Phonics and Reading

Love God, Love Learning, Love One Another

Being a successful reader opens up a world of discovery, imagination and learning. Children who become fluent and confident readers become independent, life long learners. Our aim at St Thomas' is for every child to become a confedent reader.

In September 2024, St Thomas' became a Read, Write Inc. school.

Read, Write Inc. is a synthetic phonics programme that was developed by Ruth Miskin to teach children to read. It is designed for children to become fluent readers, confident speakers and willing writiers.

This is acheived through a crafeully constructed programme which has high expectations of all children. 

At St, Thomas, the children begin their phonics lessons as soon as they arrive in reception class.Once the orogramme has been completed, the children move onto daily spelling, fluency and comprehension lessons. We regulalry assess the children to ensure that they are making rapid progress through the scheme and children are regrouped according to their assessmnet results.

Those children that find the learning phonics difficult and struggle to keep up are given extra support through individual tutoring and additional phonics based activities thoughout the day.

Our Read, Write Inc. reading leader is Miss Wardle.

Reading

When using RWI to read the children will:

• Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple prompts
• Learn to read words using sound blending (Fred talk)
• Read lively stories featuring words they have learnt to sound out
• Show that they comprehend the stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove It'

Writing

When using RWI to write the children will:

• Learn to write the letter/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds
• Learn to write words by saying the sounds and graphemes (Fred fingers)

Talking

When using RWI the children will also work in pairs:

• To answer questions
• To take turns talking and listening to each other
• To give positive praise to each other

Blending

Help your child learn to read words by sounding-blending (Fred talk) eg. c-a-t = cat, sh-o-p = shop. Children learn to read words by blending the letter-sounds that are in the Speed Sounds set (shown further down the page).

Help your child to say the pure sounds ('m' not 'muh', 's' not 'suh' etc.) as quickly as they can, and then blend the sounds together to say the whole word.

Reading Books Sent Home

Children in Reception who are learning the first 44 letter sounds and are not blending fluently will bring home sound sheets, picture books and a library book for you to read with them.

Once children can blend fluently and know the first 44 sounds, they will bring home Ditty sheets, sound blending books, black and white story book, a 'Book Bag' book and a library book of their own choosing.

Read Write Inc Books

Please encourage your child to read through the speed sounds page first, then the green and red words page and then check your child understands the meaning of words on the vocabulary check page, before they start reading the book. Your child will have read this book at least three times before they bring it home. They should be able to read this book with fluency and expression by the time they bring it home and they should have a good comprehension of what the book is about. At the back of the book are find it/prove it questions for you to do with your child.

Finally, don't worry if your child is struggling at first with their sounds and words, they will get there in their own time. If you have time (we know it is very precious!), we would urge you to try and read stories to your child before they go to bed. This will help develop a wider vocabulary which makes a vast difference to their quality of writing but it will also encourage them to enjoy a good story.

The link below will take you to more information, including videos on how to support your child at home with learning to read.

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parentsandcarers/