Read, Write Inc.
Learn to read, love to read, read to learn!
At Clarkson Infant and Nursery School our aim is to provide all children with a positive, successful and enjoyable journey to becoming a reader. During every school day your child will be taught the knowledge and skills they need to progress through this journey.
As parents and carers, you can support your child at home by providing them with opportunities to practise what they have learnt in school, helping them to develop their concentration, fluency and perseverance.
It is important to remember that learning to read is not a race! For some children, learning to read will seem to happen easily and quickly. For others, more time and support will be needed. If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s reading, please come in and talk to your child’s class teacher.
Reading At Home- Make it Special!
Try to:
- Keep reading time relaxed, comfortable and pleasurable.
- Choose a time of day that suits your child best.
- Find a quiet place with the television turned off.
- Respond to your child. It might be that on some days you take turns at reading sections or pages of the book.
- Offer encouragement as you read and talk to your child about what they did really well.
- Value and praise your child’s practise and effort.
Try not to:
- Correct your child too often or too quickly.
- Make reading negative or pressured.
- Get worried or frustrated.
Other ways to support your child’s journey to becoming a reader…
- Join your local library together and use it regularly.
- End the day with a bedtime story, reread your child’s favourite books.
- Recite rhymes and sing songs.
- Draw your child’s attention to print around them such as shop signs, road names and food packet labels.
School Expectations
We would like you to read with your child 5 times per week.
Your child will bring home:
- A Read, Write Inc. Book Bag Book every three or five days
- A copy of the actual Read, Write Inc. book they have been reading in school every three to five days
- A library book every week
- An online quiz will also be set on Oxford Owls for your child to complete each week
We would like you to practise reading any additional words or sounds sent home.
Please look after the school books by keeping them in your child’s book bag.
The Reading Record
Your child will also bring home a reading record. The reading record should also be kept in your child’s book bag. Please record the date and title of the book in your child’s record so we can see they are reading at home. Please feel free to make comments about how your child is getting on with their reading.
A member of school staff will comment in your child’s reading diary once a week.
The beginning of the journey
Read, Write Inc. is the reading programme the school uses to teach reading. To find out more about the Read, Write Inc. programme watch the following video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjlPILhk7bQ
When children start in Reception they will begin to learn Set 1 single letter sounds in the following order:
| m | q | s | d | t |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | n | p | g | o |
| c | k | u | b | f |
| e | l | h | r | j |
| v | y | w | z | x |
To learn how these sounds are pronounced go to:
As they learn the sounds they are taught how to blend using Fred Talk. Fred is a toy frog that helps to teach the children to blend sounds to read words. They will use Fred Talk to read words with the sounds they know. We call these decodeable words green words.
To read the word ‘cat’ the children will ‘Fred Talk, read the word’
c…….a……..t……..cat
Lilac books
During the early days of learning to read, your child will bring home Lilac picture books.
Here are some ideas of how to share these books with your child:
Before you start:
- Talk about the title and the pictures on the cover of the book.
- Discuss what you think the book might be about.
- Look through the pictures together and discuss what is happening.
When looking through the book:
Show your child how we read-
- Discuss how you know you have the book up the right way and model how to turn the pages carefully
- Talk about the pictures. What can you see? What’s happening? What do you think will happen next?
After reading:
Select a few of these activities to try each time you read.
- Ask your child to retell the story in his/her own words, looking at the pictures again to help him/her if necessary. Ask your child questions about what has happened in the book.
- Practise blending sounds with your child to spot things in the pictures e.g. You say c….a….t or b….a….g
- Play ‘I spy’ using the pictures from the book e.g. ‘I spy with my little eye something in the picture that begins with ‘s’ or that has the sounds d….o….g.
Read, Write, Inc. Sound blending books
When your child has the knowledge and skills needed to read simple words they will begin to bring home books with single words. By reading these books they will be practising their ability to ‘Fred Talk, Read the word’.
Red Ditty Books
As you child becomes more able to read these simple words independently they will learn about special friends.
Special friends are when two letters make one sound.
| sh | ch | th | qu | ng | nk |
|---|
They will learn to ‘Spot the special friends, Fred talk, read the word’.
So when seeing the word ‘shop’ they will say ‘sh’…. ‘sh….o…..p…..shop’
Your child will also learn to read words with two consonants at the beginning or end of a word, such as sand and gran.
They will bring home a Red Ditty Book Bag book and begin to read short sentences containing words with the sounds they know.
Green, Purple, Pink and Orange Level Book Bag Books
First Read
- Talk about the front cover of the book. Look at the illustrations and the title and make predictions about what might happen.
- Read the story green words on the inside cover. Ask your child to ‘Fred Talk, read the word’.
- Read the red words on the inside cover.
- Now read the book. Encourage your child to ‘Fred Talk, read the word’ if they come across a word they don’t know. If they are finding this tricky you can say the sounds for them to blend together. Alternatively tell them the word.
- Explain the meaning of any new words your child may not know.
Second Read
- Before you begin practise any words that your child may have found trickier from the previous day. Highlight any words that are repeated throughout the text, can they spot them all?
- Remind your child that they don’t need to ‘Fred Talk’ every word, if they can read it, just read it!
- After reading retell the story using the pictures on the final page of the book.
Third Read
- Now your child is familiar with the story they can focus on reading with greater fluency and can try to add some expression to their voice as they read.
- Remind them to look carefully at the punctuation, pausing for a breath when they see full stops or commas.
- After reading work through the ‘Questions to chat about’ at the back of the book.
Once your child has begun Purple Read, Write Inc. books they will have begun to learn the following Set 2 special friends in school. By the time they are on Orange level books they will be able to read these sounds in a range of words with confidence and independence.
| ay | ee | igh | ow | oo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (as in moon) | ||||
| oo | ar | or | air | ir |
| (as in look) | ||||
| ou | oy |
They will also begin to practise Fred Talk in their heads. We call this ‘Fred in your Head’.
Children say the sounds quietly or in their head and then blend them together.
Yellow, Blue and Grey Level Book Bag Books
Once your child has begun Yellow Read, Write Inc. books they will have begun to learn the following Set 2 special friends in school. By the time they are on Grey level books they will be able to read these sounds in a range of words with confidence and independence.
| a-e | ea | i-e | o-e | u-e |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| oi | ai | oa | ew | ire |
| ear | er | aw | ow | ure |
| are | ur |
They will also be taught to read longer words by breaking them into syllables.
day/light
sun/day
They will continue to learn to ‘Spot the special friends, Fred Talk, read the word’ and get quicker at reading words using ‘Fred in your Head’
Sharing a Yellow, Blue and Grey Level Book Bag Book
Follow the same three day structure when sharing books. These books include a vocabulary check box on the inside cover. Talk through the meanings of these words with your child on the first read. Your child will now change their book every 5 days.
Red Words
Your child will also be taught to read red words. Red words are those that cannot be read using Fred Talk such as ‘was’ and ‘said’. In our lessons we explain that these words have tricky letters! Learning to read these words on sight also helps to develop our child’s fluency.
When reading any book with your child, ask questions that will boost their understanding of what they are reading.
Here are some suggestions of things you might ask or discuss.
| Style | What type of book is this? (story, poem, information) |
|---|---|
| Have we read a book like this before? What other story is it like? | |
| What do you think it will be about? | |
| What is the title? What can you see on the cover? | |
| Setting | Where is the story set? Is it a place you have been to? Would you like to go there? |
| Where? | When does the story take place? |
| When? | Can you describe the setting? |
| Characters | Who are the characters in this story? |
| Who? | Who is the most important? Why? |
| Were there any characters you didn’t like? | |
| Why does that character behave in that way? | |
| Plot | What do you think might happen next? |
| What? | What are the main events in the story? |
| What is the problem in the story and how is it resolved? | |
| What was your favourite/most exciting part of the story? | |
| Did you learn anything new from this book? | |
| Did we learn the meaning of any new words? | |
| Theme | What was the main idea/theme of the story? |