Developing Decoders
Decodable books encourage children to sound out words using reading strategies rather than guessing from pictures or predicting from other clues. Text is carefully sequenced to only include phonics skills that students have already been learning so students are practicing at the right level and build confidence in reading before they move on to the next skill. Each book builds on the one before it, introducing concepts that complement and reinforce what the students have already learned. Text is limited to one or two sentences to a page until readers are able to handle more complex stories with more text. The books below are listed in order of simple short vowel words to increasing difficulty.
Decodable books are meant for children to read out loud or independently to themselves. If the book is the right level, the words should be made up of sounds the student has already learned, so it it should be good practice for them to build confidence and fluency skills. Once they are reading one level smoothly and quickly without making mistakes, then they are ready to move on to the next level. To determine the right level for your student, have them read a page in the book. If they can read about 95% of the words correctly, quickly, and smoothly, that is a good level for them. More than that is probably too easy and less than that is probably too difficult for them to read by themselves.
Each set in this series has 10-15 stories with 1-2 short simple sentences per page that focus on a phonics skill such as short vowels, long vowels, R-controlled vowels.