I think RWI is better for reading then writing, but that's not surprising, reading has to precede writing. RWinc lessons should be pacey and punchy (if you have been trained properly). Personally I find the books a little dry. If you are a good teacher you will incorporate other ideas into your lessons, be creative and not always follow the weekly schedule to the letter. But to answer your questions: Using magnetic letters daily can help young children in preschool or kindergarten begin to internalize the shape and feel of letters. This internalization builds alphabet fluency, which is a predictor of future reading success.

You know you have oodles of magnetic letters stashed away in your closet, or maybe they’re all over the floor of your classroom. Either way, we all have a set ( or two, or three) of magnetic letters that are gathering dust somewhere. Place a sun-bleached letter matching mat on cookie sheet and invite children to match the letters to the correct spaces. If the children aren't progressing I would suggest that is more a result of how the programme is being delivered (i.e. not very well!) as opposed to the programme itself. No programme is perfect, but if you have a good teacher they should be able to get results. The best part about these activities is that you won’t break the bank or spend hours toiling away in your classroom to create stellar literacy activities, just grab a set of magnetic letters and you’re good to go!

Letter Identification– If you are working with a small group of kids, you can say the letter name and have your kids find the letter magnet and place it on their cookie sheet. Use a permanent marker and a cookie sheet to create a t-chart. Students can sort letters “in my name/not in my name”. Your story corner must be safe, quiet and comfortable. It’s a good idea to display a few chosen books with their covers facing outwards, and to refresh every few weeks the ones that you are showcasing. Getting your Read Write Inc. Phonics resources organised

Use a permanent marker and a cookie sheet to create a t-chart. Students can sort the letters by determining if they have holes or no holes. no i don't think it's brilliant, but it does seem to work well for some students who need a lot of structure/and or students who are struggling with literacy. It is also good at getting the students to really think about what they are reading and therefore encouraging comprehension - reading with understanding of what they are reading rather than just reading by rote

I am a TA and I teach read/write inc to yr 2 students who are struggling with literacy. It works for our school, because it is a highly structured programme and that is what many of our children need. You can't judge a whole programme by only observing one class; of course there is writing but generally it is a book a week and so you don't write every day - on day 1 you normally just read the book. Towards the end of the week the student is expected to write a story with a very structured framework (depending on what level they are on). Every day they practice speed sounds, sounds of the week, new vocab. We often use magnetic letters and white boards to practice spellings. The idea really is taking phonics to the extreme and turning learning reading and writing English into an exact science as much as you can. Children understand that there are 'green words' which you can 'Fred talk' using the 'speed sounds' which they learn at the start of each lesson, and 'red words' which you can't sound out, or 'Fred talk' The Magnetic Speed Sound Cards are very effective in helping children identify letter shapes and develop blending and segmenting skills, but – being magnetic – they can be difficult to store! The students weren't challenged. There was no opportunity for kids to read or write harder words. There was no differentiation at all.