Parent Guide to Phonics
Read Write Inc Phonics
At Violet Way Academy we follow the Read Write Inc (RWI) phonics systematic, synthetic
programme. We know many parents would like to support their child's phonic knowledge development at home, but we also recognise that teaching phonics is challenging. On this page, we provide parents with relevant information to help them understand how we teach phonics at school and suggest ways in which you can support your child at home.
Your child will be learning phonics at one of the following three stages. Your child's class teacher will be able to tell you which stage your child is at. Please click on the stage your child is currently working within to view the sounds they will be learning. Within each section, you can click on links to videos to learn how we teach the sounds in school and provide you with support on how to correctly pronounce each sound.
Set 1 Speed Sounds
These are the Set 1 Speed Sounds written with one letter:
m a s d t i n p g o c k u b f e l h r j v y w z x
These are the sounds written with two letters (your child will call these ‘special friends’):
sh th ch qu ng nk ck
Check if your child can read these sounds. Make sure they say sounds like ‘mmm’, not letter names like ‘em’. Oxford Owl have produced a pronunciation guide, which you can access by clicking here.
To find out how we teach children the Set 1 Sounds, please view the tutorial video by clicking here.
To find out how we teach children that sometimes two letters make one sound, please view the tutorial video by clicking here.
Set 2 Speed Sounds
These are the Set 2 Speed Sounds:
ay ee igh ow (as in blow) oo (as in zoo)
oo (as in look) ar or air ir ou (as in out) oy
Check if your child can read these sounds. Oxford Owl have produced a pronunciation guide, which you can access by clicking here.
To find out how we teach children that sometimes two letters make one sound, please view the tutorial video by clicking here.
Set 3 Speed Sounds
Set 3 Speed Sounds
These are Set 3 Speed Sounds:
ea (as in tea)
oi (as in spoil)
a–e (as in cake)
i–e (as in smile)
o–e (as in home)
u–e (as in huge)
aw (as in yawn)
are (as in care)
ur (as in nurse)
er (as in letter)
ow (as in brown)
ai (as in snail)
oa (as in goat)
ew (as in chew)
ire (as in fire)
ear (as in hear)
ure (as in pure)
Check if your child can read these sounds. Oxford Owl have produced a pronunciation guide, which you can access by clicking here.
To find out how we teach children that sometimes two letters make one sound, please view the tutorial video by clicking here.
What is Fred Talk?
Once they are ready to start reading words, your child's RWI teacher will introduce them to a toy frog
called Fred. Fred can only say the sounds in a word and needs your child to help him say or read the whole 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: saying the sounds in a word and blending them together. At school, your child is taught to hear sounds and blend them together in sequence to make a word. We start with blending oral sounds, then progress to reading the letters and blending them together to read the word. Below is a short video clip of Fred Talk in action.
The RWI publishing company, Oxford Owl, have more information, videos, worksheets and free e-books for you to access by visiting their RWI Guide for Parents page.