READING

At Harrow Lodge Primary we use the highly successful Read Write Inc. Phonics program to teach our children to read, write and spell in KS1. Our children do exceptionally well in the phonics screening check and by Year 2, the majority are fluent readers with the best chance of success in the KS1 tests.

How can I support my child to learn Set 1 sounds and to blend?

• Use pure sounds, not letter names. Watch the ‘how to say the sounds’ parent film on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parents/
• Watch the ‘Reading the stretchy sounds with your child’, ‘Reading the bouncy sounds with your child’ and ‘Reading the digraphs with your child’ parent films
  

  

  on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parents/ to see how to teach Set 1 sounds

• Practise reading known Set 1 Speed Sounds cards speedily. If needed, show your child the picture side of the card to help them remember the sound.

How can I support my child to learn Set 2 or 3 sounds?

• Watch the ‘Set 2/3 tutoring’ film on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parents/
• Help your child practise reading known Speed Sounds cards speedily. If needed, show your child the picture side of the card to help them remember the sound.

What is Fred Talk?

Phonics, teachers will introduce your child to a toy frog called Fred once he or she is ready to start reading words.

Fred can only say the sounds in a word and needs your child to help him read the word. Fred will say the sounds and children will work out the word. For example, Fred will say the sounds c–a–t, and children will say the word cat. This is Fred Talk: sounding out the word.

Here are two ways you can use Fred Talk at home:

1. Play Fred Games together – see Fred Games document on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parents/
2. Speak like Fred throughout the day e.g. time for l-u-n-ch! Let’s p-l-ay!

• Watch the ‘Sound-blending’ parent film on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parents/

To help support the early stages of letter formation, we use the Read Write Inc sayings when writing. We also encourage pupils to use the sayings for each diagraph to help remember them. These documents can be found below.

Letter Formation Rhymes

Rhymes For Set 1, 2 and 3 Sounds

In order to support children to develop their reading skills in a smooth transition from Read Write Inc we follow Destination Reader across KS2. It begins in Year 3 and children follow it all the way up to year 6. Please click here to be redirected to the Destination Reader website for more information. 

Destination Reader:

• Provides a systematic approach to the teaching of reading across KS2
• Enables children to develop key strategies which deepen their understanding of texts
• Develops children’s motivation to read broadly for pleasure and purpose
• Increases children’s ability to lead their learning through the acquisition of key learning behaviours
• Places children at the centre of a formative approach to assessment in reading
• Provides a replacement to Guided Reading

The program covers seven key skills identifies within the national curriculum to support the reading and understanding of a wide range of texts. These are:

• Predicting
• Making connections
• Asking questions
• Evaluating
• Inferring
• Summarising
• Clarifying

While children read their book with their partner they are encouraged to stop and have discussions in a respectful way using sentence stems that are specifically taught. You could prompt your child to refer to these sentence stems when reading at home or answering questions about a book you have read to them.

Reading with your child at home

Harrow Lodge Book Band guidance for parents