What are decodable books?

Many people have preconceived ideas about decodable books. Some believe they are intended to compete with ‘real’ children’s literature.

In fact, decodable books have unique purposes of their own.

Decodable books facilitate successful reading of children’s literature.

Detractors of decodable books confuse the purpose of these books. They are intended to be used for only a short time to help children develop good decoding skills. Once these are in place, children move on to reading wonderful rich and varied children’s literature. Far from competing with other texts, they are intended to enable and support children’s wider reading.

Decodable books are reading exercises.

When learning maths, children need to practise what they have been taught, in order to internalise the new learning and to develop automaticity. This is what decodable books do for reading. They offer children opportunities to practise the phonic knowledge and the skills they have learned within a controlled text.

Decodable books are books that children can read independently,

Once children have been taught the target phonemes and spellings in a decodable book, the child will be able to take charge of their own reading experience.

Decodable books focus on a target phoneme (sound) and grapheme (spelling).

Each decodable book focuses on only a few new skills with phonemes and graphemes – or only one of these skills – f0r the children to practise when reading. The first books in the scheme will contain simple words but, as children progress, the words will get more complex and will look similar to those in other reading books. The difference is that children are learning a specific part of the phonic code with each book.

Why is this important?

• Decodable books encourage children to ‘blend’, not guess, unfamiliar words.
• They develop a self-reliant approach to reading in beginner readers.
• Readers experience immediate success, and develop confidence and enthusiasm for reading.
• The books practise the phonics taught in the classroom within the context of a story.
• They allow readers to make sense of phonics, learning the skills in order to read fun books.
• Children start reading from the very beginning. They need to learn a just a few sounds and how to blend them, and they will be able to experience reading independently!

To see the range of decodable books available from Phonic Books, visit their site here.