Learn to Read: Book 1 Basic digraphs - 21 Decodable Stories: SOR

Learn to Read: Book 1 Complete Collection, 21 Decodable Stories

Book 1 of the Reading Made Simple programme gathers twenty-one stories into a single volume that is easy to print and put in a folder. It follows on from Book A and Book B, which need to be read first, as Book 1 assumes your child or pupil can already blend simple CVC words and words with two consonants at the beginning or end.

Across the stories, thirteen sound patterns are covered: ck, oo, ee, sh, ch, nd, nt, nk, th, ng, ing, ar and or.

Each story starts with a word practice list, with words grouped by pattern, so the reader can warm up on the sounds before meeting them in the text.

A few sight words are brought in gently and marked as odd words in the lists: a, the, is, of, I, to, go, no, he, she, be, me, we, and, too, two, give, have, live, here, says, they, are, come and put.

Objectives

I should be clear about what these are. They are not the sort of word-stuff decodables you may have seen elsewhere. I have written real little stories, set on a farm and illustrated in soft watercolours, with the vocabulary tightly controlled. New words arrive a few at a time, and the words already learned keep coming back in later stories, so the child meets them again and again until they become automatic.

The pictures are there to be enjoyed, not to be used for guessing. The aim is for children to read the words on the page and to feel the pleasure of reading something that sounds like a story rather than a drill.

Order, Outline and Steps

Each story is short enough to finish in one sitting. Before reading, go through the word list together. While reading, encourage sounding out rather than guessing, and when the story is finished, make a fuss of it, because it is an achievement. If progress stalls, go back and do a little more work on the sound/word that is causing trouble.

Book 1 suits children of about four to eight, and older learners who need to go more slowly.

Who is it for?

It works for parents at home, home educators, small groups and one-to-one teaching. If you are confident teaching phonics, it can stand alone. If you would like more support, the Reading Made Simple Level 1 teaching pack has the teacher’s manual for 46 lessons (this book covers 13 of them), plus flashcards and word lists. The book is also sold as part of the Level 1: Book 1 Course, with two teaching lessons and an activity pack for each sound.

Print-ready A4 PDF. Print at “fit to size