At Duxford we use Twinkl phonics which is a Department for Education (DfE) validated, Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme (SSP). The Twinkl phonics scheme has linked reading books which are called Rhino Readers. The scheme starts with books containing just a few letter sounds and they gradually become more complex. All the reading books are fully decodable books which means that the books the children are given should match up exactly to the phonics that they have learnt. Books shouldn’t contain any letter sounds not yet taught. With fully decodable books, children can use their phonics skills to tackle every word and there’s no need to rely on guesswork or clues from the pictures. This helps them quickly gain confidence and feel successful when they read.
Your child will have their Rhino reader for a whole week so we suggest that you follow the plan below:
Day 1: Say the sounds
Day 2: Read the focus words
Day 3-6: Read the story until your child is reading fluently by sight (no sounding out). You could also talk about the pictures or look at the our Duxford reading booklet for ideas of questions you could ask to aid your child’s understanding.
Day 7: Complete the questions and/or a challenge from the last page.
Below is a video explaining how we suggest you use your reading book with your child as well as some links to videos of the sounds your child will be learning. Please also take a look at our Duxford Reading Booklet as it includes some useful information and suggested questions you can use when reading with your child.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFjzVBjQoC4 How to phonetically say the letters of the alphabet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SzkjubQ-Ok Level 2 flashcards, sounds and actions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZGwM48Wy5E Level 3 flashcards, sounds and actions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ugGQqMmvFA Level 5 flashcards, sounds and actions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s1OO9coZNk Level 6 flashcards, sounds and actions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XTk_xf6wbo What is blending?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wiz2aAsInQ What is segmenting?
