Phonics at ISB

What is Phonics?

Phonics is a way of teaching children to read and write by helping them understand the sounds that letters—and combinations of letters—make. In English, one sound can be represented in many different ways. For example, a single sound can be made by two or three letters together (such as sh, igh, or ea).

Through phonics, children learn to “sound out” words by breaking them into these smaller sound units, then blending the sounds together to read the whole word. They also learn the many different ways a sound can be spelled, which helps them become more accurate and confident spellers. This step-by-step approach builds strong foundations for fluent reading and writing.

We use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) to give your child the best possible start with their literacy development.

What is Read Write Inc?

Read Write Inc (RWI) is a phonics literacy 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, we continue teaching RWI to children beyond the age of 7, as we use a stage not age approach.

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 preparatory 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.

Reading

The children

Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts – see below.
Learn to read words using 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 blending sounds.
Learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write.

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

Read Write Inc Progression of skills

Children in preparatory are introduced to initial sounds. Children then begin to learn how to ‘read’ the sound in words and how those sounds can be written down. As children progress, they will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. Once children become fluent speedy readers they will move on to the RWI Spelling programme.

The children are taught the sounds in 3 sets.

Read Write Inc Phonics-Sounds and Rhymes

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?	ae	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 his body, curl and dot.
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.

Step 1

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.

At this stage we do not use the letter names

Step 2

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.

Set 2 Speed Sounds
Sound	Phrase	Words to practice reading and spelling
ay	ay: may I play	play, day, may, way, say, spray
ee	ee: what can you see	see, three, been, green, seen, sleep
igh	igh: fly high	high, night, light, fright, bright, might
ow	ow: blow the snow	blow, snow, low, show, know, slow
oo	oo: poo at the zoo	too, zoo, food, pool, moon, spoon
oo	oo: look at a book	took, look, book, shook, cook, foot
ar	ar: start the car	car, start, part, star, hard, sharp
or	or: shut the door	sort, short, horse, sport, fork, snort
air	air: that’s not fair	fair, stair, hair, air, chair, lair
ir	ir: whirl and twirl	girl, bird, third, whirl, twirl, dirt
ou	ou: shout it out	out, shout, loud, mouth, round, found
oy	oy: toy for a boy	toy, boy, enjoy

Set 3 Speed Sounds
Sound	Phrase	Words to practice reading and spelling
ea	Cup of tea	clean, dream, seat, scream, real
oi	Spoil the boy	join, voice, coin
a-e	Make a cake	make, cake, name, same, late, date
i-e	Nice smile	smile, white, nice, like, time, hide
o-e	Phone home	home, hope, spoke, note, broke, phone
u-e	Huge brute	tune, rude, huge, brute, use, June
aw	Yawn at dawn	saw, las, dawn, crawl, paw, yawn
are	Care and share	share, dare, scare, square, bare
ur	Nurse with a purse	burn, turn, spurt, nurse, purse, hurt
er	A better letter	never, better, weather, after, proper, corner
ow	Brown cow	how, down, brown, cow, town, now
ai	Snail in the rain	snail, paid, tail, train, paint, rain
oa	Goat in a boat	goat, boat, road, throat, toast, coat
ew	Chew the stew	chew, new, blew, flew, drew, grew
ire	Fire! Fire!	Fire, hire, wire, bon/fire, in/spire, con/spire
ear	Hear with your ear	hear, dear, fear, near, year, ear
ure	Sure it’s pure	pure, sure, cure, pic/ture, mix/ture, ad/ven/ture

You can watch a video about pronouncing these here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUbrJPAt65g

Nonsense words or Alien 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 provide endless opportunities for children to apply and practice their thinking in a range of different contexts.

Red words Green words

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

Dots and dashes represent the sound each letter makes.

During the RWI session children will read the book three times and at each new reading they will have plenty of opportunities to practise using their developing comprehension skills. You may have heard your child talking about ‘hold, edit or build a sentence’.

Hold a sentence is an activity that encourages children to remember a whole sentence while focusing on spelling and punctuation.

Build a sentence is to give children the opportunity to create their own sentence to that shows the meaning of a word and edit a sentence allows the children to critique a sentence using their knowledge of spelling punctuation and grammar. Children complete a longer piece of independent writing, which gives them the opportunity to show off their creativity and to practice their spelling, grammar and punctuation.

To help at home

Your child will start to bring books home when they are confident readers, relating to their reading stage. You will find they will bring home a phonics-based book, this will aid application, speed and fluency – developing speedy reading! Following on from this, they will bring a comprehension-based book which will begin to enrich their reading, which will require decoding skills. Only then, children will bring home enriched reading books which will enhance their understanding via inspirational language promoting depth to their understanding.

Parent video: Sound blending

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8vuje-wMQw

Parent video: Reading the digraphs with your child

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ3pGvw-HLE

Parent video: Reading the bouncy sounds with your child

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYgBI5w-MCw

Parent video: Reading the stretchy sounds with your child

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzAD1EPaYKY

Read Write Inc guide for parents

The following links provides lots of free Read Write Inc. Phonics resources to help your child, including eBooks, practice sheets and parent films.

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/