If your child's school uses RWI, can I ask you a question...

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If your children's school use Read Write Inc can I ask if they had to read every book in each colour level in order or did they skip books to move up levels?

We're slowly losing the will to live progressing through the levels and I'm worried if we have to read every book in each colour stage, I believe there is 10 for each stage then my child will just stop trying.

It was like this at the kids primary. I just taught them myself using books from the library. Dc used to read the parent blurb and instructions too. They were good for the none decoding skills. (Prediction, inference) I more or less opted out.

Other DC they were too hard sight words to start, then later too easy.

There is an ebook library

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/

Oh God OP sometimes you've just got to be a pushy parent, books changed once a week and reading the same book over and over sounds incredibly tedious. And a lot of reading scheme books are tedious enough as it is.

Ask if his book can be changed twice a week so he doesn't get bored of it, sometimes time is an issue so you could always offer to come in and change it with him before or after school if that's easier (this is what I used to do with DS, but was a small, relaxed village primary). Hopefully they'll just be pleased he's a keen reader.

Because the scheme is the scheme ... that's how it works. They send home easy books. They know they're sending home easy books. they know some kids will recite it. Just read them once and then read any of the thousands of other books/printed word available to you if you want variety.

my DD5 just reads signs/instructions/kids books/ letters sent to her / front of cards etc her reading record this week has literally one of the 4 RWI books sent home, the rest is Songbirds books, a letter that her aunt sent to her, the few sentences she read from Milly-Molly-Mandy, and the signs at the swimming pool...

Part-time primary teacher here. RWI isn't about taking a whole-group approach, it's about putting invididual children in the phonics group that is appropriate for their level. If they are assessing every half term then they'll move children up groups as needed (even if they haven't finished that particular stage). Sometimes entire groups get skipped by children who are excelling at reading, but it's worth remembering that if they skip a group (or two!), they miss out on the writing teaching for that group - all the punctuation and grammar basics - so sometimes it's better to keep them in a lower group than their reading level to ensure they don't end up with gaps in their writing knowledge.

The idea of having the book for several days in the row is that it allows children to practise and become confident and fluent before moving on. However, if your child is already fluent on first read, yes, it does become boring for them. In which I case, I would just read the RWI book a couple of times and then read other books at home with him. Ask your child's teacher to confirm that this is okay with the child so that they don't feel they have to read the school book over and over again.

Thank you this is a really measured response. As I said we have so much other stuff he can read and we read to him nightly but he takes his teachers word as gospel like many his age and doesn't want to get in trouble for not reading it so I definitely think I'll try to have a chat with her so he feels reassured he's ok not to read it every night.

They definitely have groups from what he's told me but I'm not sure how many groups they split into. He could definitely do with more writing practice so it wouldn't be awful for him to stay in a lower group. However, I'm not sure how much they do in the actual sessions compared to looking at the book (and apparently poking each other with lollipop sticks that he should be using to point to the words) 😆.

I do appreciate everyone's responses and in general it does seem like he won't have to read every book which is reassuring. Also I shall see if he is moved up after half term as I'm guessing they will assess this week and if not I may ask if changing his book more often is an option or if he can have an extra one just to mix things up so it's not the same few sentences each night. ☺️

The number of groups will depend on the number of staff available to lead sessions - TAs, if available, will be trained to lead groups as well, so you can have more phonics groups than you do classes, but if it's a small school they might not have enough staff to run all the RWI stages simultaneously, so then it becomes a bit more of a best-fit situation. I have to say as a teacher I think it's an absolutely brilliant scheme.

Each session is extremely structured and has several different components to it, roughly half of which is writing-focused. There is a lesson plan provided by the scheme for every single day. It's pretty fast-paced and I personally think it's very engaging!

Yes I agree, I’m worried reading the same thing over and over is turning reading into a chore because some nights are really hard work! I want to foster a love of reading and not make her hate it at a young age.

We only ever read the RWI books twice max. Often only once. And as I say, DD is in grey in yr1 so doing fine.

Well a slightly disappointing update. I caught his teacher when I picked I'm up today and whilst he went in to retrieve his water bottle I mentioned he's taken it literally that he needs to read the book every night and would she mind reassuring him that this is not the case and he can read other books too. To which she said he did have to read the book every night as that's the best way to progress.

I didn't get chance to continue the conversation further as he returned and I didn't want small ears eavesdropping but I'm a little frustrated she was so blunt about it. Nor sure what to do next now and whether to bring it up again at parents evening.

Ours change the books every week, but they do skip books and levels. No way would I make them read the same book every night. If they are not struggling with it I've never seen what the point is. DC1 was compliant and read the school book a couple of times a week then just moved on to other books. DC2 flatly refused to read the books more than once at most. I mostly insisted on at least something being read aloud every day, but otherwise left them to choose their own books for pleasure. But they were very fluent by yr1 so I felt comfortable enough to largely disregard the dire school books before they killed their love of reading for good!

Definitely going to try to discourage him thinking he needs to read them every night.

I understand repetition is helpful for fluency but if he already knows it without even having to sound out the words on the first time we read it at home and he can answer the questions then I'm not sure he's gaining much from repeatedly reading it even if his teacher says he should.

Hopefully half term will be a good time to take a break from reading them nightly and I'll see if I can find something a bit more engaging and enjoyable which he can read.

Again I really appreciate the responses.

Just get him to recite it if he feels he has to. Then just read something else.

We also "save" the RWI book for the end of the week, so she's forgotten the words and the reciting is less!

Whatever phonics scheme is being used, children should be reading books which match the sounds they have been taught.

That's a good shout actually I may try and revisit one at the end of half term to see how much he's recalled.

Although it's hard to imagine he would forget the content of the books given how few words they have and how much repetition there is. 😆 Even I've memorised them after just one read through.

I teach RWI but at a secondary school so not quite the same. We definitely assess every half term and skip levels when necessary.

They can skip if appropriate for that child.

Does it have to be appropriate for the whole group out of curiosity? From what he's said everyone in his group has the same books so surely everyone would need to be ready to skip a level or book?

I'm not sure if any of the other groups are working at a higher level and I don't know if his class mix with other year groups as some have posted above so I'd guess every child in his group all need to be working on the same books? Is that right?

At our school there are, I think, eight phonics groups across the three class school. Children are grouped by ability and do swap groups so they don't all need to skip. My son skipped levels on occasion then suddenly skipped the last two levels all together and became a free reader.

My next child has been methodically working through the levels. Reading doesn't come as easily to her.

What I will say is every school implements it differently. Our school gives one RWI book a week and it doesn't get changed until the following Friday. They really instil the knowledge and it feels slow in comparison to how other schools do it, but my eldest is a fab reader now, well above his years, so I am happy with it.

To add, everyone in a group reads the same book. But if someone is ahead of others in the group they will move them up to a different group.

Hello busy Year 1 teacher here!! I have taught RWI and Little Wandle, Jolly Phonics and a schools own scheme!!!
RWI assessments take place every six weeks and the children are placed in a group based on that. The groups are differentiated and a child does stay in that group until they make progress. I did have a child stay in the red ditty group with me for an entire year which I did feel was a failing of the scheme. However normally children will make progress and be moved once the assessment shows it. The book quality is not great and not very multicultural or inclusive. I think the reading it every night is a new thing and maybe read together a couple of times then ask him to read it to his teddies, the dog, grandparents on the phone!!!

Little Wandle is newer and does whole class phonics teaching. All of the children are together for the main phonics lesson and there are interventions for those who are struggling. I do not like this aspect as you can have a child who cannot blend and hear c-a-t siting in a phonics lesson where the focused sound is tion with words at that level. Reading is done separately and reading sessions are done three times a week. The first session is fluency, the second is prosody or reading with expression and the third is comprehension. Then the child brings the book home to 'perform' it as they should be confident with it. Unfortunately you do get complaints about the child bringing home books that are too easy for them because this is quite a new idea.

Sorry this is lengthy but I hope this helps.

No, unfortunately you can't have one child skipping books within the group. The way it works is you spend a week on a particular book in class - the child then gets a paper copy to take home, plus a shiny copy of a companion book. It's all linked to the lessons so if you had a child skipping ahead within the group, it wouldn't work.

Very disappointing that the class teacher said he has to read it every night - yes, this helps a lot of children with confidence and progress, but if you've got an able reader who is quickly bored then it's going to backfire! If your child is still being a stickler for the rules, once he's read it a couple of times you could always suggest that he reads just a page of that book each night and then give him something else to read to keep him interested.

Hopefully they'll bump him up a group after the assessment!

PS, OP I have sent you a PM!

Maybe they are pushing the every night, because some kids just don't do their reading at home anyway. So they might do it once, that's at least something. Where as if school said read it at least once, some would only do it once, or not all.
I know our reception teachers are exasperated at the amount of empty reading records!