Identified pupils are assessed regularly by our Reading Lead and placed into groups. In their groups, pupils will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last between 30 minutes and 1 hour. They will continue their journey through Fast Track Tutoring sessions, Talk for Reading and our Knowledge Rich Curriculum.

Reading

The pupils:

• 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, 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.

Pupils are taught the sounds in 3 sets.

Step 1:

Set 1 Sounds are taught in the following order together with rhymes to help pupils 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
As well as learning to read and blend real words, pupils will have plenty of opportunities to apply their sound recognition skills on reading ‘Nonsense words’.

Step 3:

Pupils use sound-blending (Fred Talk) to read short stories and non-fiction texts. They will bring these home once they have read and discussed the book in class. Pupils will then be challenged to use their developing phonic knowledge to write short sentences.

Within all the books, pupils 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.

Pupils taking part in Read Write Inc Phonics will progress through the storybooks below.

Books

Books	Green Words
Red Ditty 1-10	Please click here to view
Green 1-10	Please click here to view
Purple 1-10	Please click here to view
Pink 1-10	Please click here to view
Orange 1-12	Please click here to view
Yellow 1-10	Please click here to view
Blue 1-10	Please click here to view
Grey 1-13	Please click here to view

What is Fresh Start?   

Read Write Inc Fresh Start is a systematic synthetic phonics programme for struggling readers in Year 5 and Year 6. Pupils are taught at their challenge point, so they can learn to read accurately and fluently.

Every day, pupils learn new letter-sounds and review previous sounds and words. They apply what they’ve been taught by reading words containing the sounds they know in lively, age-appropriate stories and non-fiction texts closely matched to their phonic knowledge. Pupils are taught either individually or in a small progress group for 25 minutes each day.

Our reading leader coordinates the teaching, organises practice sessions for teachers and support staff and assesses pupils’ phonic progress.