Introduction
Learning to read is the most important thing your child will learn at school. Everything
else depends on it, so we strive to do all we can to ensure that every single child learns
to read as quickly as possible. We want your child to love reading and to want to read
for themselves. At Lingfield Primary School we want children to develop a love of books
as well as simply learning how to read.
What is Read Write Inc?
Read Write Inc is a comprehensive synthetic phonics programme that teaches reading,
writing and spelling. The children start by learning 44 speed sounds and how to sound
blend for reading. At the same time they develop skills for handwriting and spelling.
Through lively storybooks that contain words that the children can decode the children
progress to read and achieve early success.
RWI terminology
Your child may be using terminology that you are unfamiliar with! This glossary of terms
may help!
Green words
Green words are words that can be broken down into sounds, and blended together to
read.
Red words
Red words are words that cannot be broken down. These are taught explicitly, and are
words that children need to read by sight.
Fred talk
Your child will be encouraged to sound out words that they cannot read. We call this
“Fred Talk”. Fred is a frog that joins the children in every session and he can only talk in
sounds!
c-a-t = cat
sh-o-p= shop
n-igh-t= night
Fred Fingers
Fred Fingers are used for spelling. Children hold up the hand that they do not write with.
They sound out the word they are spelling and put up the correct amount of fingers for
the word.
For example: m-ee-t= 3 sounds= 3 fingers.
Ask your child how many sounds they can hear in the word “meet”
Ask your child to put up their Fred Fingers (their should be three)
Using the hand that your child writes with, they pinch the first finger and say the
first sound
in the word ‘m’
Pinch the middle finger and say ‘ee’
Pinch the last finger and say ‘t’
Swipe under all three fingers and say the whole word
Fingers are pinched left to right, as we would read.
Fred Fingers for Spelling
(Using letter names and not the sounds- when the children are on orange books)
When writing the word ‘hair’
2 sounds- ‘h’ and ‘air’
On the first finger write the letter ‘h’ and on the second finger write ‘air’
Say the letter names as you write each letter on each finger
Phonic screening test
Children complete a phonic screening test in Year 1, and a resit in Year 2 where the
children do not pass in Year 1. Children are asked to decode words, both real and
nonsense words. Read Write Inc fully prepares children for this test, including the
‘nonsense words’ that we call ‘alien words’. Asking children to read these alien words
requires the children to demonstrate their decoding skills.
There is a link below for more information on the phonics screening check.
What can I do to help my child at home?
Reading at home
Read everything! Road signs, menus, cereal boxes, logos, food packets, recipes
etc.
Read your child’s school reading book every night
Read books to your child that they cannot read for themselves
Enjoy a bedtime story together every night
Enjoy spending time at the library
Show off your child’s reading ability to relatives and friends- make them feel
amazing!
Sound pronunciation
http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/resources/sound-pronunciation-guide/
Top tips for parents:
http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/
Green words practice
http://ictgames.com/phonemePatterns/index.html
Year 1 screening check
http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/home/reading-owl/expert-help/the-year-1-phonics-screeningcheck
Free e Books to read:
http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/reading-owl/find-a-book/library-page