Fred Talk Fun in Team Piper 🐸

in Read Write Inc (RWI), the children have been working hard on blending — a key skill that helps them read new words by putting individual sounds together.

What is blending?

In RWI, blending means combining separate sounds (phonemes) to form a whole word. For example:

• If we hear the sounds c – a – t, and then blend them, we get the word cat

• Or s – i – t becomes sit

We start by practising hearing and saying the sounds one by one, and then we bring them together smoothly into a word. Teachers sometimes use Fred Talk to help with this — Fred the Frog “says” the sounds, and the children help by blending them into a word.

Blending is vital because it gives children a “tool” to decode (sound out) unfamiliar words rather than relying only on memory or guessing.

We’d love for you to practise blending together at home too! You can follow along to these videos...

http://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/C4hiwa5q/v5oL5pzc

http://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/ivDFkhL1/Hvc9Bo3q

http://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/K0k8s95m/hZNB82q2

Some simple ideas to also try at home:

• Say a word slowly, stretching the sounds (e.g. “c—a—t”) and have your child say them back, then help them blend (“cat”).

• Use Fred Talk: say each sound separately, then ask your child to bring them together.

• Turn it into a game: who can blend the fastest?

• Celebrate successes — blending is a big step in reading!

We’re so proud of how hard the children are working with their blending, with practice at home, they’ll grow more confident each day. Well done Team Piper!