Phonics

Read Write Inc   

At Wilbraham Primary, we are a Read, Write, Inc school.

What is Read Write Inc?

Read, Write, Inc is a systematic approach to teaching and developing early reading and writing skills. Our children are immersed in an environment which is rich in sounds and vocabulary right from Nursery, which ensures that they are prepared with the necessary resources and strategies for reading from the very start of their learning journey.

Our children love the consistent and systematic approach to teaching and learning and look forward to their daily lesson of Read, Write, Inc with Fred the frog!

You can find more information about Read, Write Inc on the following link:

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/

Nursery

It is important for children in our Nursery to begin their journey to becoming confident readers by first hearing the sounds in different words. Fred the Frog helps children to do this by breaking words into ‘Fred Talk.’ Children are first taught how to hear sounds and blend them together before being introduced to sounds and reading them.

When appropriate, children will then be introduced to the initial sounds in short five minute sessions.

Reception

In Reception all children will learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. The sessions last upto 30minutes.

Reading

The children:

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

Writing

The children:

• learn to write and form the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds with the help of fun phrases
• learn to write words by using Fred Talk
• learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write 

Talking

The children

• 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

Year One

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 for one hour.

Fred Talk

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. Here is a video of how to pronounce all the sounds.

At school we use a puppet called Fred who is an expert on sounding out words! We call it, ‘Fred Talk’. E.g. m-o-p, c-a-t,

m-a-n

sh-o-p

b-l-a-ck.

The following video is an example of blending sounds with Fred.

Assessment

Every child is assessed every 8 weeks by the Reading Leaders. This assessment determines which level of Reading Book is appropriate for the child. Also it is the means by which the phonics groups are formed for the following half-term so that every child is being taught at an appropriate level that will prepare them for the next level. At the end of Year 1 every child completes a Phonics Screening Test to ensure that they are working at the appropriate level (see the video in the Useful Links section below).

Useful RWI videos for parents:

Introduction to daily RWI phonics lessons

What is Phonics?

What is the Phonics Screening Test taken in Year 1