Phonics

Click on the link below to access the full parents guide on the official Read, Write Inc. website. Here you will find guidance on all aspects of the programme and how you can support at home.

• Read, Write Inc Read Write Inc guidance for parents

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Reading at Home

Family engagement in children's reading at home is valued highly in our school. Reading at home is fun and gives children such a boost to their confidence and interest in learning to read. Reading support at home makes for quicker progress and quality time between child and parent. 

An active role in supporting your child's reading can be taken through:

• Providing a book bag to keep books safe and weather-proof. It should be brought to school each day, allowing your child to practise the same book at home and in class reading time.
• Hearing your child read every day at home, praising success and supporting their efforts.
• Checking Class Dojo for the RWI e-book and sound practice links uploaded by your child's teacher at the end of each week.
• Helping your child to practise the speedy reading of sound cards when they are sent home.
• Not worrying if your child's reading book seems too easy! They should be able to read book bag books speedily and with expression, because they will contain words and phrases already taught in lessons that week.
• Using useful websites that link to our school's reading programme, such as:

First Phonics Homework

When children begin learning phonics in Reception Class they will bring home a letter sound card and a handwriting sheet. This will help parents/carers to know what letter sounds they have learnt in school so that they are able to practise at home. Parents/carers will also receive a link to a RWI video which they can watch at home, which is a short phonics lesson. This is a wonderful way for children to recap lessons and learn alongside a RWI teacher. It is also useful for parents/carers as they are able to see how lessons are taught and ensure that the children are saying the sounds correctly and forming letters correctly when completing the writing sheets. 

First Blends Books

Once children can blend fluently and know the first letters they will bring home books containing words with these sounds. This means that they will be able to say and blend the sounds together to read each word. 

Read, Write Inc Books

When children are confidently blending and know the first set of letters sounds including 'special friends' they will begin working though the reading scheme. Children will bring home two books from the level which they are reading. One book they will have read in school for the week. They will be familiar with this book and should be able to read this with a high level of independence. The second book is a 'book bag' book. This is new to the children. It contains all of the sounds they have been learning and is fully decodable. They should be able to have a good try at reading this independently. If they continue to read this at least three times a week, they will become more fluent with their reading. This means that they will begin to read quickly without sounding out each word. Fluency is essential when reading as it helps us to be able to understand the text. 

Library Books

All children in Key stage one visit the library weekly. They are able to choose from a wide selection of both fiction and non-fiction books. These are books for enjoyment. Children may need a grown up to read this book to them. At St Mary and St Joseph's this is one of the most important things that you can do at home with your children. We want all of our children to grow a love of books which develops into a love of reading for pleasure. 

If you would like acces to the school library please ask. If you would like to come and use this resource as a family you are more than welcome to. Please speak to Mrs Addy who will be able to help.

Advice on any aspect of home-reading can be sought from ther class teacher or Mrs Addy, who is available to contact through class dojo or on the Early Years gates each day. Appointments can be made with her to support you further in reading with your child at home. 

Speed Sounds Chart

In class children have access to a Speed Sounds chart to help them when writing. This contains the letter sounds in each of the three sets alongside the picture. Use th link below to download the Speed Sounds Chart.

• Desktop speed sounds chart

Handwriting phrases chart

When we teach hand writing we use a short phrase to help the children to form letters correctly. This is extremely important as 

• Handwriting phrases

Forming Letters Correctly

When learning to write letters we use the Read, Write Inc. hand writing phrases to support our children. As we write the letter the phrase helps us to form the letter correctly, for example  a = round the apple, down the leaf.

Use the link below to view the handwriting phrases for each of the letters. The powerpoint presentation is also a great way to see how letters are formed correctly.

• How do we form letters in Reception Class

Book Marks

To support every child in learning the tricky red words we have introduced book marks. This will have the red words which your child is currently learning to read and spell. If it is not same colour as the reading book please do not worry. Please try reading the words from the book mark at least three times a week alongside their reading books. Please do not try to spell these all at once. You can simply choose two or three a week to focus on as a little extra practise at home.

Phonics Workshops

Throughout the year we will hold parents phonics workshops. These are a wonderful opportunity for you to come into school and work alongside your child during a phonics session. You will receive lots of resources, support and ideas on  how you can help your child with learning early reading and writing skills at home.