TRT Podcast #14: What makes a high quality decodable book?
It used to be that we had very few options when it came to decodable books. But times are changing, and new decodable books are published all the time. How do you separate the good from the bad? Make sure your decodable books have these four qualities.
Full episode transcript
Check out our ultimate guide to decodable books HERE!
YOU’LL LOVE THIS PRACTICAL BOOK!
Looking for an easy-to-read guide to help you reach all readers? If you teach kindergarten through third grade, this is the book for you. Get practical ideas and lesson plan templates that you can implement tomorrow!
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Kim
Hi Anna!
Your website has been such a blessing and encouragementI
I was hoping you could clarify something for me…Do you suggest teaching the entire alphabet
names A-Z before introducing any of the their sounds? My grandson is 5 and is having difficulty
making the letter/sound connection. Thank you so much!
Anna Geiger
Hi Kim! It really depends on the age level, but if your grandson is five I would teach both together. One thing you could do is focus on hearing sounds in words that start with the letter without connecting the letter to the sound. For example: When doing the letter f, you can ask, “What sound do you hear at the beginning of fish?” He would reply /f/ (not the letter itself, but the sound). If your grandson is not able to isolate that beginning sound, he really needs work on being able to do that first. Does that make sense? These games are great for phoneme isolation: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/phonemic-awareness-games/
Sarah Binder
Hi!
I purchased your letter of the week printable, but after reading this transcript, I was wondering if it came with access to the Letter Name Assessment document? Thanks so much! Love all your work!
Sarah
Anna G
Hi Sarah!
Currently that assessment is in our Alphabet Activities & Games bundle and is also included with the huge printable library of The Measured Mom Plus. A future update of the LOTW curriculum may include it, but it is not there currently. 🙂
Jais
Thanks for the good podcast to listen about How to help learners who struggle to learn the alphabet.
Maria Elena
Hi Anna,
Thanks for sharing wonderful ideas on how to teach students who struggle to learn the alphabet. I will need to modify my class schedule so as to include time to review the alphabet.
Nan
Isn’t learning the letter sounds more important than learning the letter names? You don’t actually need to know the letter names to start reading, just phonics. I taught my son to read using phonics and he just naturally learned the letter names. Seems for some kids making the transition from knowing the letter names to, ‘every letter makes a sound’ is hurdle.
Anna G
Both are important, but I believe in teaching letter names first for quite a few reasons (I go into detail about that in my online course, Teaching Every Reader). In my experience it hasn’t been a hurdle for kids to make the leap to knowing sounds from names; in fact, many names have the letter sound “built in.” But I definitely don’t think it’s harmful to teach letter sounds first.
Susan Dixon
Thanks Anna! I love all of your products that I have used so far! Especially the Letter of the Week Curriculum and all those great printables! Now I am enjoying the podcasts while cooking or cleaning the house.
I just purchased the Alphabet Editable Games Bundle–I am hoping I have the computer skills to figure it out. ; ) The Measured Mom + looks amazing–Very tempting! You have put great care into your work and it really shows. Thank you so much, Anna, for all your help in providing useful information and creating great tools to help learners, moms, and teachers.
Anna G
Thank you for your kind comment, Susan! Just send us an email if you have any challenges using the bundle. 🙂 Those editable games are incredibly useful!