If you walked into a phonics lesson at Lovelace Primary School you would see a buzz of excitement and activity as the children learn to read and write through systematic synthetic phonics. Phonics is a way of matching the small units of sound in spoken English to the letters or groups of letters which represent that sound in writing.
As a school we follow the Ruth Miskin, Read Write Inc. (RWI) programme.
RWI uses ‘Fred talk’ as a teaching strategy which helps children read unfamiliar words by pronouncing each sound in the word one at a time. Children can start blending sounds into words as soon as they know a small group of letters well. Sound blending is essential in reading. Children use ‘sound buttons’ to help them identify each unit of sound in a word:
RWI links every sound to a picture and a phrase to help the children remember it. For example: the letters a and y, once joined together, make the sound ‘ay’ and the phrase we use to remember it is:
‘May I play?’
As a school we use the Oxford Owl website to access the reading books used in our daily phonics sessions and the corresponding quizzes to support and recap their sounds.
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/please-log-in
Click on the link below to access the progression of sounds taught:
We use sound mats to help build children’s confidence and to develop independence during reading and writing lessons.
Click on the links below:
Desktop Speed Sounds Chart Set 1
Desktop Speed Sounds set 2 and 3
Complex speed sound chart for chn
Pure Sounds
Using pure sounds is imperative when children are learning to blend for reading and segment for spelling. This video will help you with articulating the phonemes (units of sounds). Click the link below for the video:
How to help your child learn the Read Write Inc. phonics sounds
As part of the RWI programme, children also learn to read and spell common exception (high frequency) words. These are words with spelling rules (graphemes) they have not yet been learnt, for example: the, was, could, there, friend or that have less frequently used graphemes. An emphasis is put on the tricky letters when using ‘Fred Talk’.
Reading at home
RWI is taught explicitly from Reception to Year 2 to support the early stages of reading and spelling. As soon as children have completed the RWI phonics programme, they move on to learning alternative spelling rules and reading more complex texts. We expect all children to read at home daily with an adult and record this in their reading record. Hearing your child read every day helps with their decoding skills. Also, reading stories to your children can help develop their love of reading and increase their vocabulary significantly.
Click here to see our reading support guides:
