Decodable texts are incredible tools for building reading comprehension. They help develop automaticity of words which allows a student to read more fluently and focus on the meaning of the words, sentences, and more. (Please note, this happens naturally for many students, but students who have reading difficulties, such as dyslexia may need more strategic practice and explicit instruction to map words.) As students practice reading each day, they map words and phrases into their brains. To map (short for orthographic mapping) in an overly simplified definition is when your brain stores words for automatic reading. (Click here for a more in-depth look at orthographic mapping).
The more words that a student has mapped, the more they will understand what they have read. To explain further, when a student is using all their brainpower to decode or sound out each word or recall each heart word, they have little brainpower left to think about the meaning of the text they are reading. If a student is having trouble comprehending a text, there are a few areas that may need intervention.
But, while working toward automaticity, there are some other fun ways that you can intentionally work on comprehension skills in small group and whole group lessons as well. Keep reading to find out some fun ideas for practicing comprehension and vocabulary standards with decodable texts.
Vocabulary
It’s no secret that decodable text sometimes contains some shall we say not so common words. For instance, when was the last time you heard gal or lad? Not lately? Same! And neither have my kindergarteners, But yet, those words can be made with just a few letters that are commonly taught first in many phonics programs. With this in mind, these words create a great opportunity to learn some new vocabulary words. Here are some fun things that I have done in my small groups this year.
- Discuss the meaning of new words
- Brainstorm synonyms and antonyms for new words (gal: girl) Explain synonyms and antonyms too! They are on many standardized tests.
- Write new words on fun notepads
- Write new words with fun pens and pencils
- Use new words in sentences
- Build new words what magnetic letters and play dough
Comprehension Skills
From page one, actually from the cover— you can work on many comprehension standards with most decodable texts. Here are a few of my ideas.
- Do not do a picture walk of the whole book, instead, encourage your students to just look at the cover. What do your students “wonder” from the cover? Record those wonders and then read on to find the answers.
- Sticky notes make everything more fun! Give your students a sticky note. Encourage them to take a minute to think or reflect on each page they read. They can put a checkmark on their sticky note each time. If they have a question or something they do not understand, they can write the page number down to revisit.
- Retell the story. Students can partner share in small groups, that way everyone gets a turn to talk!
- Encourage students to ask and answer questions on each page
- Comprehension questions after reading the text (a few times)
I hope some of these ideas are helpful for you!
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Don’t miss out on these freebies from my tpt store!
Decodable Text Mega Bundle in my TPT store
Free Level 1 Passages
Free Level 2 Passages
Free Level 1 Book
Here are some other options that I have used:
- Reading A-Z has a whole library of decodable text. Occasionally, I have difficulty matching it to my readers, but it was still a great resource. They offer a 15-day free trial that would definitely let you try their books out.
- Fly Leaf is offering ALL of their decodable texts for free at the time of this writing (11/23/2020). I like this company as well for students who have mastered consonants, short vowels, and some blends and phonics chunks.
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