There are so many types of decodables! Which ones are best for my students?
This article provides advice on what to look for when choosing decodable books and which ones are most suited to early learners, struggling readers, and older learners. At SPELD SA we are very fortunate to have a wide range of decodable books, suitable for different age groups.
Phonic Books UK’s Dandelion Series are books for the beginning stages of reading, suitable for the foundation year of school up to Year 2.
Dandelion Launchers collection of decodable books has a low word count per page, so there is a focus on a few words to decode as the child begins to learn to read words with a combination of vowels and consonants. These types of words are often referred to as CVC as in cat, CCVC as in spin and CVCC as in tips and so on. You may have also heard these referred to as words with adjacent consonants.
The series progresses to the Dandelion Readers collection of decodable books, these share the same code used in the Launchers, but with more words to a page. There will be students in your class who will benefit from a few words at a time when learning to read and others who will enjoy reading more words to a page, it is the teacher’s judgement how books are allocated to students.
Phonic Books UK's Dandelion Series
What about my year 3’s and beyond who are still struggling to read Foundation-Year 2 scope and sequence?
Beyond Year 2, Phonic Books UK offers a range classified as catch-up decodable books. These are for those students who need more exposure to spellings introduced in F-Year 2 with interesting storylines and sometimes sequential stories. These motivate readers to complete a book to find out what happens in the next story. These vary in word count and multi-syllable words. Many have adventure themes to capture our older learners' imagination and are beautifully illustrated and brightly coloured to keep interest high.
Can you tell me more about the different catch-up decodable books?
If you have students who are in Year 3 and beyond and need more exposure and practice reading CVC words the Moon Dog series is a good fit for tweens and younger teenagers. The stories follow a group of teenagers who have formed a band, with individual stories throughout. Moon Dog Extras include three books per spelling, so these are a great option for the classroom, as it is great to have a variety of stories of the same spellings with familiar characters. The Moon Dog Extras extends into consonant digraph spellings.
Decodable books that are suitable for older age groups offer 10 – 12 books per set with spellings from initial code to first spellings of extended code including Magic Belt, Mel on Mars, Totem, That Dog! and Alba. Decodable books with first spellings from extended code include Rescue, Talisman 1, Island Adventure and Dragon Eggs.
Decodable texts that apply additional spellings from extended code include Talisman 2, Hidden in Paris: Fortune Hunters, Pet Sitters and Titan’s Gauntlet. Titan’s Gauntlet has large print, half page with text and a focus on common Latin suffixes. Amber Guardian decodable books have more text than illustrations, teaching opportunities for vocabulary, and many pages with text only. All these series help to prepare readers for the next stage of short novel reading.
Nonfiction decodable books appeal to a range of ages and Phonic Books UK provides two titles per spelling in the Dandelion World collection. Photos are of the highest quality and complement the text, across the initial code, progressing into split vowel spellings. There is even an additional two-page spread in the back of each book for parents to read to children and expand general knowledge on the topic.
Did someone say free download?
Did you know that there are quality free decodable texts available at your fingertips? The complete SPELD SA Phonic Books, Sounds-Write and Jolly Phonics series are available to download from the SPELD SA website in PDF and PPT format to use with your whole class on an interactive whiteboard, or individual devices.
UFLI Foundations has an online Toolbox that you can download and print free decodable texts. These have a space at the top and text underneath for students to show their comprehension of the text in the form of a drawing inside the space provided.
Wait there’s more! Little Learners Love Literacy…Letters and Sounds… Decodable Readers Australia…the list continues… 
Decodable Readers Australia - Little Learners Love Literacy - Letters and Sounds
We could go on, as there is a wide range of decodable books to choose from. You may like to refer to this guide for structured synthetic phonics programs and consider the scope and sequence that decodable books use and how these align with your school’s chosen phonics program.
Every decodable book series we have in our bookstore has been carefully chosen. We like to steer away from texts that may encourage beginner readers to guess words from pictures or have too much repetition in the text, making for predictable reading. We look for texts that encourage children to segment sounds and blend to read words, introducing spellings at a steady pace, following a scope and sequence. Repetition of words that have spellings from previous units is also an excellent quality in decodable books. More opportunities for practice and lots of exposure to learned spellings to store information in long-term memory are key when choosing high-quality decodable books for your students.
We are very happy to guide you and offer advice if you need it. We love to work with schools and individuals to find the best educational resources that fit the specific needs of students and align with your chosen structured synthetic phonics program.
Emma Murphy,
Educational Resources Coordinator
