Who likes Decodables?

 Decodable texts can be boring but they can also be very useful.  My district uses the SRA Imagine It! reading program.  First grade students have two workbooks filled with decodable texts that can be ripped, folded, stapled, and taken home to practice.  By the end of the year the children have over 100 decodable books to add to their home library.

Here is a list of ways that decodable texts can be used...

• Practice telling a story through the pictures (picture walk).
• Echo read with someone (take turns reading the same page)
• Buddy read with a partner (one person listens, one reads and switch)
• Read it to a stuffed animal
• Read it using silly voices
• Be a word detective and look for words that contain a certain letter or spelling pattern.
• Practice retelling the story.
• Add descriptive words to the book.
• Look for end marks (periods, question marks, and exclamation points).  Copy sentences under appropriate heading (statement, question, command).
• Practice writing who, what, where, when, how, and why questions about the story (make up a quiz)
• write a detailed description about the setting in one of the pictures.
• Cut out the pictures and sequence them.
• Cut out the pictures and the text and make a match game.
• Cover up the text and write the story in your own words.
• Compare the characters in the story.
• Make a word ladder using words from the text
• Make a list of all the words you cannot sound out.
• Sort the words from the story by vowel patterns.
• Find all the stories that have similar characters and see if the character changes or develops.
• Sort the books by genre (realistic fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, other)
• Write a new ending for the book.
• Create a cover or a title page illustration.
• Change a character in the story and discuss how it would impact the story.

Please share how you use decodables!