To build strong readers, strong decoding skills need to be explicitly taught, but what is reading decoding?
We’ve talked about teaching phonics explicitly during reading instruction…it’s important!
What is Reading Decoding?
Successful reading decoding is when a person uses knowledge of letter-sound relationships to accurately read a word.
3 Key Components:
Phonological Awareness
Letter/Sound Relationships
Reading Fluency
The Literacy Nest explains it well, “Many teachers are familiar with decoding strategies that may emphasize the use of picture clues, meaning and self-monitoring. Sometimes these decoding activities are even given cute nicknames to help students remember.
While we want students to monitor our students and their reading for accuracy to make sure it makes sense, often these kinds of decoding strategies taught typically in younger grades barely touch decoding skills or WORSE, they may call a child’s eyes and attention AWAY from the text, which is the opposite of what we want to do, especially for budding or struggling readers.”
Phonological Awareness is the Foundation of Decoding
According to Hello Literacy, “Phonological/Phonemic Awareness is the #1 predictor of future reading success. It is the awareness of sound & the ability to manipulate words, rhymes, syllables and phonemes through auditory/oral tasks like isolating, blending, segmenting, adding, deleting & substituting. Phonemic Awareness skills are developed without looking at letters but are of most use WITH letters when reading words. The two most important phonemic awareness skills a reader needs to decode and DO phonics is blending & segmenting. Phonemic Awareness is one of the essential components of reading instruction according to the 2001 report of the National Reading Panel.”
Make phonological awareness part of your daily routine…even if it is only 10 minutes a day! If students can manipulate sounds without seeing letters, they will be more likely to understand phonics concepts in print.
When to Start Teaching Reading Decoding…
As early as possible! How is that for an easy answer? 🙂
Students can start learning decoding as soon as they know their letters/sounds. Of course, if you count phonological awareness as a pillar of decoding…start when they are talking!
As a reading intervention teacher, I see students in grades kindergarten through 3rd grade. Even with my kindergarteners, we are DECODING words to read decodable texts. We have spent the beginning of the year building a strong phonological awareness foundation and now the students can have the confidence to decode words and simple sentences.
With my third grade students, they are realizing the importance of breaking words into syllables…decoding each part one at a time…then reading the entire multisyllabic word! I have seen the same student that would SKIP a multisyllabic word at the beginning of the year, successfully DECODE a 4- syllable word with ease and confidence.
Did You Skip Teaching Decoding Strategies?
Oops…I did! I am in my 18th year of teaching and let’s just say for many years I did not teach explicit decoding strategies.
What strategies are NOT encouraging reading decoding?
- Relying on pictures to figure out words
- Guessing words based on first letter
- Skipping words and coming back later
Don’t worry, you are probably saying to yourself, “Oops, I have taught reading that way!”
For many years, these reading strategies were common practices in many schools around the country…unfortunately still common currently.
We can make the change…NOW!
Next time a student comes to a word they don’t know, say, “Let’s DECODE this word. Say the sounds you know and I will help you on the tricky parts.”
Sometimes if I am reading with a small group, I tell them to cover the picture…younger students rely on this strategy too much!
Last week a student was reading a decodable reader…I promised them EVERY word was either a previously taught “heart word” or a word they could decode…yes,I use the specific terminology with first graders! Guess what…they still looked at the pictures to figure out the word “mat”. The student looked at the picture and said “rug”.
Some would argue that it means the same thing, however this student CAN decode the word “mat”, but chose to GUESS instead! This is not going to build a strong reader, but we can break that habit NOW!
What about the Science of Reading?
The science behind fluent readers is important to me. I made a free guide for teachers and parents to make it easy to incorporate the Science of Reading with their students. The research behind the Science of Reading is so intriguing and I wanted to share how I incorporate it daily into my instruction. I wanted to make it SIMPLE for teachers to make this shift to teaching phonemic and decoding skills explicitly.
- A complete guide with over 20 pages of information & resources for FREE! Download it today!
Using Decodable Readers, Not Leveled Text
Jen Jones at Hello Literacy has created wonderful sets of decodable readers to use in the classroom. I have downloaded and made my first sets and they are perfect for my small reading groups.
The students love feeling confident, knowing they CAN read/decode the entire book.
Often, I will send home the decodable book for the students to read to their family. I also attach a label to the book to explain to parents it is a “decodable book”, along with an email explaining how they can help their child if needed. (Example: “If your child is stuck on a word, remind them to say each sound, then blend together.”)
5 Tips to Build Strong Reading Decoders…
- Build Phonological Awareness: Make a daily routine 10 minutes before lunchtime to practice phonological awareness. Ask students to add or delete phonemes from certain words, rhyming, beginning/ending sounds, phoneme manipulation. See below for more ideas.
- Confidence in Short/Long Vowel Sounds: Add a movement to each short and long vowel sound. The Really Great Reading program encourages using a motion with the beginning sound of each vowel. For example, short e says /e/, like the first phoneme in edge. The long vowel sounds are tracing the lowercase letter while making the long vowel sound. Most importantly REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW the vowel sound almost daily! A quick review with solidify the students’ knowledge of vowel sounds while decoding.
- Digraphs, Trigraphs, and Blends: Depending on the grade you teach, introduction or consistent practice with digraphs, trigraphs, and consonant blends are very important to make students strong reading decoders. I like to begin with digraphs; 2 letters making 1 sound. (ch, sh, th, wh, ph, ck) Once the students are comfortable decoding words with digraphs, I move to trigraphs; tch and dge. I incorporate consonant blends ALL of the time! We practice pulling about the blends to clearly hear all sounds of the blend. For example, the stomp…/s/ /t/ /o/ /m/ /p.
- Fluency Phrases: Using the concepts we are learning or reviewing, I have the students practice small fluency phrases and build to full fluency sentences. Once the student decodes the phrase or sentence, we practice how to go back and reread…building smooth reading fluency. IMPORTANT: If a student is stuck on a word while reading fluency sentences or a page in their decodable book…I give them strategies to figure it out.
- Decodable Books: My favorite way to build strong decoders is using decodable books! Decodable books are defined as a book aligned to phonics instruction that students can use their skills to successfully read. IMPORTANT: If a student is stuck on a word while reading fluency sentences or a page in their decodable book…I give them strategies to figure it out.
- Here are a few reminders about helping children to become strong decoders:
- Remind them to start on the left.
- Say, “Stretch the sounds.”
- Say, “Say each sound.”
- After they read the page once, ask them to go back and read it smooth!
- Remind students to not guess the words based on the pictures. If they do, ask them to go back and look at the letters in the word.
Resources to Help With Reading Decoding…
I have created the DECODING Bundle to help students get a little extra help with explicitly learning how to decode words correctly. All of the resources are completely editable to fit your lessons. You can add words that your class is working on or use the ones that are already made…ready to print!
Orton Gillingham methods have proven very successful for my students as well. The multi-sensory techniques help students find spelling patterns in words. The explicit phonics strategies in Orton Gillingham will help students decode unfamiliar words after learning various spelling patterns and syllable division.
I also LOVE Hello Literacy Decodable Readers!
My Experience With Really Great Reading…
Our district invested in the Really Great Reading program to keep the intervention teachers on the same page, using a research based program with emphasis on the science of reading.
As a reading intervention teacher, I LOVE IT! It is very explicit, routine, and engaging to teach in small groups. The lessons are about 25 minutes daily and follow a 5 day routine.
The key components I enjoy about Really Great Reading:
- Emphasis on Phonological Awareness
- Multi-sensory activities
- The engaging videos to introduce new concepts
- The repetition (builds confidence in struggling readers!)
- The syllable division strategies! (See my Instagram Reel, HERE)
