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PSPKK1238 Comments

Reaction to Fountas & Pinnell #5: Here’s why you SHOULD use decodable books

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TRT Podcast#61: Reaction to Fountas & Pinnell #5 – Here’s why you SHOULD use decodable books

Fountas and Pinnell aren’t moving when it comes to decodable books. They believe these books are contrived and that decodable books teach children that their reading doesn’t have to make sense. But decodable books are exactly what our beginning readers SHOULD be reading. Here’s why.

 

Listen to the episode here

 

Full episode transcript

 

Related resources

  • Fountas & Pinnell’s series: Just to Clarify
  • Emily Hanford’s response: Influential authors Fountas and Pinnell stand behind disproven reading theory
  • Mark Seidenberg’s response: Clarity about Fountas and Pinnell
  • The Drudgery and Beauty of Decodable Texts – the Right to Read Project
  • YouTube Video: The Purple Challenge (a must-watch!)
  • The Ultimate Guide to Decodable Books
  • Should you use decodable or leveled texts with beginning readers? 
  • Using decodable and leveled readers appropriately (very helpful workshop – free on YouTube!)

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Filed Under: Podcast, Science of reading, Structured literacy Tagged With: first grade, kindergarten

You May Also Enjoy These Episodes:

From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Dr. Wendy Farone 4 things you can do to get started with the science of reading Alternatives to round robin reading
Reaction to Fountas & Pinnell #4: Here are the problems with guided reading
What every teacher should know about the reading wars

Reader Interactions

8 Comments

  1. Kate

    January 26, 2022 at 7:52 am

    Homeschooling mama of 1 kindergartner who is learning to read. We use LOE for our reading curriculum and love it! They come with some readers, and I have Bob books as well, but how many early readers should I have? I saw your blog post about suggestions of decodable books, which is helpful, but many are expensive, and do I really need to spend $100 on a 15 level 1 books when he might only be reading them for a few weeks or months? I’ve got another little preschool guy, so I would use them twice, but I’m just trying to gauge how much more I need. Thoughts?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      January 28, 2022 at 8:59 pm

      Hi Kate!
      You really don’t need very many. I collected all of these so I could review them, but we didn’t use very many before my little guy had moved past them. If you would like another set for variety, go for it, but you don’t need a lot. You may even be able to get what you need for free online, although the free sets often lack in quality.

      Reply to this comment
  2. Kelly

    January 25, 2022 at 11:41 pm

    Homeschooling Mom of a 6 year old here! – You convinced me many months ago that decodable readers were much more useful with young readers and my own experience has borne that out. And interestingly, I find the concerns you mentioned with decodables to be our former problems with the leveled readers! We used to own several leveled reader sets and our son showed no interest in them whatsoever. They had no stories, they weren’t helping his reading whatsoever, and they most certainly did not instill a love of reading. (He loved being read to and really wanted to learn how to read – it wasn’t him, it was them!)

    Then I came across your decodable reader recommendations and it was like a lightbulb went on for me and my son. We purchased several different ones – far and away, his two favorites are the Reading for All Learners and the Express Readers. He will pore through these books day after day after day, laughing at the pictures. He is so excited as he learns to read them. Yes, it is painful sometimes as he sounds out words but he is so motivated to do so and shows no deterrence whatsoever. I look at those leveled readers with real distaste now and just can’t see how they could help anybody learn to read!

    By the way, along with the decodable books, we have been using your “Phonics Books and Games” and “Sight Word Worksheets and Decodable Books” as our sole reading instruction for months now – along with some other things on your wonderful site, and I can’t thank you enough for these amazing resources!! I love your podcasts and informational videos as well!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      January 26, 2022 at 7:59 pm

      This is wonderful to hear, Kelly, and I love how it shows that decodable books can have the opposite effect of what some people fear! What a success story! Thanks so much for sharing this. I’ll definitely pass on your words about Express Readers to the author – she’ll love to hear it!

      Reply to this comment
  3. Liz

    January 25, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    Love your podcast! Definitely a topic that’s “hot” right now. Wondering your thoughts on the Reading A-Z leveled texts for 1st and 2nd graders?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      January 26, 2022 at 7:58 pm

      I think that once kids have a good grasp of the phonics code and could independently read about level J in Fountas and Pinnell (think Frog and Toad, Henry & Mudge, etc.) they are probably ready for other types of literature in their independent reading. At that point I would use the Reading A to Z books, but probably not until about level J. Let me know if you need further clarification!

      Reply to this comment
      • Linda

        November 11, 2022 at 7:12 am

        Can you provide a list of leveled book titles and direct me to one through a link spanning H through O or even beyond thanks ! Article was very interesting!

        Reply to this comment
        • Anna Geiger

          November 19, 2022 at 4:22 pm

          Hi Linda!
          To be honest, I’m moving away from leveled books in general as I work through this in my mind, but for a limited time I still have a leveled book list on my website. You can find it here: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/leveled-books-you-can-find-at-your-library-with-a-printable-leveled-book-list/

          Reply to this comment

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