Teaching with Decodable Books: A Step-by-Step Guide
Decodable books are a powerful tool to bolster your phonics curriculum and give students opportunities to solidify their skills. Equally as important to selecting quality decodable books is what you do with them. Establishing a lesson around the decodable book is the best way to set your students up for success.
Follow these steps to get the most out of using decodable books in your classroom:
Choose the Right Books
Select a high-quality decodable book to ensure the best possible experience for both you and your students. It’s important that the books are in line with students’ phonics needs and spotlight the phonics skills you are currently teaching. Books should also have a mix of high-frequency words and words that contain elements that have been previously taught.
Teach the Phonics Skill Prior to Reading
Once you have selected a decodable book, scaffold the lesson so students are familiar with the targeted phonics skill and prepared for a successful read. Not only will this make the reading process more dynamic for students, it will also help to maximize their learning.
Before introducing the decodable book, explicitly teach the target phonics skill. Your phonics lesson may include:
- Both decoding and encoding (writing) instruction
- Teaching sound-letter correspondences
- Blending and segmenting activities that target the phonics skill highlighted in the book
- Multisensory activities bridging the phoneme to the grapheme
Introduce the Book
A strong book introduction will help get students ready for reading. Give students a brief synopsis—but don’t give too much away! Then have them preview the book to prepare them for comprehension.
Locate Words Containing the Phonic Element
Have students locate a few decodable words in the book that contain the phonic element being taught. Students can then practice the new skills they have learned by reading these words in isolation.
One way to do this is by having students use their fingers to make a frame around the letters that spell the target sound in a word. For example, the target sound in the word mud is short u, so the students would use their index fingers to frame the letter u in the word. Then have them remove the frame and read the word.
Explicitly Teach High-Frequency Words
Select one or two high-frequency words found in the decodable text to explicitly teach using phoneme-grapheme mapping.
| TIP: MyCodables decodable books include a helpful page at the back of the book with the knowledge-building and high-frequency words in the text, along with all the words containing the phonic element. |
Support Students as They Read
As students begin to read the decodable book, provide a supportive environment for them. Listen to them read and offer corrective feedback. Ask both closed- and open-ended questions about what they read to support comprehension. After students finish reading the book, have students go through the book and locate and reread words that contain the phonic element.
(You may even want to offer a plush companion to make students feel more comfortable!)
Transfer Learning to Writing
After students finish reading, they should reinforce their learning through writing. Have them write some of the decodable words in isolation. Dictate a sentence for students to write that contains words with the phonic element and highlighted high-frequency words.
Set Aside a Time for Students to Reread the Book
Rereading is an essential element in any literacy program. Rereading builds fluency, provides multiple exposures to words containing the target phonic element, and helps solidify the transfer of the phonic element being taught to continuous text.
Provide opportunities for rereading, such as:
- Independently during independent reading time
- During literacy centers with a partner
- At home aloud to a friend or caregiver
Looking to build out your decodable library? Phonics Storybooks from Pioneer Valley Books are an invaluable resource for educators and learners alike. These beautifully illustrated texts have been thoughtfully designed to align with a comprehensive phonics scope and sequence.
NEW! Build confidence in reading with MyCodables, engaging books and plushies featuring beloved characters from Pioneer Valley Books.
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