PHONICS AT BISHOP ALEXANDER ACADEMY
At Bishop Alexander L.E.A.D. Academy we follow the Read, Write, Inc. phonics programme to teach children to read and spell. This programme is for children from Foundation to Year 2. Any pupils in Year 3 and 4 who need to catch up may also access RWI to help them make rapid progress in reading. Phonics is taught daily in Foundation and Key Stage 1, for 20 minutes.
Children are assessed at the beginning of the year and at the end of each half term. This enables children to be grouped to ensure that learning is tailored to each child’s specific needs. Having half-termly assessments enables us to keep track of children that may need support in a particular area of their phonics learning. High Impact interventions are put in place for those children requiring additional support. These are monitored and changed regularly.
Children learn the 44 common sounds in the English language and how to blend them to read, and segment to spell. Pupils work within ability groups which are reviewed regularly to ensure children are making rapid progress with their reading. These groups are smaller than a normal class size to enable us to target and support children to achieve their best and learn to read as quickly as possible.
Towards the end of Year 1 (June), all Year 1 pupils are required to take a statutory Phonics Screening Assessment. Within this assessment, children are required to read a number of words that contain the taught sounds. Some of these words are real and others are nonsense words (or alien words as we say to the children). If a child does not meet the expected score in Year 1, they are required to take the screening again in Year 2.
More Information about Read, Write, Inc.
You can find out more about Read, Write, Inc. on the website below where there are videos to help parents support children’s learning to read at home and explain how to pronounce the sounds the children are learning in their RWI sessions. Also, below you can find a word mat that we use in school when the children are writing that helps them to select the sound they need.
More information about Read, Write, Inc. phonics –
How to say the sounds –
Sound Mat –
Read, Write Inc. Group Information
Here is a list of the phonics groups the children work their way through. In foundation children would start in Group A. Each group shows: the sounds they will learn, green words they will be reading, words they will be reading speedily and activity ideas that you can try at home to support your child’s learning.
| Group | Sounds being taught in this group | Green Words (Look for special friends, Fred talk and read) | Speedy Reading Words | Activity Ideas |
| Group A | Set 1 sounds 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, | at, sad, sat, mad, dad, mat, on, an, pin, got, sit, pan, gap, top, in, it, and, pat, dog, tip, dig, up, bad, cat, can, mud, cup, bin, cot, kit | Practise reading the sounds speedily | Practise sounds using flashcards at home (homemade or bought). Find items around the house or in the garden with the initial sounds. d- dinosaur, dish, dustbin, drink. Match the items to the initial sound |
| Group B | Set 1 sounds 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, | at, sad, sat, mad, dad, mat, on, an, pin, got, sit, pan, gap, top, in, it, and, pat, dog, tip, dig, up, bad, cat, can, mud, cup, bin, cot, kit, bed, get, fun, lip, let, hit, ship, fish, met, fan, fat, log, had, hen | Practise reading the sounds speedily | Play ‘Fred’s Fridge’ You say things that Fred might have in his fridge using sounds only so the children practise ‘orally blending’ (putting the sounds together to make a word) e.g j-a-m. The child would then say ‘jam’. If your child finds that tricky then say the sounds faster so the child can almost hear the word. Place a sound card on each step and encourage the child to say the sound out loud as they stand on the step then on the last step blend it together to shout out the word – c – a – t —— cat you could do the same in the garden with hoops or stepping stones |
| Group C | Set 1 sounds 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, | at, sad, sat, mad, dad, mat, on, an, pin, got, sit, pan, gap, top, in, it, and, pat, dog, tip, dig, up, bad, cat, can, mud, cup, bin, cot, kit,red, rat, jet, vet, yes, run, jog, jam, yap, yet, yum, win, wet, web | Practise reading the sounds speedily | Hide and seek sounds, hide the sound cards around your house or garden and seek them out but don’t forget when you find them you need to shout out a word beginning with that sound. Play – ‘Pass Me the…’ Where you say a word in sounds (Fred Talk) and the child has to pass you the correct item e.g. Pass me the h-a-t. The child can then put the sounds together to say hat and pass you the correct item. |
| Ditty | Set 1 ‘special friends’ sounds Sounds with two (or more) letters but with one sound we call – ‘special friends’. ch, ng, sh, th, ck, ng, qu, nk | at, sad, sat, mad, dad, mat, on, an, pin, got, sit, pan, gap, top, in, it, and, pat, dog, tip, dig, up, bad, cat, can, mud, cup, bin, cot, kit, red, rat, jet, vet, yes, run, jog, jam, yap, yet, yum, win, wet, web, shop, wish | Practise reading the sounds speedily | Can you make any words rhyme are they real words or alien words? Use your child’s sound cards to build a word. Place each card down one at a time and ask the children to sound it out and read it. |
| Red | Set 1 ‘special friends’ sounds ch, ng, sh, th, ck, ng, qu, nk | blob, brat, drip, flop, gran, prop, slid, skin, spot, trap, strop, bend, send, test, well, fluff, mess, black, think, wink, kick, clock, blip, drop, clip, from, flag, grin, pram, slop, skip, spit, stop, trip, jump, hand, best, bell, fell, huff, dress, back, stink, duck, check, tick, back, snack, stick, duck | Practise reading the sounds speedily | Make some flash cards with green words (that include special friends) and alien words. Can you sort them into two piles real words and alien words? |
| Green | Set 2 sounds ay – may I play ee – what do you see? igh – fly high ow – blow the snow oo – poo at the zoo oo – look at a book | day, may, say, see, play, way, spray, three, been, seen, green, sleep high, night, light, bright, fright, might blow, low, know, snow, show, slow too, food, moon, zoo, pool, spoon took, look, cook, shook, foot, book | up, can, got, sit, man, get, not, and | Can you spot the special friends? Write a few of the green words for your child. Ask them to put the sound buttons in. Making sure they look out for the ‘special friends’. They can then sound it out and read it. Play hop scotch sounds when you land on the special friend and you think of a word containing that special friend and can you sound it out. Make flash cards with the speedy reading words on and ask your child to read them speedily. You could time them and get them to beat their score. |
| Purple | Set 2 sounds ay – may I play ee – what do you see? igh – fly high ow – blow the snow oo – poo at the zoo oo – look at a book | day, may, say, see, play, way, spray, three, been, seen, green, sleep high, night, light, bright, fright, might blow, low, know, snow, show, slow too, food, moon, zoo, pool, spoon took, look, cook, shook, foot, book | with, off, thin, will, his, them, that, have | Make a word by pulling down the sounds – t s r ay ee ow b l Pull down the sounds to spell tray t r ay (Repeat this with other words) Make flash cards with the speedy reading words on and ask your child to read them speedily. You could time them and get them to beat their score. |
| Pink | Set 2 sounds ar – start the car or – shut the door air – that’s not fair ir – whirl and twirl ou – shout it out oy – toy for a boy | car, part, hard, sharp, start, star sort, horse, sport, short, snort, fork fair, hair, lair, stair, air, chair girl, third, twirl, bird, whirl, dirt out, loud, round, shout, mouth, found toy, boy, enjoy, | lots, black, long, this, them, went, that, stop | Make some flash cards from the green word list. Label some paper plates with the Set 2 sounds. Ask your child to read the word and then sort it onto the plate that has the matching sound e.g. ‘chair’ would go on the plate with ‘air. Make a game to park the cars. Make some flash cards, from the green word list, read the words on the cards then park the car to match the special friend in the word |
| Orange | Set 3 sounds a-e – make a cake ea – cup of tea i-e – nice smile o-e – phone home u-e – huge brute oi – toy for a boy | cake, same, date, make, name, late dream, scream, seat, please, clean, real hide, nice, time, white, smile, like hope, spoke, broke, home, phone, note rude, brute, June, tune, huge, use join, voice, coin | rest, smell, soft, play, feel, stay, which, about | Make your own game of snap. Make two lots of flash cards using the green words. Play snap with your family. Whoever collects the most cards is the winner. Make flash cards with the speedy reading words on and ask your child to read them speedily. You could time them and get them to beat their score. |
| Yellow | Set 3 sounds a-e – make a cake ea – cup of tea i-e – nice smile o-e – phone home u-e – huge brute oi – toy for a boy | cake, same, date, make, name, late dream, scream, seat, please, clean, real hide, nice, time, white, smile, like hope, spoke, broke, home, phone, note rude, brute, June, tune, huge, use join, voice, coin | thing, right, night, sleep, boy, quick, little, think, know, smart | Make flash cards with the speedy reading words on and ask your child to read them speedily. You could time them and get them to beat their score. Use a selection of the green words to write sentences. |
| Blue | Set 3 sounds ai – snail in the rain oa – goat in a boat aw – yawn at dawn ur – nurse with a purse er – better letter ire – fire, fire ear – hear with your ear ure – sure it’s pure ew – chew the stew are – care and share ow – brown cow | paid, tail, train, snail, paint, rain goat, boat, toast, road, throat, coat law, paw, yarn, saw, dawn, crawl burn, spurt, purse, turn, nurse, hurt never, weather, proper, corner, after, better fire, wire, inspire, hire, bonfire, conspire ear, dear, near, hear, fear, year sure, picture, creature, adventure, pure, mixture chew, blew, drew, new, flew, grew share, bare, square, care, dare, scare how, cow, brown, now, town, down | Read a story and see how many of your ‘set 3 sounds’ you can spot in the book. Use a selection of the green words to write sentences. Make flash cards with the green words on and ask your child to read them speedily. You could time them and get them to beat their score. | |
| Grey | Set 3 extra sounds tion – pay attention, it’s a celebration tious/cious – scrumptious, delicious ie – terrible tie e-e – go Pete and Steve ph – take a photo wh – whisk, whisk ue – come to the rescue au – Paul the astronaut kn – knock knock, who’s there? e – he, we, she, me, be | conversation, celebration, exploration, tradition, congratulations, attention ferocious, scrumptious, precious, vicious, delicious, suspicious tie, magpie, flies, tried, pie, lie these, theme, complete trophy, alphabet, elephant, nephew, orphan wheel, whirl, whisper, white, whine rescue, blue, glue, queue, due astronaut, August, author, dinosaur, pause knock, knight, knee, kneel, know, knot, knit he, we, me, be, she | comfortable, invisible, operation, tomorrow, complained, serious, while, remember, beware, enormous | Can you write a sentence that makes sense containing a word with each of the ay, ai, a-e special friends in for example – On Monday the rain made the snail sneeze all day. Play an alien game. Ask your grown up to make up an alien word for you to sound out and read, each time you get one correct you can draw a body part of an alien. Keep reading new alien words with different special friends until you have drawn an alien with all its body parts. Make flash cards with the speedy reading words on and ask your child to read them speedily. You could time them and get them to beat their score. |