Read Write Inc Set 1 Sounds, in Order

Read Write Inc teaches the Set 1 single letter sounds in this order: m a s d t i n p g o c k u b f e l h r j v y w z x. Alongside them come seven "special friends", the groups of letters that make one sound: sh th ch qu ng nk ck. That is 25 single letters and 7 special friends, and together they are everything a child needs before Set 2 begins. The order is deliberate and it is not the alphabet.

The full Set 1 order, at a glance

Print this out or photograph it. It is the single most useful thing to have on the fridge in Reception, because it tells you at a glance whether a sound your child is stuck on is one they have met.

You may notice there is no q on its own. That is because in English q is almost always followed by u, so Read Write Inc teaches qu as a single special friend rather than as a lonely letter.

Why the order looks nothing like the alphabet

Because the aim is to get a child reading real words as fast as possible. With the first five sounds, m a s d t, a child can already read mat, sat, dad, am and at. Alphabetical order would mean waiting until the letter t before a single word was possible.

The order is chosen so that blending can start in the first week of teaching. Frequently used sounds come early, easily confused ones are kept apart, and the letters that make the most words arrive first. It is the same logic every systematic synthetic phonics programme uses, which is why the first handful of sounds looks broadly similar across schemes even though the exact order differs.

This is also why comparing your child with a cousin at another school rarely tells you anything. A child four sounds into one scheme and a child four sounds into another are not at the same place, because the four sounds are different and so is what can be built from them. The only comparison worth making is with your own child a fortnight ago.

The seven special friends

A special friend is Read Write Inc's name for two or three letters that together make one sound. In Set 1 there are seven: sh th ch qu ng nk ck. They matter more than parents expect, because a child who reads ship as "s, h, i, p" has four sounds where there should be three, and the word will not come.

The habit to build is spotting them first. Before your child starts sounding out, ask "any special friends?" If they can put a finger under the sh in shop and say it as one sound, the rest of the word falls out easily.

Find the special friends first, then sound out. It turns four sounds back into three, and the word arrives.

How schools split Set 1 into chunks

Nobody teaches 32 sounds in one go. Schools work through Set 1 in stages across Reception, usually with a small group of children at the same point, and the teaching is daily. When you choose a level on Lindo, we split Set 1 the same way: the first Set 1 sounds, the rest of Set 1, and then Set 1 Special Friends.

If you are not sure which chunk your child is in, the reading book is the giveaway. Sound Blending Books and Red Ditty books sit inside Set 1. Once Green and Purple storybooks appear, Set 2 has started.

Groups also move. Children are taught in groups at roughly the same point, and those groups are reviewed, so a child can shift up or down during the year without anything having gone wrong. If your child comes home reporting that they are in a different group, it is not worth reading much into it beyond the fact that the teaching has been pointed slightly more accurately at them.

Eight things worth knowing about Set 1 at home

1. Fred Talk is the routine, and Fred is a frog

Fred is a toy frog who can only speak in sounds. Fred says c-a-t, the children say cat. That is the whole game. It gives a child a reason to hear separate sounds and a reason to push them together, and it means the teacher can say "Fred Talk it" instead of a sentence of instructions.

2. Fred Talk gets quieter over time

It starts aloud. Then it becomes a whisper. Then it becomes "Fred in your head", which is silent. That progression is the point. A child who still needs to say every sound out loud in Year 1 has not gone wrong, but the direction of travel is towards doing it silently and fast.

3. Say the sound, not the letter name

This is the mistake most of us make. The letter m is called "em" but says "mmm". If you give your child the name, the blend will not work, because "em, a, tee" does not turn into mat. Sounds now, names later.

4. Keep the "uh" off the end

Say the sound cleanly. It is "mmm", not "muh". Bouncy sounds such as b d g k p and t are said short and crisp. Stretchy sounds such as m s f l n r v and z are held and stretched. Three extra vowels smuggled into a three sound word turn cat into "cuh-a-tuh", which blends to something closer to "cuhatuh".

5. Green words are for Fred Talking

Green words are words your child can sound out with the sounds they have already been taught. These are the ones to be patient with. Wait five seconds. Most children get there at around four if you say nothing at all.

6. Red words are not for Fred Talking

Red words are the exceptions, the ones that do not behave. Children are taught to "stop and think" rather than sound them out. At home, just tell your child the word and move on. Spending ninety seconds on a red word costs you the rest of the book and most of their willingness.

7. If they stumble, give the sounds and not the word

When five seconds have gone by and nothing is happening, say "s-t-o-p" rather than "stop". That hands them the win, because they did the blending. Giving the whole word finishes the sentence but teaches nothing and leaves them slightly smaller than before.

8. Stop while they still want more

Reception reading should be short. Five or ten focused minutes, ending while your child is still interested, beats twenty minutes that end in tears. You are not trying to finish the book tonight. You are trying to make sure they come back tomorrow.

Saying the sounds so they actually blend

If you only change one thing after reading this, make it the purity of the sounds. Pick five words your child can nearly read and say them in sounds yourself, slowly and cleanly, then normally. Let them hear the join. Blending is a listening skill before it is a reading skill, and most children who "cannot blend" are actually being asked to blend sounds that have extra noise attached.

It also helps to say the sounds at the speed you want the answer. Long gaps between sounds make the word harder to hold in the head. Tighten the gaps and words start appearing that did not appear a minute ago.

What comes after Set 1

Set 2 follows, with twelve sounds: ay ee igh ow as in blow, oo as in zoo, oo as in look, ar or air ir ou as in out, and oy. Set 3 adds seventeen more, including the split digraphs. In storybook terms the colour order runs Sound Blending Books, Red Ditty, Green, Purple, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Grey. Green and Purple use Set 2. Pink, Orange and Yellow use Set 3. Blue and Grey draw on all three sets.

One thing to know before it confuses you: the Storybook your child reads in school with their group is not the book that comes home. The Book Bag Book is a different story built from the same phonic content and the same green words. It looks easier because it is the fourth or fifth time your child has met those words that week, which is exactly the point. More on that in our guide to Read Write Inc books at home.

Where to go next

If you are still working out whether your school actually uses Read Write Inc, the tells are clear: Sets rather than phases, and a frog called Fred. Our guide to identifying your school's phonics scheme walks through the rest. If the word "decodable" keeps coming up and nobody has explained it, start with what decodable books actually are. There is also useful parent material on Oxford Owl.

Lindo Phonics is not connected to Read Write Inc and is not endorsed by them. We match the published progression so a story only uses sounds your child has already been taught.