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Phonics

 

 

Early Reading

 

At Keyham Barton we are passionate about ensuring all children become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. We believe that phonics is the foundation for learning which makes the development into fluent reading and writing easier. Through phonics children learn to segment words, blend sounds to read words and support their spelling. The teaching of phonics has a high priority.

 

At Keyham we use the Department of Education approved scheme, Read, Write Inc (R.W.I.), for our teaching of phonics. This allows our phonics teaching and learning to be progressive from E.Y.F.S. to Year 2. We want every child to be a confident, fluent reader by the end of Key Stage One.

 

How do we teach RWI phonics?

Read Write Inc learning to read at home - https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parentsandcarers/

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-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.
 

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.
 

Talking

The children 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 children can start to read, they need to learn to:
 
  • say the sound that is represented by each letter of group of letters
  • sound out the word, e.g. d--o-g, ch-a-t, s-p-r-ay, b-ea-t
Fred the frog
 
Fred is our frog who can only speak in sounds e.g. c-a-t; in lessons children help Fred to work out the word by saying the sounds to then blend to say the word; this then develops to reading the sounds to blend to read words. In each lesson children practise reading words like Fred, use Fred in their head and speedy reading. 
Read Write Inc.: Fred the Frog - Toy (Single) by Ruth Miskin (Undefined,  2008) for sale online | eBay

Set 1
 
These are the sounds the children will learn first. They will also learn to blend them together to say and then read words. e.g  c-a-t
m, a, s, d, t, i, n, p, g, o, c, k, u, b, f, e, l, h, sh, r, j, v, y, w, th, z, ch, qu, x, ng, nk
 
Set 2
 
The children move to set 2 sounds, once they are secure on the set 1 sounds.  In set 2 the 'speed sounds' are made up of 2 or 3 separate letters; these represent one sound e.g. ee in been and igh in night.
The children recognise these as speed sounds.
Each speed sound has a picture prompt and phrase to go with it.
 
This is a list of the Set 2 sounds and phrases.
ay: may I play
 
ee: what can you see
  
igh: fly high
 
ow: blow the snow
 
oo: poo at the zoo
 
oo: look at a book
 
ar: start the car
 
or: shut the door
 
air: that’s not fair
 
ir: whirl and twirl
 
ou: shout it out
 
oy: toy for a boy
 
Set 3
 
The children move to set 3 sounds, once they are secure on the set 2 sounds. Again in set 3 the 'speed sounds' are made up of 2 or 3 separate letters; these represent one sound e.g. oa in boat and a-e in bake, they may be split between a letter. 
The children recognise these as speed sounds.
Each speed sound has a picture prompt and phrase to go with it.
This is a list of the Set 3 sounds and phrases.
ea: cup of tea
 
oi: spoil the boy
 
a-e: make a cake
 
i-e: nice smile
 
o-e: phone home
 
u-e: huge brute
 
aw: yawn at dawn
 
are: share and care
 
ur: purse for a nurse
 
er: a better letter
 
ow: brown cow
 
ai: snail in the rain
 
oa: goat in a boat
 
ew: chew the stew
 
ire: fire fire!
 
ear: hear with your ear
 
ure: sure it’s pure?
 
tion: celebration tious/cious: scrumptious/delicious
 

Red and Green Words

 

Within all the books children will have red and green words to help them to become speedy readers. Red words are words that are not easily decodable and to extend children’s vocabulary. Green words are linked to the sounds they have been learning and are easily decodable.

Nonsense Words
 
As well as learning to read and blend real words children will have plenty of opportunities to apply their sound recognition skills on reading ‘Nonsense words’. These words will also feature heavily in the Year One Phonics Screening check in the summer term.
 
Ditties and Storybooks
 
During the RWI session children will read short books called ditties and then longer books called storybooks. They read the book three times in class and at each new reading they will have plenty of opportunities to develop their fluency and comprehension skills.
 
Book Bag Books
 
Once the children have read a ditty or storybook in class, they will take home a book bag book to read at home. They will be able to read this book themselves by sounding out and blending the words. Please support your child by hearing them read and giving them lots of praise and encouragement. They need to read this book 3 times to develop their fluency. 
 
After RWI
 
Once children have graduated from RWI, they move onto daily comprehension and spelling activities. By doing this children will  learn the necessary skills of retrieval , inference and sequencing.  This will help them to make connections between texts. As they move forward they will be able to discuss, evaluate ideas and express opinions.