Is your child learning to read?
You can practice together with decodable books!
The school year is well underway, and many elementary school students are learning to read. It’s an exciting – and challenging – time! There’s a growing understanding that reading does not come naturally to humans in the same way as learning to talk. Every time we talk, read, sing, play or write with our children, we are helping their brains get ready to learn to read, but learning to read independently requires more than immersion alone. It’s a complex process of the human brain that takes time and practice. Children need to be explicitly taught the many different skills needed to read well. It is not always easy, but the struggle is worth it! Reading sets a foundation for all learning and opens up new worlds (and so many books!) for your child to explore.
Decodable books help new readers sound out and decode words. As a complement to Seattle Public Schools’ new reading curriculum aligned with the science of reading, you can use these Decodable Book Lists to practice the skills your child is learning at school:
- Consonant-Vowel-Consonant Words (c-v-c words)
Words that have one short vowel between two consonants.
Examples: tap, dog, bus
Decodable Books: C-V-C Words (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant)
- Blends
Blends have two or three consonants together that you blend together into one sound, like fl, sk, spl.
Examples: flat, ask, split
Decodable Books: Blends
- Digraphs
Digraphs are two consonants together that make one sound, like sh, ch and th.
Examples: shop, chin, math
Decodable Books: Digraphs
- Vowel-E Words
Words with the pattern vowel + consonant + e. Words with this pattern usually have the vowel make its long sound followed by a silent e.
Examples: ride, bake, home
Decodable Books: Vowel_E Words
- R-Controlled Vowels
Words with r-controlled vowels have a vowel + r. Sometimes this pattern is called the “bossy r” because the “r” takes over and makes the vowel make a new sound.
Examples: bird, her, fur
Decodable Books: R-Controlled Vowels
- Vowel Teams
Vowel teams are two or more vowels together that make a sound. There are many teams with different rules. Sometimes vowel teams also contain consonants to create a vowel sound like ow in show.
Examples: boat, rain, say, tool
Decodable Books: Vowel Teams
- Multisyllabic Words
Words with more than one syllable that can be read in chunks.
Examples: sunset, banana, growing
Decodable Books: Multisyllabic Words
We recommend reading decodable books alongside books you love – to help build vocabulary, background knowledge and a love of reading!
Learn more about the science of reading and why the NAACP says there is no equity without literacy:
Learn more about the Five Activities to Raise a Reader for babies through preschool (also available in Amharic, Arabic, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Tigrinya and Vietnamese).
~posted by Lynn L. and Erica D.