Phonics and Reading

Phonics

We use the highly successful Read Write Inc. Phonics programme to teach our children to read, write and spell. At Mereside C of E Primary Academy we implement the program with fidelity and passion – we know what it takes to make literacy pleasurable and rewarding for our children.

To visit the parent pages on Ruth Miskin go to: https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/

Here is a bit more info about RWI Phonics: RWI-parents-handout.301182473

To visit Oxford Owl (more resources to support your child) go to:

What is Read Write Inc?

Read Write Inc (RWI) is a systematic, synthetic phonics 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.

Phonics teaching begins when your child starts their Reception year.

How will RWI be taught?

All children are assessed regularly by our RWI lead teacher, Mrs Waters, so they work with children at the same level. This allows complete participation in lessons. When using Read Write Inc. to read the children will:

Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts.
learn to read words using Fred Talk.
read lively stories featuring words they have learned to sound out.
show that they comprehend the stories by answering questions.

As soon as your child is able to blend, children will bring home a RWI Phonics reading book which is matched to the sounds they have previously been taught. Children are encouraged to re-read their books to ensure accuracy, fluency and understanding (comprehension). Here is a video which demonstrates how the sounds are pronounced:

Meet Fred. Fred talk helps children read unfamiliar words by pronouncing each sound in the word one at a time.

Reception

In Reception all children will learn how to ‘read’ and ‘write’ all of the sounds in Set 1 and then taught how to blend these into words. Fred the frog helps the children to blend the sounds together which is then used to help children read. The teachers will often use the phrase ‘Fred talk’ to sound out words.

The children take part in lessons every day progressing to reading books by the end of the Summer term. They also learn how to spell red words (words that cannot be sounded out) and 3/4 letter words during these lessons. In order to ensure that all children reach their reading potential we have identified those who will benefit from additional adult intervention. 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.

If you would like to download a copy of the letter formation with rhymes for home, please click on the following link, or ask a member of staff for a copy from school: rhymes-for-letter-formation

Click the link below to see how to help you child blend sounds:

Year One & Year Two

Children follow the same format as Reception but will work on complex sounds (Set 2 and 3 sounds) and read books which closely match previously taught sounds. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last for one 40 minutes. Once children become fluent speedy readers they will move onto taught reading comprehension sessions. Speed Sounds Sets 2 and 3: The long vowels: Once your child knows all Set 1 sounds by sight and sound and uses them to blend to read words, we start teaching Set 2 initially and then Set 3 long vowel sounds. Your child will need to learn that most vowel sounds have more than one spelling. There are 12 Set 2 ‘speed sounds’ that are made up of two or three letters which represent just one sound, e.g. ay as in play, ee as in tree and igh as in high. It is important that your child does not pronounce these as 2 or 3 separate sounds. When your child sees the ‘speed sound’ letters together in a word, they must say just one sound for these letters.

Set 2

Set 3

Below are the Complex and Simple Speed Sound Charts that we use in class and phonics lessons to support children in finding sound groups:

Reading

We follow a Mastery approach to English through the programme Pathways to Read. Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for reading. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the reading activities provided.

In KS2, the programme is delivered through whole class shared reading lessons. In Y2, children participate in one whole class lesson followed by bespoke grouped reading at least once a week as well as individual reading. For pupils still needing support with phonics from years 2-6, we provide an individual reading programme that has phonically decodable texts at the heart of it. In our whole class reading, there is a clear teaching focus with the opportunity to master key reading skills in each session. There are follow on reading tasks to enable pupils to evidence the skills they have mastered independently.

Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Read approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.

We aim to support our pupils to become fluent readers able to read easily, with appropriate speed, stamina and good understanding.

We do this by:

using ‘Pathways to Read’ mastery approach to reading, through quality books and motivating sequences of learning
teachers modelling reading for pleasure through daily story time
providing opportunities for children’s own reading for pleasure, including individual reading, paired reading in class and peer reading with other children across the school
providing informal opportunities for children to share books that they have enjoyed
providing an area in the classroom for reading for pleasure, designed after collecting ideas from the children
providing carefully chosen quality books for class readers in each year group from a range of fiction genres, poetry and non-fiction, to include: plays, comics, graphic novels, magazines, newspapers
participating in events designed to celebrate and share reading
pre-teaching vocabulary to help all children to access class books
ensuring all children understand the contexts and content of core books
creating a whole school environment that promotes reading for pleasure and for information
valuing all reading

Here is our Pathways to Read overview here at Mereside C of E Academy: pathways-to-reading-overview

Pathways to Read is a programme designed to equip pupils from Year 2 onwards with key skills to move them through the reading process towards becoming competent and fluent readers. To support this approach, clear detailed lesson plans and resources are linked to high-quality texts. Pathways to Read ensures engaging and purposeful reading lessons.

Pathways to Read follows a mastery approach to learning with three categories of skills developed each half term:

Ongoing skills – linked to text choices and achieved through selection of teaching activities
Core skills – prediction, vocabulary development and retrieval
Mastery skills – 2-3 objectives are focused on for pupils to master over the course of the half-term

The core elements of each session are prediction, developing pupils’ vocabulary and retrieval. The ‘Read and explain’ part of the lesson is the mastery focus for the majority of sessions.

Grouped reading sessions follow each whole class session with a mastery focus, with a specific focus on the mastery learning and providing pupils with the opportunity for discussion in smaller groups with an adult.

We also use Pathways to Write to drive our writing curriculum. This aligns with Pathways to Read ensuring meaningful links for our pupils with texts and topics that are used across Literacy, Humanities and Science.

Reading at home

Reading with your child is the most useful, productive, powerful and enjoyable activity to do at home that will not only help them achieve at school, but also strengthen your relationship. Daily home reads should be recorded in your child’s Reading Diary. This could be listening to your child read, an adult reading to a child or sharing a story together. We want to make sure EVERY child (and grown-up) at Mereside C of E Primary Academy LOVES reading as much as their teachers do!

Reading with your child is a lot more than just hearing them read their school books – here are some ideas to help you and your child develop a love of reading:

Help them with their phonics sounds as they read
Read to them; model how a story should be read with exciting pitch, tone, pause, punctuation and character voice
Read a range of different types of text – not just their school book!
Discuss what they are reading: ask questions about what might happen next and about what has already happened
Share your favourite books
Visit the Shrewsbury Library – IT’S FREE!
Make time for stories EVERY night: a routine is always good and story time can be a very special time for children and the parents/carers to share together.
Here a some virtual books for free that you can read together – http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Reading/
Here are some top tips to encourage your child to read – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-top-tips-to-encourage-children-to-read/10-top-tips-to-encourage-children-to-read

Celebrating Reading

We LOVE reading at Mereside C of E and want the children to enjoy reading. The best way to do this is to let the children choose the books that they LOVE to read. Popular favourites in school are Dog Man, Michael Morpurgo and Diary of a Wimpy Kid collections! We have a great library in school and classroom book corners full of new and modern books that are constantly refreshed.

We run a variety of initiatives and competitions to keep reading FUN and high profile such as Reading Buddies, Reading Ambassadors, World Book Day Book Swap, Author & Illustrator events, a Book Shed… the list is endless!