Decodable / cumulative / controlled phonics 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.

Don't attempt to align decodable books in the Bookband / Cliff Moon cataloguing system as banding is so different from the cumulative code knowledge approach. Reading Recovery's Bookbands and Cliff Moon's Individualised Reading are both based on the whole language notion of early reading - that is beginners use picture clues, context clues, repetitive text and predictable text to 'read'. This is the opposite approach to the synthetic phonics teaching principles. It means that they are not in line with the Rose recommendations nor the synthetic phonics teaching programmes. Decodable stories are NOT predictable or repetitive, unlike the stories in whole-word/language reading schemes -for typical examples of whole-language text see (scroll down): www.rrf.org.uk/newsletter.php?n_ID=108

(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 Report. 82)

Controlled text for independent reading makes a tremendous difference. We should only ask children to decode what we have already taught them. Introducing complexity at an early stage can lead to faulty reading strategies that take a concerted effort to correct.(Hirsch.T p18)

Decodability Tool: for testing the decodability of pupil-read stories. http://www.nrrf.org/decode_proto.htm
'For a program to qualify as using "systematic, explicit phonics instruction," a major requirement is that its stories are "decodable texts."

‘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.

www.syntheticphonics.com/pdf%20files/parentsguidanceforreading.pdf
Leaflet for parents to help their child with reading.
.............................................................................................................

Dandelion Readers. www.phonicbooks.co.uk/ can be used with any linguistic phonics programme and Letters&Sounds.
'Launchers' for beginner readers at Foundation stage: www.phonicbooks.co.uk/launchers.htm
Talisman series. 10 books for older readers age 8-14 / Reading Age KS1. http://phonicbooks.co.uk/talisman.htm

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 read once basic code has been taught.

Read Write Inc. Pub. OUP. Ruth Miskin's story books and non-fiction books http://www.oup.com/oxed/primary/rwi/
For beginner readers at Foundation stage: Ditty Books - also available as a photocopy master.
Read Write Inc. Fresh Start modules. http://www.oup.com/oxed/primary/rwi/aboutrwi/freshstart/ These 'catch-up' workbooks for students in Y5+ include age-appropriate text for reading practice.

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

Headmaster John Hawkins has produced a set of readers to support Foundation (18 booklets) and Stage 1 (24 non-fiction booklets) of the the Sound Reading System or any other linguistic phonics programme. The readers are supplied in CD format so they can be printed out individually for each student. Contact: johnkhawkins @ yahoo.com

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
First 52 books available to review/download here: www.marriottmd.com/sam/index.html

www.societyforqualityeducation.org/stairway/readingmaterial.pdf Canadian. Free reading material from the 'Stairway to Reading' programme, from simple sentences using CVC words to complete 'sound' stories - also suitable for dictations. Caution UK users: N. American sound-spellings

http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/83180?uc=force_uj Letters and Sounds Phoneme Spotter stories- see Phase 5 p160-166

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

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.

Red House Books www.redhouse.co.uk
Pack of the first 12 story books in the OUP Read Write Inc. series for £9-99
Ruth Miskin's original Superphonics books: packs of 5 books for each level: Blue/Green/Purple/Turquoise

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

www.otago.ac.nz/press/kiwiphonics/index.html New Zealand: Kiwi Phonics decodable books

http://www.quantum-literacy.com.au/index1.html Australia: Macadamia readers - click on 'favourites' in the side-bar."There continues to be a shortage of reading materials that permit the direct practice of skills taught. The Macadamia Readers are a rare and valuable source that fulfil this need" Dr Bonnie Macmillan author of Why Schoolchildren Can't Read

........................................................................................................................

10 reasons why beginning readers should only use decodable books:

1. Decodable books are consistent with the synthetic phonics reading method; they go from simple to complex, use only explicitly taught code and illustrations are designed to avoid acting as clues 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 and spellers, 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 directly, discretely and systematically. Decodable books give them the necessary practice in newly taught code and skills.

4. There is no way of knowing which particular children entering a reception class have poor visual memories or low, natural phonological 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 and no illustrations.

6. Repetitive texts are boring; predictable texts, that a child can only struggle through by misreading and guessing, resulting in lost comprehension, are discouraging. 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 are from the time when whole-language books were used as the basis for reading instruction in nearly all schools.

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 long term 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.