – see Handwriting Phrases on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/

Challenge your child to see how many sounds they can write in a minute.

Say the sound and children write e.g. ‘write m’, ‘write s’, ‘write w’.

• Encourage your child to use Fred Fingers to spell words
• Ask your child to say the sounds in the word as they press the sounds onto their fingers
• Ask your child to then write the letters – if they get stuck, say the sounds again
• Praise your child for spelling using the sounds they know, even if their handwriting is not perfect.

Children will have a large vocabulary if they are part of a ‘talk-a-lot’ family:

• Use every opportunity to talk with your child throughout the day – meal times, playing together, bath time
• Use new and ambitious vocabulary e.g. miserable instead of sad, stroll instead of walk
• Speak to your child in complete sentences
• Make up stories together – there’s no need to write it down.

You can purchase the below from Amazon to support your child with blending at home:

• Set 1/2/3 flashcards
• My Reading and Writing Kit age 3-5 – Set 1 Speed Sounds and blending
• My Reading and Writing Kit ages 5-7 – Red Ditty books
• My Reading and Writing Kit ages 5-7- Set 2 Speed Sounds, Green and Purple Storybooks

What is the Year 1 phonics screening check?

The Year 1 phonics screening check is a short, light-touch assessment to confirm whether individual pupils have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard.

It will identify the children who need extra help, so they are given support by their school to improve their reading skills. They will then be able to retake the check so that schools can track pupils until they are able to decode.

For further information for parents on Phonics and the Year One Screening Check please click on the link below:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/690cb573dad669f061d46b58/Phonics_screening_check_information_for_parents.pdf