At Mission Grove we use the Ruth Miskin Read Write Inc. phonic scheme to teach reading from Nursery to Year 2. In the Foundation Stage and in Key Stage 1 phonics is taught everyday and strategies are put in place for children that may need some additional support.

Synthetic phonics is a method of teaching reading that ensures virtually all children can learn to read quickly and skilfully. Children are taught the correspondences between sounds (phonemes) and letters. They identify and blend different letter sounds and letter combinations together (‘synthesise’ them) to make a word. Through this, children take the first important steps in learning to read. They can also use this knowledge to begin to spell new words they hear. A systematic approach to teaching synthetic phonics means teachers take a planned, thorough approach, teaching children the simplest sounds first and progressing all the way through to the most complex combinations of letters. Using a systematic synthetic phonics approach, almost all children quickly become confident and independent readers. They soon move away from the mechanics of identifying and blending letter sounds (or ‘decoding’ words) and start reading fluently, even when they come across words they have never heard or seen before. Once the process of reading becomes automatic and easy, they can devote all their attention to understanding the meaning of what they have read.

 Before your son/ daughter can start to read, s/he needs to learn to:

• Say the sound that is represented by each letter or groups of letters. These are called ‘Speed sounds’.
• How to blend the sounds together in a word to read it e.g. c-a-t - cat. This is called ‘sound-blending’.                                                                                                                                                What are speed sounds?                                                                                                                 In Read Write Inc phonics the individual sounds are called ‘speed sounds’ – because we want your son/daughter to read them effortlessly.

What are ‘speed sounds’ Set 1, Set 2 and Set 3?                                                                              Set 1: In Reception your son/daughter will learn the sounds below by sight. They will also learn how to blend them together to read words e.g. c-a-t - cat.                                                                    Speed Sounds Set 1                                                                                                                                   To begin with we learn a sound a day. We use pure sounds so that your son/daughter will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily.  Letter-sound pictures are used to help your son/daughter learn these sounds quickly. e.g. mmaisie mmmountain is morphed into m

                           

Set 1 sounds are taught in the following order:

m a s d t, i n p g o, c k u b, f e l h sh, r j v y w, th z ch qu x ng nk 

Once they have learnt the first 5 sounds we teach them to blend them. When we say words in pure sounds we call it ‘Fred Talk’. E.g. p-a-n, c-l-a-p.

When teaching a speed sound we either have to ‘stretch’ or ‘bounce’ it.

These first sounds should all be stretched slightly. Try to avoid saying uh after each one.          E.g. /mm/ not muh, /ss/ not suh, /ff/ not fuh.

m – mmmmmmountain (keep lips pressed together hard)

s – sssssnake (keep teeth together and hiss – unvoiced)

n – nnnnnnet (keep tongue behind teeth)

f – ffffflower (keep teeth on bottom lip and force air out sharply – unvoiced)

l – llllleg (keep pointed curled tongue behind teeth) 

r – rrrrrrobot (say rrr as if you are growling)

v – vvvvvvulture (keep teeth on bottom lip and force air out gently)

z – zzzzzzig zzzzzag (keep teeth together and make a buzzing sound)

th – thhhhank you ( stick out tongue and breathe out sharply)

sh – shhhh (make a shhh noise as though you are telling somebody to be quiet!)

ng – thinnnnngg on a strinnnngg (curl your tongue at the back of your throat)

nk – I think I stink (make a piggy oink noise without the oi! nk nk nk)

These next sounds cannot be stretched. Make the sound as short as possible avoiding uh at the end of the sound:

t – (tick tongue behind the teeth – unvoiced)

p - (make distinctive p with lips – unvoiced)

k – (make sharp click at back of throat)

c - as above

h – (say h as you breathe sharply out – unvoiced)

ch - (make a short sneezing sound)

x – (say a sharp c and add s – unvoiced)

You will find it harder to avoid saying uh at the end of these sounds.

d – (tap tongue behind the teeth)

g – (make soft sound in throat)

b – (make a short, strong b with lips)

j – (push lips forward) y – (keep edges of tongue against teeth)

w – (keep lips tightly pursed)

qu – (keep lips pursed as you say cw – unvoiced)

The short vowels should be kept short and sharp:

a: a-a-a (open mouth wide as if to take a bite of an apple)

e: e-e-e (release mouth slightly from a position)

i: i-i-i (make a sharp sound at the back of the throat – smile)

o: o–o-o (push out lips; make the mouth into o shape)

u: u-u-u (make a sound in the throat)

 

http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/

The link above has excellent tips and advice for getting started with phonics. Click on this and it will help you with tips on how to support your child with reading.

Tip 1 – shows you how to say the sounds correctly. The other tips are very useful as well.

Speed Sounds Sets 2 and 3: The long vowels

Once your son/daughter knows all Set 1 sounds by sight and sound and uses them to blend to read words, we start teaching Set 2 initially and then Set 3 long vowel sounds. Your son/daughter will need to learn that most vowel sounds have more than one spelling.          Each sound has a picture and phrase to help your child remember the sound. For example:

• the sound ‘ay’ has the phrase ‘May I play?’ with a picture of children playing together
• the sound ‘ee’ has the phrase ‘What can you see?’ with a picture of two boys in a tree.

                           

 

ACTIVITIES TO DO AT HOME WITH YOUR CHILD

You will need a pack of Read Write Inc. Phonics Flashcards.

How to practise Set 1 Speed sounds

When you practise your son’s/daughter’s Set 1 ‘speed sounds’, you either have to stretch or bounce them (see above for details).

          Example of how to practise the stretchy speed sound e.g. m

• Sing and stretch mmmm as you press your lips together. Ask your son/daughter to do the same. 
• Hold up the picture card. Show the picture of the mouse and say mmmm, and ask your son/daughter to say mmmm. 
• Show the picture side of the card ‘m’. Say mountain & ask your son/daughter to repeat it. Write the letter ‘m’ next to the card, so your son/daughter can see that the picture looks like the letter. Show the letter side. Say m (sound not the letter name). 
• Ask your son/daughter to repeat m.  
• Show your son/daughter both sides and ask him/her to say either m or mountain, depending on which side you show.                                                                                          Example of how to practise the bouncy speed sound e.g. a    
• Sing & bounce a-a-a a. Ask your son/daughter to do the same.  
• Hold up the picture card. Show the picture of the astronaut and say a-a-a-a astronaut, and ask your son/daughter to repeat it. 
• Show the picture side of the card ‘a’. Say a-a-a-apple and ask your son/daughter to repeat it. Write the letter ‘a’ next to the card, so your son/daughter can see that the picture looks like the letter. Show the letter side. Say a (sound not the letter name).  
• Ask your son/daughter to repeat a. 
• Show your son/daughter both sides and ask him/her to say either a or apple, depending on which side you show.                                                                                                             Once your son/daughter knows a sound well, drop the bouncing/stretching to enable him or her to sound-blend. Also stop showing the picture prompt so that your son/daughter doesn’t become too reliant on it.

How to practise Sound-blending  

Sound-blending 1

Your son/daughter will be ready to blend sounds together to read words once s/he has learnt the first set of sounds: m, a, s, d, t, and can say them in and out of order at speed.

Put the cards m, a, t on the table and push them closer to each other as you say the sounds. Point to each card as you say the sounds.

Repeat a few times saying the sounds more quickly and then the word, with your son/daughter. Repeat with: mad, sad, dad, sat, at.

Silently make m-a-t with the Speed sound cards. Point to each letter and say the sounds. Then say mat. Ask your son/daughter to do the same.

Then put the cards back with the other cards (s and d) and ask your son/daughter to use the cards to spell the word mat. Now ask your son/daughter to ‘sound out’ the word and read the word by blending again.

Repeat with: mad, sad, dad, sat, at.

Explain to your son/daughter that in order to read words s/he needs to practise saying each sound in a word and blending the sounds together.

Below is a list of ‘Green words’. They are called Green words because your son/daughter should now be able to ‘go ahead’ and read them, having learnt all the sounds in them and how to soundblend them.

For each of the words, ask your son/daughter first to ‘sound out’ the word and then to blend the sounds together, e.g. m-a-t - mat. 

                                                         mat - dad - mad - sad - at - sat

Once your son/daughter is confident with Sound-blending 1 you can move onto Sound-blending 2.

Sound-blending 2

This time, add i, n, p, g, o to your pack of sounds (you will now have 10 sounds). Follow the blueprint instructions for teaching sound-blending 1. Using the cards, practise: dog, dig, pin, pan, on, it, top. Then ask your son/daughter to read the words below. 

For each of the words, ask your son/daughter first to ‘sound out’ the word and then to blend the sounds together, e.g. p-i-n  - pin.

in - on - it - an - and - pin - got - dog - sit - tip - pan - gap - dig - top

Once your son/daughter is confident with Sound-blending 2 you can move onto Sound-blending 3.

Sound-blending 3

This time, add c, k, u, b to your pack of sounds (you will now have 14 sounds). Follow the blueprint instructions for teaching soundblending 1. Using the cards, practise: cat, cot, can, cup, bin, kit, up. Then ask your son/daughter to read the words below.

For each of the words, ask your son/daughter first to ‘sound out’ the word and then to blend the sounds together, e.g. k-i-ck - kick.

bin - cat - cot - can - kit - mud - up - cup - bad - back - kick

Once your son/daughter is confident with Sound-blending 3 you can move onto Sound-blending 4.

Sound-blending 4

This time, add f, e, l, h, sh to your pack of sounds (you will now have 19 sounds). Follow the blueprint instructions for teaching sound-blending 1. Using the cards, practise: ship, met, fan, hen, log, lip. Then ask your son/daughter to read the words below.

For each of the words, ask your son/daughter first to ‘sound out’ the word and then to blend the sounds together, e.g. f-i-sh - fish.

met - set - fan - fun - fat - lip - log - let - had - hit - hen - ship - shop - fish

Once your son/daughter is confident with Sound-blending 5 you can move onto Sound-blending 5.

Sound-blending 5

This time, add r, j, v, y, w to your pack of sounds (you will now have 24 sounds). Follow the blueprint instructions for teaching sound-blending 1. Using the cards, practise: red, jet, yum, wish, vet, rat. Then ask your son/daughter to read the words below. For each of the words, ask your son/daughter first to ‘sound out’ the word and then to blend the sounds together,          e.g. w-e-t - wet.

red - run - rat - jog - yet - jam - vet - yap - yes - yum - web - win - wish - wet

Once your son/daughter is confident with Sound-blending 5 you can move onto Sound-blending 6.

Sound-blending 6

This time, add th, z, ch, qu, x, ng, nk to your pack of sounds (you will now have 31 sounds). Follow the blueprint instructions for teaching sound-blending 1. Using the cards, practise: this, zap, chin, quilt, fox, bang, think. Then ask your son/daughter to read the words below.

For each of the words, ask your son/daughter first to ‘sound out’ the word and then to blend the sounds together, e.g. th-i-ng  - thing.

thin - thick - this - zap - zip - chin - chop - chat - quiz - quit - fox - sing - bang - thing - wink

 

Below we have added formation videos to help you form the letters correctly