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Free decodable books

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Are you looking for free decodable books to use with your learners in the classroom or at home?

You’re in the right spot!

Get these free decodable books for beginning readers!

My experience with decodable books

I admit it. As a first grade teacher, I was in the anti-decodable books camp.

A big reason for that had to do with my misunderstanding of how children learn to read. I thought kids should use three-cueing as they read leveled books.

Now, however, I understand that students need to read decodable text so they get practice applying the phonics skills we’ve taught them.

Another reason I was anti-decodable was that I was less than impressed with the decodable books in the market. At the time (*ahem years ago), most decodable books were boring, stilted, and not something kids would want to read again and again.

Times have changed, and now you can choose from a huge variety of quality, decodable books.

I’m adding my free decodable books to the mix because I want everyone to have access to quality decodables, regardless of their budget.

At the end of this post, you’ll find the foldable, color version of each book for FREE when you join my free newsletter.

What about comprehension and decodable text?

Another reason I used to be anti-decodable was that I thought kids would read them sooo sloowwwly they wouldn’t be able to comprehend the text. (Either that, or the text was so stilted they wouldn’t be able to comprehend it no matter how fast they read it!)

It turns out that I was partly right.

When you understand the Simple View of Reading, you know that reading comprehension is the product of decoding ability AND language comprehension. Students must become proficient decoders and understand the language to become fluent. Fluency is the bridge between phonics and comprehension.

When kids are first learning to read, decoding takes a lot of mental energy. As students become more fluent, their brains are freed up for comprehension.

But that doesn’t mean that students shouldn’t make sense of the decodable text that they read!

I hired a custom illustrator for these books because I wanted the full story to be available through the pictures. (After all, an author can only include so many words when kids only know six letter sounds.)

Don’t get me wrong – students don’t need the pictures to read these books – but the pictures themselves provide opportunities for predicting, questioning, inferring, and other higher level skills.

Each book comes with a set of low and high level comprehension questions on the final page.

Just check out this flip book to see the first book in action!

What’s included in the full set?

The free books below are all you truly need to get started. But you’ll be blown away by the supplementary materials, as pictured below.

When you purchase the complete set of level 1 books with accompanying resources, you will receive:

  • Each book in multiple printing formats (each includes black and white)
  • A single-page lesson plan for each book with introductory activities and tips for reading the book with students
  • Blending lines that give decoding practice before reading
  • A cut-and-paste retelling activity so students can retell the story using the pictures
  • A dictation exercise so students connect letter-sound knowledge to spelling
  • Each book on a single page with just one picture; use for partner reading and assessment at the end of the week!

Set 1a: Consonants, Short Vowels & Digraphs

Click on each book to get it for free! You’ll see a pop-up to enter your name and email address so the book comes right to your inbox.

You’ll also see a special offer to get the full set with supplementary materials (as described above).

P.S. Some people would rather not enter their email address for each book. We have a solution for that!

Don’t want to enter your email address for each book? Purchase here!

Decodable Books – Set 1a: Consonants, Short Vowels, & Digraphs

Get all 16 books in multiple versions … plus lesson plans, blending lines, dictation, and more!

CHECK OUT THE FULL SET HERE

Set 1b: FLOSS Rule, Blends, ng/nk, and more!

Click on each book to get it for free! You’ll see a pop-up to enter your name and email address so the book comes right to your inbox.

You’ll also see a special offer to get the full set with supplementary materials (as described above).

P.S. Some people would rather not enter their email address for each book. We have a solution for that!

Don’t want to enter your email address for each book? Purchase here!

Decodable Books – Set 1b: FLOSS Rule, Blends, ng/nk,and more!

Get all 12 books in multiple versions … plus lesson plans, blending lines, dictation, and more!

CHECK OUT THE FULL SET HERE

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Reader Interactions

61 Comments

    • Heather Groth, Customer Support

      We’re so glad they love them, Cassandra! Set 1b just released in November, and we hope that the completed next set will be ready in the fall of 2023. Members of The Measured Mom Plus get access to each new book as it is finished!

      Reply to this comment

  3. Catherine

    Dear Ms. Geiger,
    Thank you so so much for sharing so many useful worksheets, books and other teaching materials you created. They really help a lot in teaching English and bring children so much fun learning the language. I’ve purchased all these books! Thank you again for what you’ve been doing.

    Reply to this comment

  5. Lois Tschaepe

    Ten years ago I taught my 4 year old (then) triplet grandsons how to read using your program. They are now 14 years old and A students. I thought I was done until my son fell in love with a women and her 4 year old daughter. Here I am again, back on your website and getting ready to download those wonderful books I used with my boys!

    Reply to this comment

    • Heather Groth, Customer Support

      Hello Jenni! We are currently working on the next set of these! We hope to have Set 2 completed by late fall (although as each book is finished, we are releasing them to members of The Measured Mom Plus). A set containing long vowel teams is in the plan, but won’t be completed until next year.

      Reply to this comment

  8. Gail

    Thank you for sharing your wisdom and the resources that you provide for educators in need of guidance and support. You have become the go to expert that I seek as I embark on this new chapter in my life. You are greatly appreciated.
    Thanks again

    Reply to this comment

  11. Khadeeja

    Hi Anna. I just wanted to thank you for this amazing free books you’ve made available for free. I am a homeschooling mum of three from South Africa. For my first kiddo I got a range of phonics and early readers from my local library. Unfortunately after Covid hit the library never reopened and I have been looking around for reasonably priced readers like these for a while. But books are very expensive. And books like these that the kids are just going to use for a short bit before moving on to more complex readers just seemed like a waste to spend so much money on. They are amazingly beautiful and soo professional! Thank you very much. my daughter is so excited she insisted I print all right now so she can get reading!
    May you always be blessed by the Almighty
    Thanks again

    Reply to this comment

  13. Kaily

    Wow! It’s as though you have read my mind! Very much appreciated! Yours is always the site I share when ever I talk with parents or colleagues about great resources. You spoil us so!! Many thanks!

    Reply to this comment

  15. Kim Adams

    Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful creations! I am excited about having them to use with future grandchildren as well as if I go back into a classroom setting. I have told many teachers that I work with in coaching about your amazing site. Thank you again!

    Reply to this comment

  16. Martha

    Hi Anna,
    Wow this set is perfect it covers everything in one packet that you can use for a whole week. It is awesome, I used to hunt websites when I was working at the school as an EA, Para Pro teaching reading to kids who struggled. This is exactly the kind of materials I would look for.
    I usually tried patching it together with all with bits and pieces. Then one day I found you. I no longer work at a school but I use your materials for my preschool grandkids. I am going to keep these books for the two younger princesses (1 and 3 yrs old) so it will be a little while before I need them. I just wanted to thank you. You have helped me to teach my 4 grandsons to read by sharing your materials. They all started kindergarten knowing how to read at kindergarten level. Their teachers were very grateful. I try to send people I know to your website. I don’t know if they have found their way to your blog but I do give them your website. Have a great week.
    Martha

    Reply to this comment

    • Anna Geiger

      Thank you so much for your very kind feedback, Martha! This means so much to us! Thank you also very for sharing the site. It’s much appreciated! I look forward to hearing about your experience using these books with your granddaughters when the time is right. 🙂

      Reply to this comment

  17. Sarah

    I love these, its definitely worth paying for the whole set. The additional activities makes all the difference. I plan on using these as the base for teaching alphabet and phonics by adding just a few alphabet worksheets and activities and then working with the corresponding book. I hope you plan on continuing with a more advanced level.
    (As an aside a personal preference would have been to get each type in a separate file. Ex. one file of all black and white, another with color and a third with the side staple. Instructions on printing included in the download would also be helpful.)

    Reply to this comment

    • Heather Groth, Customer Support

      We’re thrilled they’re going to fit so well for your classroom, Sarah! Thank you for your feedback on the files, we normally try to limit the number of files when we can. Be sure to use the clickable links in the table of contents to quickly get to what you need! You can find printing instructions included on page 4 of the purchasable books and resources file and page 2 of the free book downloads. Thank you!

      Reply to this comment

  21. Tara

    Hi Anna,
    I’ve email you but not sure if you received it. LOVE these books! However, when I printed one out, the background around the images was solid black, rather than transparent/white. How do I fix that? Hoping it’s an easy fix! Thanks so much!

    Reply to this comment

  28. Erin

    Firstly, I would like to commend you on making a change to how you teach reading. As humans, we tend to be creatures of habit. It takes courage, energy and devotion to see things in a different light and to admit that things have changed with the empirical research data. Secondly, I would like to thank you for your hard work on these decodable books! So many kids will benefit!

    Reply to this comment

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