At Furzefield, we use the highly successful Read Write Inc. phonics programme to teach our children to read, write and spell.

What is Read Write Inc.?

Read Write Inc. (RWI) is a phonics complete literacy programme which helps 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 in Early Years to Key Stage 1.

Read Write Inc. was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found at https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/.

How is Read Write Inc. taught?

Nursery – Children have a short 5 minute lesson each week focussing on a new sound. They will be taught the sound it makes, how it looks and listening for the initial sounds in words.

Reception – Children will be taught how to read simple words/sentences and begin to use their phonetic knowledge to begin writing.

Each lesson will follow the same format:

· New sound focus

· Blending ‘green’ words (decodable words)

· Recognise ‘red’ words (words that aren’t said phonetically)

· Partner reading of a story

· Write a sentence based on what has been read

Year 1 and Year 2:

Children in Year 1 will continue the Read Write Inc. programme as in Reception, working their way onto stories with more complex sentences and new sounds. By the end of Year 1 and Year 2, children will begin to focus more on the comprehension of the stories read and practising their spellings.

RWI lessons:

Children will be taught how to make ‘pure sounds’ (‘mmm’ not’ muh’). Your child will also be introduced to a puppet called Fred the frog who is only able to speak by saying the sounds in a word, which the children then blend back together. We call this ‘Fred Talk’ (c-a-t, d-o-g, ch-i-p).

You can watch how to correctly sound out the words and begin to blend here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEzfpod5w_Q

Your child will be taught the following sounds along with the handwriting rules or rhyme:

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Year 1 Phonics Screening

The Year 1 phonics screening check is a short assessment to confirm whether individual children have learnt how to read words using their knowledge of phonics to decode them.

Through the check children will read a range of 20 real and 20 ‘nonsense words’ with a range of sounds. Nonsense words are also referred to as alien words and are made up words to check that your child can use their phonics knowledge correctly to read unfamiliar words.

The check will identify the children who need extra help so they are given support by their school to improve their reading skills. These children will then be able to retake the check in Year 2 so that the school can track them as they move through the school.

Useful websites:

Ruth Miskin RWI https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/

Oxford Owl (Your child will receive a login to read RWI ebooks online) https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/please-log-in

Reading Eggs (Your child will receive a login to read stories and play phonics games) https://readingeggs.co.uk/

Phonics Play https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

Teach Your Monster To Read https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/