At Leatherhead Trinity School and Nursery, we use the synthetic phonics programme, Read Write Inc. RWInc teaches children the sounds in English, the letters that represent them, and how to form the letters when writing. Read Write Inc. Phonics includes reading books written using only the letters the children have learnt at each level (and a small number of separately taught tricky words). The children will quickly feel confident and successful.

OXFORD OWL – a guide for parents

Speed sounds and Read Write Inc. Stages

Learning 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

Make sure they say sounds like ‘mmm’, not letter names like ‘em’. Watch the Sound Pronunciation Guide video to help you.

If your child is learning Set 1 Speed Sounds, help them to:

Complete the Speed Sounds practice sheets for the Speed Sounds they have learnt.

 

Learning to blend with Set 1 Speed Sounds

Your child is learning to read words containing Set 1 Speed Sounds by sound blending. For example:

m-a-t mat

c-a-t cat

g-o-t got

f-i-sh fish
s-p-o-t spot

b-e-s-t best

s-p-l-a-sh splash.

If your child is learning to sound blend, help them to:

Read the Sound Blending eBooks in order.

You could watch the Sound Blending video to help you support your child with sound blending.

 

Learning 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.

If your child is learning the Set 2 Speed Sounds, help them to:

Complete the Speed Sounds practice sheets for the Speed Sounds they have learnt.

Read the eBooks at Red Ditty level, then Green level and then Purple level, in order. We recommend children read each eBook three times, as they would at school: once to read the words correctly, a second time with more fluency, and a third time in a ‘storyteller voice’ that shows their understanding.

 

Learning 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)

 

If your child is learning Set 3 Speed Sounds, help them to:

Complete the Speed Sounds practice sheets for the Speed Sounds they have learnt.

Read the eBooks at Pink level, then Orange level and then Yellow level, in order. We recommend children read each eBook three times, as they would at school: once to read the words correctly, a second time with more fluency, and a third time in a ‘storyteller voice’ that shows their understanding.

 

Reading books with Set 1, 2, and 3 Speed Sounds

If your child has learnt all three sets of Speed Sounds, they need to practise them and read books with words made up of those sounds.

They could:

Complete the Speed Sounds practice sheets for the Set 3 Speed Sounds.

Read the eBooks at the Blue level and then the Grey level, in order. We recommend children read each eBook three times, as they would at school: once to read the words correctly, a second time with more fluency, and a third time in a ‘storyteller voice’ that shows their understanding.

You will find a useful phonics audio guide to all these sounds in the Sound Pronunciation Guide video. It is really important to say the sounds clearly to help your child learn them. We say ‘mmmm’ not ‘muh’ and ‘lllll’ not ‘luh’ when teaching the sounds. This really helps children when they learn to blend sounds together to read words.

 

What is Fred Talk?

Teachers introduce children to a toy frog called Fred – he helps us read 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.

If you‘d like to know more you can watch videos and parental tutorials by following this link.