Phonics
Early Reading & Phonics at Mallard Primary School
At Mallard Primary School, we are passionate about ensuring that every child becomes a reader. As a school we are determined that every child not only learns how to read but that they become children who love reading. Early teaching of reading through the phonics programme should enable this love of learning.
What is RWI and who is it for?
We believe this starts at an early age so have chosen to follow the Read Write Inc phonics programme. In Early Years, children are introduced to initial sounds and Fred the frog to help children learn to blend, Pinny Time and Fred Talk. The environment is also focused on the early development of language. As the children move through Key Stage 1, they are introduced to increasingly more complicated sounds and matching texts that encourage children to embed the sounds that they are also being taught while developing fluency, expression and intonation.
Children take home engaging phonic books, which are closely matched to their phonetical understanding, also allowing them to feel successful as they develop the confidence to read a book to their adults at home.
Read Write Inc offers a 1 day, 3 day and 5 day plan and we actively encourage children to read texts more than once to support them with decoding and in time fluency and understanding. During Read Write Inc sessions, children regularly discuss the stories, learn how to answer basic retrieval and inference questions and share their ideas for writing activities linked to the story. Children have a secure foundation in knowing the reading routine which is consistent across EYFS and KS1.
We teach early reading (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) through the Read, Write, Inc programme. Please use the link below for more information on supporting your child with this:
What does the RWI teaching process look like?
Children are taught the pure ‘Set 1’ sounds so that they will be able to blend the sounds in words more easily. In school we use ‘Fred Talk’. We do not use letter names at this stage; we simply focus on the sounds that are used to sound out words. To view the correct pronunciation of the sounds you can click on the link below.
Pure Sounds Phonics
Set 1
Once all ‘Set 1’ sounds have been taught and children are able to read real words using ‘Fred Talk’ they will begin reading storybooks and writing activities to further develop and challenge their reading skills. The single set 1 sounds are taught first, followed by the ‘Special Friends’ (2 letters, 1 sound e.g. ‘th).
Set 2
Every Set 2 sounds has a rhyme to accompany it. For example, the word ‘play’ cannot be sounded out as single letter sounds. The word contains the ‘ay’ sounds where one sound is created by the two letters. This is known as ‘special friends’ which is two letters – one sound.
Set 3
The sound that you hear in these words is the same, but it is written using a different letter pattern. These are alternative ways of spelling the sound, for example ‘ay’- “May I play?” ‘a-e’ “Make a cake”
When the sounds are taught, a handwriting phrase is used to form a connection between the sound and the letter. The handwriting phrases can be found below. These are only to be used for spelling and letter formation.
