With today’s focus on improving reading skills, especially with the growing emphasis on the "science of reading," there’s a noticeable demand for books that help students decode words while also being just right for their level—engaging, interesting, and motivating. This dual need highlights the importance of using materials that support foundational reading skills and also spark students' curiosity and love for reading.
Schools are increasingly turning to decodable books in dual language programs, whether following the 90-10, 80-20, or 50-50 models. At the same time, there’s still some hesitation to completely abandon leveled books. While both types of books aim to improve reading, they serve different purposes and are used in distinct ways in the classroom.
Decodable books are carefully designed to help students practice matching letters to their corresponding sounds. They focus on teaching phonics in a clear, step-by-step way that allows students to build their decoding skills gradually. Students move from “sounding out” words to reading more fluently with practice. These books are especially helpful for solidifying the alphabetic principle and making reading more automatic.
An added benefit of decodable books is that they often include vocabulary that matches the specific phonics pattern or letters being taught. Even though vocabulary isn’t always highlighted in discussions about these books, it plays an important role. Choosing decodable books that incorporate meaningful vocabulary makes them even more effective tools for early readers.
On the other hand, leveled books are organized by complexity, considering things like vocabulary, grammar, comprehension (both explicit and implicit), and even syntax, pragmatics, and morphology. They’re meant to meet each student where they are in their reading journey, helping them advance at their own pace. The goal is to expose students to increasingly challenging texts, improve their comprehension, and encourage critical thinking and analysis.
What’s the Difference?
The biggest differences between decodable and leveled books are their focus and content. Decodable books emphasize phonics, decoding, and fluency, while leveled books prioritize comprehension and analyzing text. On the other hand, decodable books stick to specific phonics patterns, while leveled books offer more variety in vocabulary and sentence structure.
How Do Teachers Use Them?
Decodable books are most commonly used in kindergarten, first, and second grades, when students build foundational skills in the alphabet, phonics, and decoding words. On the other hand, leveled books are introduced once students have developed strong decoding abilities, are reading more automatically and fluently with accuracy, and are ready to focus on comprehension and more advanced reading strategies.
A Balanced Approach - in my opinion
In my experience, decodable and leveled books are essential and should complement each other. The key is knowing when to use each type of book based on where a student is in their reading journey. Whether they’re working on decoding, fluency, grammar, or comprehension, both books have an important role.
As a kindergarten teacher, I rely heavily on decodable books to help my students master phonics and foundational reading skills and achieve fluency and accuracy.
I introduce leveled books once they’ve developed some vocabulary and feel confident in their decoding abilities. This way, I can meet each student’s unique needs and support their growth as readers, helping them become fluent, thoughtful, and engaged readers, too.
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