Read Write Inc Phonics
Read Write Inc. is a popular phonics scheme. Like all phonics schemes, it teaches children the sounds in English, the letters that represent them, and how to form the letters when writing. Read Write Inc. Phonics includes reading books written using only the letters they have learnt at each level (and a small number of separately taught tricky words. The children will quickly feel confident and successful.
Set 1 sounds
These are the Set 1 Speed Sounds written with one letter:
m a s d t i n p g o c k u b f e l h r j v y w z x
These are the sounds written with two letters (your child will call these ‘special friends’):
sh th ch qu ng nk ck
Check if your child can read these sounds. Make sure they say sounds like ‘mmm’, not letter names like ‘em’. Watch the video below to help you with the pronunciation of these pure sounds.
set 2 sounds
These are the Set 2 Speed Sounds:
ay ee igh ow (as in blow) oo (as in zoo)
oo (as in look) ar or air ir ou (as in out) oy
Set 3 sounds
These are Set 3 Speed Sounds:
ea (as in tea)
oi (as in spoil)
a–e (as in cake)
i–e (as in smile)
o–e (as in home)
u–e (as in huge)
aw (as in yawn)
are (as in care)
ur (as in nurse)
er (as in letter)
ow (as in brown)
ai (as in snail)
oa (as in goat)
ew (as in chew)
ire (as in fire)
ear (as in hear)
ure (as in pure)
How to help your child
You will find a useful phonics audio guide to all these sounds in our Sound Pronunciation video below. It is really important to say the sounds clearly to help your child learn them. We say ‘mmmm’ not ‘muh’ and ‘lllll’ not ‘luh’ when teaching the sounds. This really helps children when they learn to blend sounds together to read words.
Sound Blending
Learning to blend with set 1 sounds
Your child is learning to read words containing Set 1 Speed Sounds by sound blending. For example:
m-a-t mat
c-a-t cat
g-o-t got
f-i-sh fish
s-p-o-t spotb-e-s-t best
s-p-l-a-sh splash.
What is Fred Talk?
If your child’s school is using Read Write Inc. Phonics, teachers will introduce your child to a toy frog called Fred once he or she is ready to start reading words.
Fred can only say the sounds in a word and needs your child to help him read the word. Fred will say the sounds and children will work out the word. For example, Fred will say the sounds c–a–t, and children will say the word cat. This is Fred Talk: sounding out the word.
Read Write Inc Book bag books
Once your child knows all their Set 1 sounds, including their Set 1 Special Friends, we will begin to send home a Book Bag Book for them to practise at home. This book links to the text we have been reading in our phonics sessions and will contain the same sound. We recommend children read each three times, as they would at school: once to read the words correctly, a second time with more fluency, and a third time in a ‘storyteller voice’ that shows their understanding.
Nonsense words (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 will also feature heavily in the Year One Phonics Screening check in the summer term. These words provide endless opportunities for children to apply and practice their thinking in a range of different contexts.
Some examples of alien words…
cag
zet
dush
pheng
soulic
dolcay