The Science of Decodables: How to Use Them Effectively



In This Webinar

This webinar will begin by identifying the purposes of decodables and the opportunities in which they may be most useful. It will focus on how to introduce students to decodable text, how to do a bookwalk (not a picturewalk) in a decodable, and how to follow up. It will also address the importance of using a phonics scope and sequence when choosing each other. Lastly, it will clarify how not to use decodables—ineffective practices that don't make use of the textual scaffolds.



About Our Literacy Expert



Dr. Heidi Anne Mesmer

Dr. Heidi Anne Mesmer is a literacy professor at the Virginia Tech School of Education.  A former classroom teacher, Mesmer works extensively with teachers, schools, and young readers, directing numerous school-based initiatives to improve reading instruction. She studies beginning reading instruction and text difficulty, and her work has been published in The Reading Teacher, Reading Research Quarterly, The Educational Researcher, Elementary School Journal, and Early Childhood Research Quarterly. She is the author of Tools for Matching Readers to Texts, Reading Interventions in Primary Grades, and Teaching Skills for Complex Texts.



Make an Impact with Our Science of Reading-Aligned Curriculum

Provide explicit, systematic instruction for students at all levels.

Magnetic Reading Foundations (Grades K–2, Supplemental)


Spark engagement and increase confidence with systematic foundational skills instruction that moves students from foundational skills to reading fluency. Watch a quick overview video to see what explicit phonemic awareness instruction looks like in Magnetic Reading Foundations, and download a sample lesson plan.



PHONICS for Reading student book. 

PHONICS for Reading (Grades 3–12)

Accelerate learning for older learners who need a targeted approach to mastering decoding with an effective, efficient, and easy-to-follow program by Dr. Anita Archer.

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i-Ready Assessment

Connect precise diagnostic data to personalized instruction that’s engaging and easy to use.

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