Read Write Inc | Old Road Primary School

PHONICS – READ WRITE INC.

English is a complex code!

All words are made up of sounds.
In English there are 44 sounds.

How will I know how to pronounce the phonic sounds?

You can practise saying the sounds by using the chart below

How will I know how to recognise the grapheme for each sound?

A grapheme is a sound written down i.e the letter symbol.
English has more than 150 graphemes.
This chart shows the most usual graphemes for the 44 sounds.

Set 1 Sounds are taught in the following order:

m a s d t, i n p g o, c k u b, f e l h sh, r j v y w, th z ch qu x ng nk

With Read, Write Inc we are using pure sounds, (‘m’ not’ muh’, ’s’ not ‘suh’, etc) so that your child will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily.

These first sounds should all be stretched slightly.Try to avoid saying uh after each one e.g. /mm/ not muh, /ss/ not suh, /ff/ not fuh.
m	mmmmmmountain (keep lips pressed together hard
s	sssssnake (keep teeth together and hiss – unvoiced)
n	nnnnnnet (keep tongue behind teeth)
f	ffffflower (keep teeth on bottom lip and force air out sharply – unvoiced)
l	llllleg (keep pointed curled tongue behind teeth).
r	rrrrrrobot (say rrr as if you are growling)
v	vvvvvvulture (keep teeth on bottom lip and force air out gently)
z	zzzzzzig zzzzzag (keep teeth together and make a buzzing sound)
th	thhhhank you ( stick out tongue and breathe out sharply)
sh	shhhh (make a shhh noise as though you are telling somebody to be quiet!)
ng	ng – thinnnnngg on a strinnnngg (curl your tongue at the back of your throat)
nk	I think I stink (make a piggy oink noise without the oi! nk nk nk)
These next sounds cannot be stretched.Make the sound as short as possible avoiding uh at the end of the sound:
t	tick tongue behind the teeth – unvoiced
p	make distinctive p with lips – unvoiced
k	make sharp click at back of throat
c	as above
h	say h as you breathe sharply out – unvoiced)
ch	make a short sneezing sound
x	say a sharp c and add s – unvoiced

You will find it harder to avoid saying uh at the end of these sounds.
d	tap tongue behind the teeth
g	make soft sound in throat
b	make a short, strong b with lips
j	push lips forward
y	keep edges of tongue against teeth
w	keep lips tightly pursed
qu	keep lips pursed as you say cw – unvoiced

The short vowels should be kept short and sharp:
a	a-a-a (open mouth wide as if to take a bite of an apple
e	e-e-e (release mouth slightly from a position).
i	i-i-i (make a sharp sound at the back of the throat – smile).
o	o–o-o (push out lips, make the mouth into o shape).
u	u-u-u (make a sound in the throat).

Set 2 Sounds are taught in the following order:

ay, ee, igh, ow, oo, ar, or, air.ir, ou, oy, ire

When the children are very confident with all of Set 1 and Set 2 sounds then they are taught Set 3 Sounds.

The long vowel sounds are all stretchy sounds.

Long vowel sound	Set 2 Sounds	Set 3 Sounds
Ay	ay: may I play	a-e: make a cake	ai: snail in the rain
Ee	ee: what can you see	ea: cup of tea	e: he me we she be
igh	igh: fly high	i-e: nice smile
Ow	ow: blow the snow	o-e: phone home	oa: goat in a boat
Oo	oo: poo at the zoo	u-e: huge brute	ew: chew the stew
Oo	oo: look at a book
Ar	ar: start the car
Or	or: shut the door	aw: yawn at dawn
air	air: that’s not fair	are: share and care
Ir	ir: whirl and twirl	ur: nurse for a purse	er: a better
Ou	ou: shout it out	ow: brown cow
Oy	oy: toy for a boy	oi: spoil the boy
ire		ire: fire fire!
ear		ear: hear with your ear
ure		ure: sure it’s pure?