Decodable text is text that can be decoded or sounded out based on what the student has already been explicitly taught. With this in mind, it is obviously desirable to use a decodable reading scheme that follows the same order of introduction of GPCs as the school's synthetic phonics programme.

Unlike the stories in whole-word/language reading schemes, decodable stories are not predictable or repetitive -see www.rrf.org.uk/newsletter.php?n_ID=108 scroll down for typical examples of whole-language text.

(A)s they learn to master the alphabetic code, children should be given reading material that is well within their reach in the form of 'decodable books'... Using such books as part of the phonic programme does not preclude other reading. Indeed it can be shown that such books help children develop confidence and an appetite for reading more widely.' (Rose Review. 82)

‘The selection of text used very early in first grade may, at least in part, determine the strategies and cues children learn to use, and persist in using, in subsequent word identification.... In particular, emphasis on a phonics method seems to make little sense if children are given initial texts to read where the words do not follow regular letter-sound correspondence generalizations. Results of the current study suggest that the types of words which appear in beginning reading texts may well exert a more powerful influence in shaping children’s word identification strategies than the method of reading instruction’(Juel and Roper/Schneider. Reading Research Quarterly 18)

www.coreknowledge.org/CK/about/CommonKnowledge/v19I_2006/v19_I_2006_greeneggs.htm The case for decodable text.

10 reasons why beginning readers should only use decodable books:
1. Decodable books are consistent with the synthetic phonics reading method. They only use explicitly taught code, go from simple to complex, and use the phoneme as the unit of sound; illustrations are not overly dominant, designed to act as a clue to text . Taught code is used throughout words rather than first letter emphasis, to ensure that transitivity is well understood. Sounding out is the only strategy required to read the words.
2. Whole-language/Banded books give child a misleading idea of what reading entails i.e. that it is a memorising and (psycholinguistic) guessing game.
3. In order to become expert readers, children need to know the complete Alphabet Code and the skills of blending and segmenting to automaticity. To ensure this, they need to be taught the code and the skills explicitly, intensively and systematically. Decodable books give them the necessary practice in recently taught code and skills.
4. There is no way of knowing which particular children in a class have poor memories (visual or aural) or low phonological awareness ability. These children are likely to become struggling 'dyslexic' readers if whole-language books are used at first. Children with good visual memories plus a supportive home background may appear to do well, initially, with whole-language books BUT -see 5.
5. Decodable books avoid children developing the bad habit of sight word guessing. This can be difficult to change when they get older and the brain less 'plastic'. Those with good visual memories will develop this habit quickly and easily through the use of predictable, repetitive text. Eventually their memory for sight words will reach its limit and if they haven't, in the meantime, been taught or deduced the complete alphabet code for themselves they will struggle to read advanced texts with novel words.
6. Repetitive texts are boring; predictable texts that a child can only struggle through by misreading and guessing, resulting in lost comprehension, are also boring. Both types of books can put a child off reading. 'Attitudes to reading in England are poor compared to those of children in many other countries' and 'Children in England read for pleasure less frequently than their peers in many other countries' (Pirls 2006) These findings were found pre-Rose Report, from the whole-language books period.
7. The use of decodable books is only necessary for a short period in the foundation stage. When well taught, most children learn the code quickly, begin to self-teach and can then move on to real books rather than being stuck for several years on reading schemes with the restricted word count necessary to ensure adequate memorisation of the high frequency words.
8. Good spelling is aided by the use of decodables -see Spelling
9. Ease of decoding from the earliest days by simply sounding out and blending gives children quick success, ensuring enthusiasm for reading.
10. Parents easily understand the logic of decodable books and are more able and willing to help their children practise reading at home.

N.B. Don't attempt to align decodable books in the Bookband system as banding is so different from the cumulative code knowledge approach.

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Classworks: Synthetic Phonics photocopiable readers. Pub. Nelson Thornes. Book containing 60 photocopiable synthetic phonics stories.
Review of the readers here: www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=2451
www.amazon.co.uk/Classworks-Synthetic-Phonics-Year-R-1/dp/0748784144/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/026-6431181-1990845

www.phonicbooks.co.uk/ Dandelion Readers and worksheets - can be used with the Sounds~Write or any other linguistic phonics programme.

Jelly and Bean story books. Written and delightfully illustrated by Marlene Greenwood http://www.jellyandbean.co.uk
Photocopiable versions available- all the texts in one 'booklet' for one or more series, one book per page, no illustrations. www.syntheticphonics.com/word%20documents/jellyandbeanbookorder.doc 'Suggested order of Jelly and Bean books'

www.jollylearning.co.uk Jolly Learning. Fiction and non-fiction books for beginning readers - N.B designed to be used after the basic code has been taught.

Read Write Inc. story books (Ruth Miskin) Pub. OUP www.readwriteinc.com/page3.html
NEW: Read Write Inc. Non-fiction with child-friendly topics including animals, space, the Victorians and hobbies. Available from Amazon.
First readers: Ditty Books - also available as a photocopy master.
Read Write Inc. Fresh Start modules. www.readwriteinc.com/fresh.html These 'catch-up' workbooks for students in Y5+ include age-appropriate text (secondary/teenagers) for reading practice.

NEW: Goal! http://www.ransom.co.uk/Site/Welcome_files/goal_lflt.pdf
Interest age 6 – 14 years | Reading age KS1. A series of 48 football-themed decodable texts, closely follows the DCSF ‘Letters and Sounds’
programme.

Rigby Star Phonics www.heinemann.co.uk/Series/Primary/RigbyStarPhonics/RigbyStarPhonics.aspx Follows the GPC introduction order of 'Letters&Sounds'' and the FastPhonicsFirst programme.

www.syntheticphonics.net Sound Discovery. Little Phonics First books (for use with the Jolly Phonics programme) / King Wizzit story books / Photocopiable Fold-it books

http://sounds-write.co.uk/booksmedia.asp Sounds~Write readers - written to support Sounds~Write or any other linguistic phonics programme.

Songbirds Pub. OUP. written by Julia Donaldson www.oup.com/oxed/primary/literacy/ort/fiction/songbirds/
www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/educational.htm.

www.piperbooks.co.uk/index.htm Beginning/Advanced Reading Instruction (BRI/ARI) books. N.B. these are not conventional decodable books -discussion of their use in this Yahoo group (registration needed): Beginning-Reading-Instruction@yahoogroups.com

www.societyforqualityeducation.org/stairway/readingmaterial.pdf Canadian. Masses of FREE reading material from the 'Stairway to Reading' programme, from simple sentences using CVC words to complete 'sound' stories - also suitable for dictations.

www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/local/clld/letters%20and%20sounds/phase_five.html Letters and Sounds: Phoneme Spotter stories P160-166

www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewforum.php?f=6 Bank of free, decodable materials.

www.phonicsinternational.com Debbie Hepplewhite's online programme includes decodable text- see 'I CAN READ'. Unit 1. is free to download. Follows the Jolly Phonics GPC introduction order.

www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?t=2858 Peter Warner's comparative review of the following decodable book series: Bob Books, Jelly and Bean, Family Readers, Songbirds, Read Write Inc.B&W Stories, Jolly Readers.
Book series photos: http://homepage.mac.com/peterwarner/EnglishinJapan/PhotoAlbum64.html

www.schoollink.co.uk Look out for packs of decodable books at special offer prices. Example: Oxford Read Write Inc. Phonic collection (13 books)
http://www.schoollink.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/productSearch_10201_21902_82680_100___10

Stories to listen to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/kids/ BBC7 on DAB digital radio, Internet broadband using RealPlayer, and digital tv.