Phonics and Reading

On this page, you will find information about our Phonics scheme and how you can support at home.

 

Read Write Inc.

At Kents Hill Park, your child will be taught to read using the Read Write Inc. (RWI) phonics programme.  Read Write Inc., developed by Ruth Miskin, provides a structured and systematic approach to teaching early reading. It is designed to create fluent readers and confident speakers.

More information on the programme can be found at: https://youtu.be/sjlPILhk7bQ.

 

What is phonics?

Phonics is a way of teaching children to read quickly and skilfully.

Your child will be taught how to:

  • Recognise the sounds that each individual letter represents.
  • Identify the sounds that different combinations of letters represent (e.g. ‘sh’, ‘ay’).
  • Blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word.

As your child learns to read, they will move through different stages. These are called a ‘set’. First, your child will learn to read sounds written with one letter. They will then learn to read sounds written with two and three letters (your child will call these ‘special friends’).  As they learn new sounds, they will learn to read words containing these sounds by sound-blending, e.g. m-a-t mat, s-p-l-a-sh splash, p-l-ay play.

 

Set 1

m   a   s   d   t   i    n    p    g    o    c    k    u    b    f    e    l    h    r    j    v    y    w    z    x

sh    th    ch    qu    ng    nk    ck

Set 2

ay    ee    igh    ow    oo    oo    ar    or     air    ir    ou    oy

Set 3

ea    oi    a-e    i-e    o-e    u-e    aw    are    ur    er    ow   ai    oa    ew    ire    ear    ure

 

Tricky words

Your child will also need to be familiar with the following tricky words. Your child will call these ‘red’ words.

I

 the you your said was

are

 of want what they

to

he*

 me* we* she* be*

no*

so*

 go* old* her* baby*

do

does

 all call tall small

many

any

 one anyone some come

watch

who

 where there here were

brother

other

 mother father love above

two

once

 buy worse walk talk

bought

caught

 through thought whole wear

could

would

 should great saw* why*

now*

how*

 down* over* my* by*

son

water

 school* ball everyone their

people
put

(* = red for a while)

 

How can I help at home?

Being able to support your child’s learning at home is key and makes a real difference. It enables children to consolidate what they have learnt in school, improves skills and builds their confidence to apply their learning to different contexts.

A key element of learning to read is developing comprehension, fluency and expression. This comes from children reading sounds and words they are secure in. Please encourage your child to read their reading book at least three times, with each read building on the last.  Please remember, children enjoy re-reading stories they know well and their speed and understanding improves on every read.

Each time your child reads, please focus on the following:

First read: read every word accurately

Second read: read more words ‘at a glance’

Third read: read the whole story accurately, fluently and with a storyteller voice

 

When your child reads the story, ask them to sound out the words that they can’t read automatically. For example, ch – air   chair. Please don’t allow your child to struggle too much or guess the word by using the pictures. Praise them when they succeed.

If you have any questions, please speak with a member of the Year 1 Team who will be happy to help.

 

Read Write Inc. Glossary

‘Special Friends’

Special friends are a combination of two or three letters representing one sound. For example, ck, ay, igh, oa.

 

Fred Talk

Fred the Frog helps children read and spell. He can say the sounds in words, but he can’t say the whole word, so children have to help him.

To help children read, Fred (the teacher) says the sounds and then children say the word.

For example, Fred says c-a-t, children say cat, Fred says l-igh-t, children say light.

 

‘Fred in your head’

Once children can sound out a word, we teach them to say the sounds silently in their heads.

We show them how to do this by:

  1. whispering the sounds and then saying the whole word;
  2. mouthing the sounds silently and then saying the whole word;
  3. saying the whole word straight away.

 

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.

 

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

Your child will be familiar with this term. Remind your child to read words using ‘Special Friends, Fred Talk, read the word’

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