Decodable readers for kindergarten are the perfect way to boost student confidence while reading! They are a great way to engage students because they can decode and understand the text and this makes them love reading when they may have been frustrated or nervous before. Kindergarten reading passages for fluency are my favorite way to use decodable readers because they are super simple to prep, easy for young learners to master the routine, and (the best part!) easy to differentiate to better meet the needs of all your students!
Why Should We Use Decodable Readers for Kindergarten?
Decoadable readers are texts where students use decoding strategies instead of guessing strategies to read. These are important to use in kindergarten because instead of just memorizing simple words or guessing from a picture, we are teaching students how to decode, or analyze and sound out words to make meaning. If students know how to sound out and figure out words for themselves they will be better able to figure out unfamiliar words than if they rely solely on whole word or memoriziation techniques.
Benefits of Using Decodable Readers for Kindergarten
1. Boosting Student Confidence
Kindergarten is often the first time students are being asked to read. Many have been read to by parents, siblings in a higher grade level, or in preschool environments, but most haven’t been expected to read themselves. Some students are nervous about trying new things, especially if they seem as daunting as learning to read can be!
By using simple decodable readers for kindergarten, students can use the phonics rules they have learned to figure out what the texts say. This boosts their confidence to keep reading because they realize they can do it! Decoding texts is an important skill for young readers to master.
Students decoding texts accurately also improves their kindergarten reading comprehension skills. Having better reading comprehension means they can explain what they read to others, write about it, illustrate the story, answer comprehension questions, and more. Their literacy skills and confidence grows together!
2. Engaging Kindergarten Readers
Decodable readers can also engage reluctant readers since they include those phonics patterns that are familiar to students. At the beginning of the year I will have decodable texts full of short vowel words, or CVC words, as my students are learning letter sound associations and blending, but as the year progresses they will start to see more complex phonics patterns such as long vowels, blends, digraphs, and more. Having short passages that focus on a specific phonics skill really helps give beginning readers the practice they need and keeps them eager to apply what they know.
Many students love to take charge and teach others. When a student is able to read a text this means they can independently read it to themselves, read it to someone else, or even take it home and read it to their families, pets, etc. Having lots of practice reading the same texts to multiple people and in different places are some of my favorite strategies to improve reading fluency. Simple kindergarten reading passages for fluency motivate struggling readers because they get better with each repeated practice. Decodable readers for kindergarten engage students to keep reading in different environments and share the love with others.
3. Making Kinders Love Reading
The most important part of teaching reading in kindergarten in my opinion is getting them to love reading. There’s no better way to do this then to make them successful and make it interesting! I love using fluency strips to accomplish this. Each week of fluency strips has five strips on a page. As part of my guided reading kindergarten routine, on Mondays the first thing my kindergarten students do is grab their sheet, glue one per page in their notebooks, and then their fluency notebooks are ready for the week! This is the first activity we do every day in reading small groups so they get right to work while I settle the rest of the class.
The prep for me and them is simple, they learn the routine quickly, and I can easily differentiate where my early readers get the repetitive text, others get the three sentence level, and my more fluent readers get the paragraph level.. They move and groove through these different levels throughout the year! Each day they whisper read their fluency strip while I listen to each student individually and correct as necessary.
They color a picture for each time they read and then we do different activities such as color code words, phonics patterns, copy the passage, draw responses, or write responses. Sometimes I take it even further and we work on kindergarten reading comprehension passages. This may be as simple as me asking oral comprehension questions after reading or as complicated as me encouraging students to answer questions through writing.
Students really love reading these kindergarten reading passages because they know what to expect, understand the routine, and like seeing what follow up activity we are going to do. Some years I even send these printable worksheets home for students to have a fluency notebook that goes back and forth in order to send decodable readers for kindergarten home that meet each student’s needs. My students like this because they get to show their families how well they can read. Giving students texts they can understand, with an easy routine for the class, and a super simple home school connection helps kinders learn to love reading!
Using Decodable Readers for Kindergarten Takeaways
Decodable readers for kindergarten are important because they increase confidence, engagement, and inspire a love of reading. Using reading fluency passages every day is a simple way to incorporate them into your routine so each student can have a new text to read and practice daily.
Start Using These to Incorporate Daily Fluency Practice Today!
Try a week of free fluency passages in your classroom today! Decodable readers for kindergarten focus on specific phonics rules and sight words that build over time. Watch your kindergarten kids grow in confidence and excitement as they learn to read!
