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!)
Love Freebies?
Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.
Kate
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?
Anna Geiger
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.
Kelly
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!
Anna Geiger
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!
Liz
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?
Anna Geiger
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!
Linda
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!
Anna Geiger
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/