Phonics

At Battle Hill Primary, we teach early reading through Read Write Inc Phonics Programme.

What is Read Write Inc?

Read Write Inc (RWI) is a literacy programme which helps all children learn to read and write. The programme is structured to teach all key skills for building vocabulary, reading and writing. It allows children to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling.

Nursery

In Nursery, our children begin working on:

  • Sound discrimination – environmental and instrumental sounds
  • Body percussion – to develop awareness of sounds and rhythms
  • Rhythm and rhyme
  • Alliteration – focusing on initial sounds of words
  • Voice sounds – distinguishing between different vocal sounds
  • Oral blending and segmenting

In addition to this we use the Over and Over Programme to reinforce Phase 1 phonics by developing the children’s speaking and listening skills, our aim being to make sure our children are attuned to the sounds around them and ready to begin developing oral blending and segmenting skills.

While there is considerable overlap between these aspects, the overarching aim is for children to experience regular, planned opportunities to listen carefully and talk extensively about what they hear, see and do. These aspects continue to run alongside Read Write Inc in Reception and Key Stage 1.

Reception

In Reception and Key Stage 1, we use Read Write Inc to ensure through systematic teaching of synthetic phonics, children quickly learn how to blend sounds together and apply this to reading phonics books at an appropriate level for them individually.

Reading with Read Write Inc

Our children learn the English alphabetic code.

First they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, they then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes. The aim is to systematically teach our children the relationship between these sounds and the written spelling patterns, or graphemes, which represent them.

Phonics emphasises the skills of decoding new words by sounding them out and combining or ‘blending’ the sound-spelling patterns. This makes sure they have a solid phonics knowledge in order to build on in their journey to becoming fluent readers.

Every child is encouraged to read text for meaning, with three readings of each story to ensure that each story is understood and read with fluency and expression, meaning they experience success from the very beginning.

Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases.

Children learn phonics in small groups depending on their learning ability, meaning they are grouped by ‘stage not age’.  However, these groups are fluid and with children regularly being assessed, they can move between them easily, depending on the rate they learn.

Before you begin reading with your child, practise saying the sounds.

Click here to find out how to say the sounds

Pupils are taught a new sound by using a picture mnemonic or a phrase to help them remember the sound. They continue to practise these sounds at speed and read these in words before applying these skills to reading a book. Please do not use letter names at this early stage.

Handwriting Phase

Set 1, 2 and 3 Sounds are  taught in the following order together with rhymes to help children form the letters correctly.

SET 1

SET 2

SET 3

Sound

Rhyme

Sound

  Rhyme

Sound

 Rhyme

m

Down Maisie then over the two

mountains. Maisie, mountain, mountain.

ay

May I Play?

ea

Cup of tea

a

Round the apple, down the leaf.

ee

What can you see?

oi

Spoil the boy

s

Slide around the snake

igh

Fly high

a-e

Make a cake

d

Round the dinosaur’s back, up his

neck and down to his feet.

ow

Blow the snow

i-e

Nice smile

t

Down the tower, across the tower.

oo

Poo at the zoo

o-e

Phone home

i

Down the insects body, dot for the

head.

oo

Look at a book

u-e

Huge brute

n

Down Nobby and over the net.

ar

Start the car

aw

Yawn at dawn

p

Down the plait, up and over the

pirates face.

or

Shut the door

are

Care and share

g

Round the girls face, down her hair

and give her a curl.

air

That’s not fair

ur

Nurse with a purse

o

All around the orange.

ir

Whirl and twirl

er

A better letter

c

Curl around the caterpillar.

ou

Shout it out

ow

Brown cow

k

Down the kangaroo’s body, tail and

leg.

oy

Toy for a boy

ai

Snail in the rain

u

Down and under the umbrella, up to

the top and down to the puddle.

oa

Goat in a boat

b

Down the laces, over the toe and

touch the heel.

ew

Chew and stew

f

Down the stem and draw the leaves.

ire

Fire fire

e

Slice into the egg, go over the top,

then under the egg.

ear

Hear with your ear

l

Down the long leg.

ure

Sure it’s pure

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.

Writing with Read Write Inc

The children write every day, rehearsing out loud what they want to say, before spelling the words using the graphemes and ‘tricky’ words they know.

They practise handwriting every day: sitting at a table comfortably, they learn correct letter formation and how to join letters speedily and legibly.

Children’s composition (ideas, vocabulary and grammar) is developed by drawing on their own experiences and talking about the stories they read.

Five Key principles underpin the teaching of Read Write Inc:

More support for parents:

For free Read Write Inc resources, including e-books and kits for parents/carers, click on Oxford Owl to the right: