When do you start decodable reading books? How do you decide upon the levels?

With the PLD approach, two primary skills facilitate decoding/reading. Both skills are scheduled to be simultaneously taught and explicitly taught from the start of Term One. Four minutes of alphabet sounds. Four minutes of blending three sounds/phonemes. Three or four short sessions 8 minute sessions each day and the majority of students typically will be ready to start on decodable readers (not PM’s) in Term 2. In order to facilitate readers early in the year, the prerequisites for decoding need to be simultaneously and explicitly developed. The Foundation Screening & Tracking Manual determines readiness to decode: https://pld-literacy.org/product/foundation-screening-tracking-manual/

What type of decodable reading books?
Typically start with VC and CVC decodable reading book with half of the alphabet sounds and no sight words. Very gradually additional alphabet sounds are added along with sight words. If you refer to the second page of this PDF an example of such reading books for the early readers are outlined: https://pld-literacy.org/product/first-reading-books/

When students are already reading, you will need a way to assess their emerging reading skills so that you can match their reading books with their point of need/ability. PLD recommends the following screens for that purpose:
The Foundation version: https://pld-literacy.org/product/foundation-screening-tracking-manual/
The Year 1/2 version: https://pld-literacy.org/product/year-1-2-screening-tracking-manual/
The Year 3-6 version: https://pld-literacy.org/product/year-3-4-5-6-screening-tracking-manual/

Decodable reading books (i.e. home reading books and targeted group reading books) should be integrated within a class structured synthetic phonics program. Internationally this is viewed as currently the most effective way to develop literacy skills.

Updated on: 06/01/2021