Phonics
At Wellington, we use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) to give your child the best possible start with their reading and writing development.
Miss Evans is our Read Write Inc lead teacher, so if you have questions about RWI, contact school who can refer you to her.
What is Read Write Inc?
Read Write Inc (RWI) is a phonics complete programme which helps all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. The programme is designed for children aged 4-7.
However, at Wellington, when appropriate, we begin to expose children in Nursery to skills that will help them access the taught programme in Reception.
RWI was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found at https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/.
How will my child be taught to read?
We start by teaching phonics to the children in the Rabbits class. This means that they learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to spell well. We teach the children simple ways of remembering these sounds and letters, and use special actions to support this.
Reading
The children:
- Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts – see below for sets of sounds
- 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 (segmenting and blending)
- 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
Set 1 Sounds
Set 1 sounds are taught in the following order together with rhymes to help children form the letters correctly and instantly recognise sounds ready for blending. We do not use letter names at this stage.
Set 2 and 3 Sounds
The children are then taught Set 2 Sounds - the long vowels. When they are very confident with all of set 1 and 2 they are taught Set 3 Sounds.
Resources to support phonics practise at home
Set 1 learning:
Set 2 and 3 learning:
