Decodable Stories

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Explore a selection of decodable stories inspired by June Lyday Orton’s A Guide to Teaching Phonics (1976, The Orton Reading Center).  The stories begin with the short vowel a and the five consonants, b, s, f, m, t and continue to introduce one new concept at a time, as is typically done when using the Orton-Gillingham Approach.  Therefore, readers should start with the oldest post first for the simplest of stories. We’ll be posting new stories regularly!

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    In the story, “A Nap in a Pan”, ask students if they notice a pattern by looking at the colors in the words.  In each line, the beginning and ending sounds of the decodable words have been switched, so that the word “nap” becomes “pan”, “tap,” becomes “pat”, etc. This is a good example of…

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    Reading words in isolation, often called the “Whole Word Reading Drill” in an Orton-Gillingham Lesson, is an essential part of learning to read words quickly and accurately without context clues.  The above chart can be used to review decodable words and nonsense syllables used so far in the decodable stories.  The student can read the…

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    Some Orton-Gillingham scope and sequences will introduce the l later in the sequence.  The letter l is called a “liquid consonant” and is considered a complex sound that can vary greatly according to accents and in different contexts. June Orton introduced it early in her scope and sequence.

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    The decodable stories presented are inspired by Phonics Lessons 1 and 2 in June Lyday Orton’s A Guide to Teaching Phonics.   The only vowel presented so far is the short vowel a. Single consonants include the b, s, f, m, t, h, j, n, p, l.  The only two sounds that are sometimes confused by…

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    What is the difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness?  Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize spoken parts of words such as syllables, onset-rime, and phonemes.  Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.  Both are key skills in getting students ready to read.

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    Phonics is the system of associating letter symbols with speech sounds.  Phonetics is the science of speech. Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds. A phonogram is a letter or combination of letters that represents a sound.  So far, the following phonograms and corresponding sounds have been…

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