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Four Acres Academy
Building relationships that enable children to learn, grow and achieve
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FAQs for parents
PHONICS (provided by Ruth Miskin training)
Where else can I find information?
How can I support my child’s reading and writing?
What will my child bring home to read?
How can I support my child to learn Set 1 sounds and to blend?
How can I support my child to learn Set 2 or 3 sounds?
How can I help my child to practise their handwriting?
How can I help my child to spell words?
How else can I develop my child’s language?
What resources can I buy to support my child’s reading and writing at home?
Where else can I find information?
Watch video tutorials on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/ to help you to understand more about Read Write Inc. Phonics and how to help your child read and write at home.
Other useful websites:
Ruth Miskin Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/miskin.education
Free e-books for home reading:
http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Reading/
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/ruthmiskintrainingedu?mc_cid=63bfb74b56&mc_eid=4ec2ad9cea
How can I support my child’s reading and writing?
Here are the top five things you can do.
See the other FAQs for further detail.
- Ask your child to read the Speed Sound cards speedily
- Use Fred Talk to help your child read and spell words
- Listen to your child read their Read Write Inc. Storybook every day
- Practise reading Green and Red Words in the Storybook speedily
- Read stories to your child every day.
What will my child bring home to read?
- ‘Last and past’ Storybooks: contain sounds and words the children know. This is the Storybook they have just read at school and maybe some they have read before, for extra practice. Please don’t worry that books are too easy. Children enjoy re-reading stories they know well. Their speed and understanding improves on every read.
- Book Bag Books: matched to the Storybooks children read in school and used for extra practice. They include many of the same reading activities that we use in class and include parent guidance.
- More Storybooks and Non-fiction books: matched to the sounds and words your child knows well.
- Picture books to share with you: read these stories to children or encourage them to retell the story by looking at the pictures. They are not expected to read the story themselves.
- Speed Sounds cards: for children to practise reading speedily. If needed, show your child the picture side of the card to help them remember the sound.
- Red Word book pages: challenge your child to read the Red Words speedily across the rows and down the columns. Set a timer – can they beat yesterday’s time?
How can I support my child to learn Set 1 sounds and to blend?
- Use pure sounds, not letter names. Watch the ‘how to say the sounds’ parent film on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/
- Watch the ‘Reading the stretchy sounds with your child’, ‘Reading the bouncy sounds with your child’ and ‘Reading the digraphs with your child’ parent films on; https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/ to see how to teach Set 1 sounds
- Practise reading known Set 1 Speed Sounds cards speedily. If needed, show your child the picture side of the card to help them remember the sound.
We teach children to read and spell using Fred. He is a toy frog who can say the sounds in words, but not the whole word. Children have to help him.
To help children learn to blend, we say the sounds as Fred and then children repeat the sounds and say the whole word.
Here are two ways you can use Fred Talk at home:
- Play Fred Games together – see Fred Games document on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/
- Speak like Fred throughout the day e.g. time for l-u-n-ch! Let’s p-l-ay!
- Watch the ‘Sound-blending’ parent film on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/
How can I support my child to learn Set 2 or 3 sounds?
- Watch the ‘Set 2/3 tutoring’ film on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/
- Help your child practise reading known Speed Sounds cards speedily. If needed, show your child the picture side of the card to help them remember the sound.
How can I help my child to practise their handwriting?
Remind your child:
- To hold their pencil in ‘perfect pencil grip’ (see glossary)
- Say the handwriting phrase to help them form the letter correctly – see Handwriting Phrases on https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/
Challenge your child to see how many sounds they can write in a minute.
Say the sound and children write e.g. ‘write m’, ‘write s’, ‘write w’.
How can I help my child to spell words?
- Encourage your child to use Fred Fingers to spell words
- Ask your child to say the sounds in the word as they press the sounds onto their fingers
- Ask your child to then write the letters – if they get stuck, say the sounds again
- Praise your child for spelling using the sounds they know, even if their handwriting is not perfect.
How else can I develop my child’s language?
Children will have a large vocabulary if they are part of a ‘talk-a-lot’ family:
- Use every opportunity to talk with your child throughout the day – meal times, playing together, bath time
- Use new and ambitious vocabulary e.g. miserable instead of sad, stroll instead of walk
- Speak to your child in complete sentences
- Make up stories together - there’s no need to write it down.
What resources can I buy to support my child’s reading and writing at home?
You can purchase the below from Amazon to support your child with blending at home:
- Set 1/2/3 flashcards
- My Reading and Writing Kit age 3-5 – Set 1 Speed Sounds and blending
- My Reading and Writing Kit ages 5-7 – Red Ditty books
- My Reading and Writing Kit ages 5-7- Set 2 Speed Sounds, Green and Purple Storybooks