How can I be sure my child is reading the right kind of books when learning how to read?

There's nothing like getting a fresh, new (to you) book from the library to read with your kids! Sharing our love of reading means enjoying all different kinds of texts with our children.

However, when children are learning how to read in kindergarten, first, and second grade, they should be offered plenty of "decodable" books to read on their own, especially as part of the school curriculum.

What is a decodable book? So glad you asked! Decodable books contain ONLY words that your child has learned to sound out, or is currently learning to sound out, plus a few sight words. The more spelling patterns and sight words a child learns, the more complex the text can become. These books may seem simple at first, and perhaps not as exciting as a classic children's book, but the purpose of these books is purely for: practice, practice, practice!

Leveled texts are another kind of book that schools frequently use as a means of introducing more and more complex texts as the child is deemed ready to move up to the next "level". This type of text is used far more frequently than the decodable text as a school-curriculum staple, despite the lack of evidence of their efficacy. This is almost always because the teachers are required to use the curriculum chosen by the school administration, and not because your child's teacher isn't as invested as you are in teaching your child to read! Nearly all of the most widely-used reading curricula in the United States use a leveled system.

Leveled texts at the primary level tend to use repetition of phrases paired with pictures to help kids guess the new word introduced on each page. For example: "At the party we had cake. At the party we had balloons. At the party we had streamers." This would be considered a primer level text, even though many of the words contain spelling patterns the kids have not learned. Reading specialists everywhere will tell you how much time they have to spend with their students undoing the learned habit of word-guessing!

Once children have learned most of the orthographic spelling patterns they will have the confidence and ability to tackle the larger, unfamiliar words of leveled texts or any age-appropriate book. Most importantly, children should never be denied the opportunity to explore books they cannot sound out, because that is part of the joy of reading and discovery! However, as a teaching tool, decodable books are the way to go in the early years of literacy development.