You may be wondering how to choose the right decodable texts for your classroom, school, or district. Is any text that is called a decodable likely to be a good fit for my students? Is it just about the phonics? The answer is no! Here are a few tips as you think about selecting decodable texts:
Tip 1: Consider your phonics scope and sequence and find texts that align well.
If you have an existing phonics program in place, it's important that decodable texts align well to that phonics program's scope and sequence. For example, if your phonics sequence teaches the silent e concept before teaching r controlled vowels, it's important that your decodable texts align with that. We recommend that you print your general scope and sequence and compare it to the phonics sequence utilized in the decodable books you are considering. While small differences won't cause big problems, major differences can. Even wonderful decodable books may not be the complete right fit for you if they don't generally align to your sequence of phonics teaching. Daffodil Hill Press books have alignment documents for Fundations, UFLI Foundations, Magnetic Reading, Heggerty Bridge to Reading, and Really Great Reading. (Reach out if you’d like us to help you think through a different phonics program alignment.)
Tip 2: Read the books to see if they look like decodable books.
Sometimes decodable books aren't as decodable as we want them to be. Identify the target skill or skills for the book. Open the book and read it. Ask: does the phonics match the skill? What are the assumptions about what children already know and can bring into the text? Are there many words that aren't decodable at all? Are there a large number of high frequency words or patterned sentences? How many opportunities will children have to practice the focus phonics skill? Ensuring that the text feels like intentional phonics practice will make it easier for the kids to use and for us to coach!
Tip 3: Read the books for meaning and content.
Since decodable books are where new readers get to put their phonics to use, it's important that they offer students the chance to learn that reading is a meaning-making activity. Good decodable texts should make sense! If a text is decodable, but hard for students to make sense of due to strange plotlines and language structures–that’s a red flag. This often happens when the text has high percentages of decodability and few high frequency words. That’s where you’ll see storylines and sentence structures like, “Pip did sit in a pit.” It's not easy to write comprehensible decodable books, but it can be done. And we, at Daffodil Hill Press, think it matters.
We also believe that representation matters. Books are a way for students to see their own lives reflected and a way to learn about and appreciate differences. You might ask, are the main characters largely animals or human? Does the text contain harmful stereotypical or problematic representations? We believe that even from the earliest ages, and even in decodable texts, students can experience Rudine Sims Bishop’s concept of “mirrors and windows”-- learning about people in the world around them and have opportunities to see themselves in the text they read.
A DHP Tidbit: Our books are human centered. So you’ll see mostly human characters! (While also meeting some favorite pets and our recurring mascot–rat!). Because we believe our books should represent real kids and real lives, you’ll see characters with a range of ethnicities, (dis)abilities and family structures in both our English and Spanish decodable book collections.
Tip 4: Consider purpose.
As you select decodables, think about who they'll be used by, what they'll be used for, and when they'll be used. Make sure that the decodables align with the age group you are thinking about. If decodables are meant to be used inside of whole group or small group teaching to support quick phonics transfer. Then it will be helpful for them to be short and offer instructional lesson support--just like our Bit by Bit Instructional Decodables. If you're looking for extended practice, then you may want to choose longer decodables.
Reach out to us for a consultation, and check out Daffodil Hill Press’s free decodable ebooks here.
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