Read Write Inc. guides for parents

The heart of Read, Write Inc. Phonics is the systematic teaching of all the common sounds in the English lanaguge. (Read, Write Inc. call these the Speed Sounds). Children are taught to recognise the sounds and to 'push' them together ('sound blend' them) into words for reading.

Children are taught one way of representing the 44 main sounds of English first, then go on to learn the alternative spellings later on.

When teaching the letter sounds, it is important to remember to keep them very 'pure' and distinct, to help with sound-blending later on.

Watch the Phoneme Pronunciation Guide DVD at the bottom of this page to hear to correct way to say each sound.

Read, Write Inc introduces the simple Speed Sounds (one sound, one grapheme) with Speed Sounds Set 1 and Set 2 e.g. 'ay'. They then learn more ways of writing the same sounds with the complex Speed Sounds Set 3 e.g. 'ai',and 'a_e'. Children are taught letter names before moving on to Speed Sound Set 3.

Once children know all of the first set of Speed Sounds, they are ready to read the Red ditty books and then they progress through the coloured story books.

Speed Sounds Set 1

Speed Sounds Set 2

Speed Sounds Set 3 (Common alternative spellings for sounds)

If you would like to purchase Read, Write, Inc. flash cards, to further support your child, they are available from the Amazon website http://www.amazon.co.uk/Read-Write-Inc-Home-Flashcards