We are very excited to have begun the process of resourcing our junior school grades from Prep to Grade 2 with decodable texts. Our aim is to resource our grade Preps and grade 1 students in 2023 with complete sets of decodable texts to support the teaching of phonics. We will begin with our preps and then work our way up. We have had a team of teachers and ES staff madly making, binding and organising decodable texts from the all over the internet, as well as purchasing sets from Decodable Readers Australia. We cannot wait to see the impact these resources have on our students learning to read. At this stage, these decodable texts will be for classroom use only and students will supported with access to online decodable texts and decodable passages as part of their home reading. Caitriona Goldsworthy, Literacy Learning Specialist
What are decodable books and why are they important?
For children to become successful readers they must be able to crack the alphabetic code through a systematic synthetic phonics approach. This approach has proven time and time again as the most effective way to teach reading and is backed by research. If children can’t decode the words on a page they will fail in their journey to access text. Children must be explicitly taught knowledge of letters and sounds and the skills of sounding out and blending. But this is not enough to know how to read. The knowledge and skills must be practised over and over to achieve mastery. Without decodable readers, this practice cannot take place. Decodable readers are the conduit between phonics and reading. Children need them to build the necessary skills so they become proficient readers and can access the limitless opportunities of skilled reading.
