Phonics at The Minster

At The Minster Nursery and Infant School, we use a phonics programme called ‘Read Write Inc’. Read Write Inc is a method of teaching reading which focuses on learning the sounds of the letters (phonics), and then blending them together to read words. The children also learn to break down words into individual sounds in order to write them.

How it works

The children are assessed and grouped according to their ability. They work in small groups with a teacher or teaching assistant. At the end of each half-term, the children will be assessed again to check they have made progress. In addition to the Read Write Inc programme, children will also be working on reading and writing skills and storytelling in their classes with their own class teacher.

Reading:

Using Read Write Inc, the children learn to read effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into understanding what they read.

When using ‘Read Write Inc’ to read, the children will:
  • Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts
  • Learn to read words by blending the sounds together
  • Read lively stories featuring words they have learnt to sound out

Writing

Read Write Inc allows the children to spell effortlessly so that they can put their energy into working out what they want to write.

When using ‘Read Write Inc’ to write, the children will:
  • Learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds
  • Learn to write words by sounding them out (segmenting) and then writing the corresponding graphemes

Speaking & Listening

When using ‘Read Write Inc’, the children work in pairs to:

  • Answer questions to practise every activity
  • Take turns talking to each other
  • Give positive praise to each other
  • Blend sounds to read words
  • Learn to read words by blending the phonemes that they have learnt in their daily phonics lessons

For Parents

Tutorial Videos

Please choose from the titles below

What is ‘Read Write Inc ‘phonics?

Understanding phonics

How to say the sounds

Yr1: Phonics Screening Check

Fred talk & Fred fingers

 

Fred the Frog puppet plays an important role in Read Write Inc lessons. Fred is only able to speak in sounds, not whole words. We call this Fred Talk. For example, Fred would say ‘m–a–t’, where we would say ‘mat’. Fred talk helps children read unfamiliar words by pronouncing each sound in the word, one at a time.

Children are taught to use their fingers to help them write words. The children say the word out loud and break it down into its individual sounds. If a word has 3 sounds, children hold up 3 fingers; 4 sounds 4 fingers etc.

 

Children then pinch each finger as they say the sounds needed in the word, then they write the letters that represent each sound. When using Fred Fingers, each finger represents one sound.

Set 1 Sounds:


Set 2 Sounds:

 


Set 3 Sounds:

 

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