8 Ideas for Making Decodables More Fun

Of all the education terms we’re hearing a lot of lately, the word decodables is one of the most frequently used.  Most schools are now incorporating decodables in their curriculum, and every company under the sun, including Teachers Pay Teachers sellers,  are selling them. This is absolutely wonderful, a just a few years ago there was very little to choose from. However, depending on your materials and how they are used, decodables can either be fun or boring as all get out. While it may be true that kids find a lot of joy in the sheer act of truly reading texts with confidence, it’s also true that they can be painfully contrived and boring. This can be especially true if they’re being used whole-group, which many of today’s programs do.  Nobody wants it to be boring, but with the way some of them are written, it can be very difficult to how making decodables fun is possible. 

Let’s talk about some ways to make those decodables more engaging! 

Before we get to that, let’s get very clear on the purpose of decodables.  Heidi Anne Mesmer, author of Letter Lessons and First Words (2019)  says it well:

“Decodables are most useful for propelling children through the period in which they are learning to decode words or blend sounds together. This period is usually 2-3 months. Once a child can quickly and easily blend c-v-c words with all short vowels, I believe they no longer need decodables…By the time fluid decoding of short vowel c-v-c words is accomplished, most children will have a reading vocabulary close to 500 words that will land them squarely in text levels nearing a mid-first or early second-grade level. Typically, this point will occur in spring of Kindergarten or fall/winter of first grade.”

Heidi Anne Mesmer, from Fear Not the Decodable: Why? When? How?

I would highly encourage you to read Mesmer’s entire article, or better yet, her entire book.  It’ll give you a grounded, thorough understanding of the use of decodable texts.  

When it comes to engagement, a whole lot depends on the actual materials being used in the first place. There are wonderful, interesting, and beautiful decodable texts out there. One of my absolute favorites is the Jump Rope Reader series. These books have very kid-friendly, relevant storylines. They are all divided into chapters which offer opportunities for I do, we do, you do, and they are all set up to be little series of very diverse characters that kids fall in love with. Another favorite of mine is the BEC series, which Wiley Blevins had a heavy hand in developing.  The topics are very interesting for kids, and the pictures are beautiful. 

An extreme opposite of these texts is the kind of decodable texts that are used in a very popular program in today’s classrooms. In it, there are purposely no pictures at all, and the vocabulary is incredibly tightly controlled. Because of this very tightly controlled vocabulary, these texts–especially the ones early on in the scope and sequence–can be very hard to comprehend, especially for English language learners, and lean toward being awfully boring. But they don’t have to be!

No matter what material you’re using, there are ways to spice things up.

Here are 8 ideas for making decodables more fun:

1. Use them as shared reading. Here is where you’ll do repeated readings over several days (and of course bring them back periodically for spiral review).  But how about changing up the voice that you use together when reading? You might whisper read, read like a cheerleader, sound like Scooby Doo, or use an Australian accent like Bluey.  Come up with a bunch of different options, write each one on an index card, and keep it handy so you can pull out different voice options without having to think on the spot. This was always a favorite activity of my own kindergarteners and first graders!

2. Pair them with nonfiction decodables.  Not only does this of course provide more opportunity to practice decoding words, it also builds knowledge.  Both of the series I mentioned earlier pair fiction with nonfiction, but it’s actually super easy to write your own!

3. Do some shared or interactive writing after reading a couple of times.  There are many options here.  You might write a short retell together, write what you learned from the book, write a “what happens next” part, or add thought and/or speech bubbles to add more to the text.  Adding the thought bubbles is especially good for bringing in deeper thinking!  For the kind of text that includes no pictures at all, creating an illustration together, then adding to it in this way can be a really great way to ensure that kids aren’t just word-calling, but making sense of it, too.  This is a huge upgrade to a very contrived text like “Tim and Tam sit on the mat. Tim and Tam tap the mat. Tim and Tam tap and tap and tap.” which is very prevalent some programs.

4. Choose just a couple of words from the text that follow the pattern you’re targeting and have kids come up with their own sentence (or a couple of sentences) to apply the words.  Adding a picture again reinforces making meaning, and this activity also gives kids some practice writing the words in their own continuous text.  A great way to also reinforce handwriting and conventions!  Take it a step further and have students then share their story with each other.  Then, bind the pages together for a class book.  Class books are another major favorite for kids that they always clamor to get their hands on….which just gives them more practice reading!

5. Have a short comprehension conversation after reading.  It can be easy to go through the motions of reading a decodable text and stop there.  But that doesn’t do anything for ensuring comprehension, which is always the goal.  In Choosing and Using Decodable Texts (2021, pg 83), Wiley Blevins shares excellent examples of discussion questions that range from very literal to inferential (ex: What did each pig use to make his home, Find the word that describes the wolf, The man said,” Logs are best” for making a home.  Do you agree?  Why or why not?)

6. Act the story out.  In this UFLI text, for example, you might enhance the text by talking about what could be going on in the story, then have kids act it out with simple movements as you read it together. Because of the highly controlled vocabulary in these texts in particular, discussing what’s going on and acting it out also builds vocabulary.  This again preserves meaning-making at the center.  

7. Speaking of acting out, you could turn these short reads into reader’s theater.  Especially for text that includes action and/or dialogue, it’s super simple to do…and you could always type the text into Chat GPT or Magic School AI to see if it can come up with a script for you.  This is super fun to do in small group, but easy to do in whole group lessons, too.  You’d just have several kids play each part.  This is just another version of shared reading that kids love.  It’s also excellent fluency practice, especially if you take time to provide feedback to your students as they read!

8. Write your own.  You could go about this in several different ways.  You might choose a couple of words, like a name, a noun, and a high-frequency word you’re working on as a springboard, and come up with a very short story for interactive writing.  Or you could write one yourself, targeting the skills you want.  This is a fantastic way to personalize the story for your class.  If you’ve never tried it, I can attest that it’s actually really fun to write these stories–you don’t have to rely on AI!

As Mesmer reminds us, including decodable texts during that “specific developmental window” in which they’re most helpful for kids is an important part of early reading instruction.  We run the risk of boredom when used a lot in whole group instruction, as there will always be kids that are way past the need for decodable texts.  But decodables don’t have to be boring, even for these students.

Just as importantly, by including small enhancements like I’ve described here, we keep meaning-making at the center. This is something we have to remember, even if the program we’re using doesn’t. There is much more to reading than just decoding. From the very start, we need to send the message that reading is all about decoding in order to make meaning.

If you found this post helpful, by all means, share it with a teacher friend who could also use some fresh ideas for making decodables more fun! And, I’d love to hear if you try one of these ideas in your classroom!  Let me know in the comments below, shoot me an email at [email protected]  or send me a DM on Instagram!

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Could you use some help with ideas for making decodables more fun?  Reach out for a coaching call!  I’m here to help!

Who is Coach from the Couch??  I’m Michelle, a 25-year veteran educator, currently a K-5 literacy coach.  I continue to learn alongside teachers in classrooms each and every day, and it’s my mission to support as many teachers as I can.  Because no one can do this work alone. I’m available to you, too, through virtual coaching calls! 

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