Using Decodable Books with Emergent Readers

I love using fun decodable books with my young readers! See our four-day reading group routine with our short vowel decodable books!

I’ve used these in reading groups, with reading volunteers, and I send them home with students as well. The kids love the funny characters and simple text. The “words to know” section is a great warmup for kids so they can feel success as they read these fun and simple books!

Here is a sample schedule of how I use these books with my emergent readers in reading group.

Day 1

I introduce the book. We look at the title and discuss the focus sound that we will be working on. (Before working in our book, we’ve already done phonemic awareness and phonics activities with our focus sound to “warm us up”.)
We open up to page 1 and read the “Words to Know” (high frequency words) and the “Short ‘a’ Words”. Depending on the group and how much support they need, we sometimes highlight the medial vowel (a) from the short a words list.
Then, we chorale read the text, pointing at the words and working on blending together, if needed. After that, we chorale read together one more time.

Day 2

We review the “Words to Know” and “Short ‘a’ Words” lists on page 1.
For the first read, we read the text together.
The second read today is usually a whisper read that they do on their own and I listen in, assisting or correcting, as needed. If they finish while I’m still working with others, they read it again.
After everyone has read through once or twice, we turn to the “Check for Understanding” page at the back. We work on answering the comprehension questions together and finding the evidence in the text.

Day 3

We review page 1 (words to know, short a words).
Then, I have the kids partner read. We have a few ways we partner read. They can echo read where one partner reads a page and then the other partner reads the same page as an “echo”. Our other partner reading routine is taking turns, where they alternate who reads on each page. If time, they switch up who started, so they’ve both had a chance to read all pages.

Day 4

Students read the book quietly and I listen in to check for fluency and accuracy.
Today, we use their whiteboards for some dictation sentences using words from the book.
I send the book home on this day and their “homework” is to read the book to someone at home and have that person “quiz” them with the comprehension questions. Then, they add it to their home library.

That’s about it! My students LOVE these books because they’re inviting and they can feel success with them! I have two books for each short vowel. Check them out here if you are in need! They come in a bundle of 10 books OR you can buy them by vowel sound.