We’re giving a sneak peek of two new Science of Reading-aligned phonics instruction tools that will soon be available on the Lexile® & Quantile® Hub (the Hub). We are excited to support teachers like you!
Lexile® Find a Decodable Book is a groundbreaking new tool that allows teachers to search for decodable books by specific sounds such as “short a.” We will launch with about 200 books by published decodable authors.
With Find a Decodable Book, you can:
- Save time by accessing one centralized source to browse and find decodables across publishers and curricula.
- Support your teaching by finding a variety of decodable books by vowel sounds.
- See the words and sound-spellings of a book when planning instruction.
Lexile® Decodable Passages is a new resource with over 100 decodable passages (written by published decodable authors!) coming soon to the Hub. The Decodable Passages resource will be free for educators in partner states and with any premium Hub membership plan. The one-page passages focus on the most common phonics skills such as short vowels, blends and digraphs. Decodable Passages support decoding instruction with access to more than 100 passages that:
- Are written by published authors of decodable books.
- Accommodate popular scopes and sequences.
- Are categorized by popular sound-spellings.
- Are fun and available online.
To learn more about how these tools align with the Science of Reading, read our blog post:
The Science Behind Decodable Books
Watch Our One-minute Overview of These New Tools!
Deep Dive Into These New Tools
Find a Decodable Book is a groundbreaking new decodable books search tool! It is the first of its kind in allowing teachers, literacy coaches and parents to search for decodable books by sounds. The tool will be freely available on the Hub in January. You will be able to search by short and long vowel sounds at launch.
- There are 108 passages in total that will be available for free for educators in our partner states. To find out if you are in a partner state, sign-up for Hub.
- The passages were designed to work with the most popular scopes and sequences for phonics instruction. Moreover, they are cumulative: the skills build upon one another. For example, there are 9 passages featuring “short a” and then 9 featuring “short a and short e.” In this way, students can reinforce previously learned skills in a cumulative manner.
- We also have a large collection of nearly 50 passages with short vowels plus blends and digraphs.
- Each passage features an illustration and 2 comprehension questions.
- We partnered with authors who already have published and sold decodable books. They crafted fun and engaging stories that went through our rigorous editing and review process.
What the Authors Are Saying?
Q & A with decodable authors.
PAMELA BROOKES (DogOnALog Series)
What is/was your “why” for writing decodables?
When my daughter was first learning to read, there weren’t many decodable books in print. Almost all that were available were just a few sentences long. My daughter was struggling to learn to read and would memorize the books before she could master the skills. My joke was that she could read them without even opening the cover. After a long and fruitless search for a systematic series of decodable chapter books, I thought, “Wait. I’m a writer. I’ll write a series for her.” I knew other children needed decodable chapter books, so I decided to publish them so I could help other kids learn to read.
What was your favorite passage you wrote for us? What did you like about this project?
I have two favorite passages that I wrote for this project: “The Mud Sled” and “The Ship.” Both are kids having fun with the simple parts of life. “The Mud Sled” is an almost believable story (can you really sled down that much mud?) “The Ship” is like many of the adventures I’ve gone on with my own kids. Writing stories with such limited phonics is always hard, yet knowing that students will be reading them and feeling proud of their accomplishment made the project very fulfilling. I am so glad that I am able to help kids learn to read through my writing.
HEATHER DOOLITTLE
What is/was your “why” for writing decodables?
I felt the need for decodable books for older students as a parent of a dyslexic student. I continued to see this need as I tutored. So, I began to write. It turns out I’m definitely not the only one who needed more decodable text choices. Stories about how my decodable books are impacting lives inspire me to continue writing.
What was your favorite passage you wrote for us?
I think “The Moth” is my favorite passage as it is based on two family members’ childhood.
What did you like about this project?
I am so excited that this project will meet a need for families and educators. Waiting to be able to use this resource has been like waiting for Christmas morning as a young child. Being a part of the project has been an honor.
LISA NG & TERRI JENSON (Reading Simplified)
MetaMetrics partnered with Reading Simplified, founded by Dr. Marnie Ginsberg.
What is/was your “why” for writing decodables?
Decodables provide the opportunity for children to build a strong sound-based decoding foundation by practicing what they have been explicitly taught, without relying on memorization, guessing or taking cues from pictures. This series was written with the hope that early readers would not only be able to decode it, but connect with it on a personal level.
What was your favorite passage you wrote for us? What did you like about this project?
Our favorite passage for this project is Mud Fun; the story of Bub the cub. It highlights the opportunity we all have in life to choose how we respond to any circumstance, positive or negative.
We enjoyed working with like-minded people to produce fun and meaningful decodable texts that met a specific need for teachers. The challenging parameters of limited sounds and word counts invited a new and unexpected creativity.