How to Use Decodable Books to Support Readers at Home

Many parents want to be involved in teaching their kids how to read, and witnessing a child’s progress can be right up there with the excitement of other independence milestones like tying shoes or riding a bike. Just like we teach tricks for making shoelaces into “bunny ears” or give kids training wheels, we can intentionally adjust the job of reading to help kids practice and improve. Decodable books are an excellent tool for this.

What are decodable books?
Decodable books contain a highly controlled collection of words that fit a certain stage of phonics learning. For instance, in the Phonic Books Dandelion Launchers series, in the first books, Sam, Tim, Tam, and Is It Sam?, almost all the words are spelled only with the consonants ‘s,’ ‘t,’ ‘m,’ and the short vowel sounds /a/ (as in “at”) and /i/ (as in “it”). Readers who have been introduced to these letters and sounds can use what they know to read these books — and become more and more automatic while they do it.

How our brains learn to read
Reading decodable books can be a perfectly tailored workout for the reading brain. Brain imaging studies from cognitive neuroscientists like Stanislas Dehaene, author of Reading in the Brain, show how different areas of the brain light up as a reader sees the letters in a word, links them to spoken sounds, and lands on the word meaning. For proficient readers, this all happens unconsciously, within milliseconds. Newer readers need systematic teaching about how letters represent sounds to spell words, plus lots of repetitive practice, to successfully wire the brain for reading.

Matching kids to decodable books
A child can’t automatically decode any book labeled “decodable.” Rather, a book is decodable for a reader when its demands fit what that reader knows about phonics. Then, they can realistically use what they know to practice decoding — or “sounding out”— the words. Decodable books help reduce frustration and build good reading habits. When the words in a book fit kids’ decoding skills, they know what to do. They don’t need to guess at words based on the picture or context.

Decodable books typically progress in a cumulative sequence. This allows the phonics demands to build over time. Later titles in the Phonic Books Dandelion Launchers series include words with other consonant sounds, short vowels ‘o,’ ‘e,’ and ‘u,’ and eventually, other patterns like word endings “-ing” and “-le,” consonant digraphs like “ch” and “sh,” and consonant blends like “st.”

Progressing through a series of decodable books lets kids practice previously learned skills while making small steps forward. Brand-new readers can start at the beginning of a decodable book series. If a child already has some reading skills, talk with their teacher about any phonics assessment data they’ve collected and about the class’s phonics “scope and sequence” — which phonics skills are taught and in what order. All this information can help you know where to jump into a decodable book series.

(It’s important to know that decodable books usually contain a handful of “outlier” words that don’t match the phonics skills. Many series list them at the front of each book. It’s best to pre-teach or practice these words with kids. These are often high-frequency words — common words like “the” or “are” that help make meaningful sentences. For more information about high-frequency words, see Research-Based Tips to Help Kids Learn Sight Words.)

Talking to kids about decodable books
Sometimes adults worry that decodable books are too stilted, boring, or babyish for children to enjoy. This is easy to mitigate by hitting on some key points when we present them to kids:

• Decodable books are “reading practice books” written by reading experts. They are a tool kids use for a little while as they learn about using letters and sounds to read.
• When you read decodable books, it’s easy to track your progress. As you learn more about phonics, you can read more challenging books!
• You don’t have to guess the words in a decodable book because you can use what you know about letters and sounds to read the words.
• Reading decodable books is just one part of becoming a better reader. Listening to and talking about all kinds of books and learning about new words and ideas also help exercise your reading brain.

Take care to choose decodable books that fit a child’s developmental level and phonics skills. Younger kids generally get excited to read — actually read! — any decodable books that match their skill set. Older kids still working on building their phonics skills might be more sensitive. For them, choose a decodable series written for older readers, such as the Phonic Books Moon Dogs series. These books have illustrations, storylines, and humor that appeal to older kids.

Decodable books are one part of learning to read
Decodable books are useful “training wheels” while learning to read, but they aren’t the only way we help kids become readers. Being able to read decodable text hinges on phonics teaching. Before reading a decodable book that requires a new phonics skill, teach kids that skill with a quick introduction and some practice words jotted on a whiteboard or a fun game or practice activity. Children also need phonological awareness skills to hear the spoken sounds represented by the letters and patterns they’re working on, so revisiting those foundational skills is important, too.

Comprehension is always the end goal of reading. Talking about a book’s content, whether kids are reading Is It Sam? or any other title, is essential. Plus, we help kids’ comprehension in the future by building their background knowledge and vocabulary. We can do this through reading aloud and having varied conversations and experiences.