3 Ways to Differentiate with Decodable Text

Over the years, something that I have really enjoyed about teaching primary learners is phonics.  I love the routine of it.  I enjoy the patterns and rhythms of it.  It never ceases to amaze me how those patterns and rhythms turn into avid readers by the end of first grade.  It is nothing short of amazing!  That said, one of the things that I've found since coming to first from third is that differentiating for primary can be a challenge.  The fact that even my lowest student in third was literate was something that I took for granted.  How do you get kids to read and understand on their level in a primary classroom?  How do you KNOW that they know what they are doing in a center and they are not just playing?  Well, I just took it on back to the basics.  Nothing makes my life easier in first grade than my trusted friend....THE DECODABLE.

Decodable books are based on a specific phonetic pattern and build in an explicit way to develop confidence in readers.  Decodable books are super easy to differentiate with! Almost any program that has a decodable book series has a phonetic progression.  When you are working with primary aged learners you can build groups based on what phonetic patterns they have already mastered...and VOILA!  Therein lies your differentiation! :) So let's explore some things that you can do with decodable books that are great for small group instruction and then can be carried over into independent work time.  One of the things that I like to do a lot with my kids is sort.  We sort lots of things, but especially words! :)

Now, this is something that you can do very simply with a sheet of paper and a pencil.  Have them create a chart to sort for basic sound patterns in the text.  In a Short A text, consider sorting by ending sounds: -an, -ag, -at.

 Increase the complexity by asking students to sort by the vowel and how many letters are in the short a word.  For example: cat would be sorted with three letters.  Flap would be sorted with four letters. Clasp would be sorted under five letters.  You could go a step further and have students sort by the amount of phonemes...because the amount of phonemes can sometimes be different than the amount of letters.

Here's an example of a sheet that I made for my learners, but it could be easily recreated simply with lined paper and put into a page protector.  I use these types of sheets within a page protector to save on copies! :)

Want to differentiate in a different way?

Have your students draw a picture of a word that follows the pattern in their story and then write additional words from the pattern.  Again...this can be done just on a regular sheet of paper, or even in a phonics or writer's journal.  I taught explicit phonics lessons even in third grade! :)  The patterns are more complex, and the exceptions to the rule become more common, but being a great decoder never gets old.

I love to let my kids choose their partners, but sometimes, I need to choose for them because I want to ensure that the students are working towards mastery rather than just 'hanging out' with a friend during their independent reading time.  Sometimes, I will just split my class in half...high readers on one side, lows on the other and say...go find a buddy from the other side of the room to read the story with.  The kids have responded well to reading with someone that they are sure can help them...but also the kids who are stronger readers love to be in a position to BE a help! I have worked very hard to create a classroom climate of inclusion and support...so, this method does not seem out of place to my students and it is welcomed.

When students are being intentional in their peer groups, I like to give them even more support by giving them question stems.  I have a variety of stems for them to choose from when they are working on sharing what they know with their peers.  At the beginning of the year, I used some stems that had pictures on it to help cue them.  I also used question stems during my lesson time.  Now that my kids are reading, they use the question stems that I've been modeling in the classroom. One of my favorite sets of question stems comes from Colleen Alaniz out of Texas.

  She created these Bloom's Buttons that help me to make SURE that I am asking different styles of questions in each lesson.  Because I model this daily, my students have now adapted to this in the classroom as well! :) For more established readers they can move from just the oral component to a written response.  Consider asking an open ended question for students to consider and respond to in a journal for a paper saving measure.  In my classroom, I sometimes use open ended recording sheets like the one pictured below to get a feel for what my students are taking out of their reading.

Interested in my sorts and recording sheets for short sounds?  Check them out on TPT here.

Not every student is able to share at the same level...so, I try to offer the students multiple ways to share some of the same information.  This style of differentiation can work throughout the year as I'm trying to hit different writing goals as well!

Are you a fan of task cards?  My friend Leigh has some task card response sheets that would be really easy to implement...especially with second and third graders.  The great thing about task cards is that you can make them say whatever you need them to for the purpose of your in class review! :)

Leigh's Free Task Card RECORDING sheet

Differentiation doesn't have to be hard when you have a set of decodables...or a set of decodable texts to use! :)