how to teach decoding

How to Teach Decoding

Teaching your child to read doesn’t have to be stressful. Reading develops just like walking—some children move ahead quickly, while others need more time and practice. Do NOT panic! Children truly do catch up, and many surpass their peers once they receive consistent, structured support.

Even if your child has a reading disability, they can still become a successful reader. They simply need a multisensory, structured approach, such as Orton-Gillingham or Wilson, and these methods are incredibly effective.

My Science of Reading page for kindergarten and 1st grade and/or 2nd and 3rd grade will also help you!

Is Your Child Ready to Learn to Read?
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness
Articulation Cards
Letter Names and Sounds
UFLI
Say it, Stretch it, Spell it, Change it
Print Immersion
Sight Words
Rimes
Lexia Core 5
Have Fun With Books
Consider a Multi-Sensory Tutor
Decodable Texts
Tips
A Final Note to Parents
Related Resources

Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. Many parents and teachers ask me which materials work best, so I’ve included optional resources based on my experience teaching reading. If you purchase through these links, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, which helps support the free content on this site.

Is Your Child Ready to Learn to Read?

Before decoding (reading words) can happen, your child must have two foundations:

Once these are in place, your child is ready to read!

1. Phonological & Phonemic Awareness: The Ears-Only Skills

These skills involve hearing and manipulating sounds in words—no print should be present.

The two most essential skills are

⭐ Segmenting—the foundation of spelling

You say a word, and your child says all the individual sounds.

“cat” → /c/ /a/ /t/
“plant” → /p/ /l/ /a/ /n/ /t/
(Avoid letting your child say /pl/ and /nt/ as one sound—each sound must be separate.)

⭐ Blending—the foundation of reading

You say the sounds, and your child blends them into a real word.

/d/ /o/ /g/ → “dog”
/b/ /l/ /o/ /ck/ → “block”
(Expect blend omissions at first, for example, “bock.” This is normal.)

Start with Continuous Sounds

Continuous sounds—/s/, /m/, /n/, /f/, /v/, /z/, /l/, /r/, all vowels—can be stretched.
This makes blending MUCH easier, especially for beginners.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Articulation Cards are available on Amazon for $26.

Why Articulation Cards Help With Blending

Articulation cards show how a sound is made—tongue, lips, airflow. These visuals help children link:

How they move their mouths → The sound they hear → The letter that represents it

Benefits:

Makes abstract sounds tangible
Aids blending and segmenting
Strengthens sound discrimination (e.g., /b/ vs. /p/)
Helps kids self-correct because they understand “how the sound should feel.”

These are sturdy alphabet cards from Amazon. Approx. $20. These are helpful because the uppercase and lowercase letters are on separate cards, and the “a” is formed the way your child will learn to form it.

2. Letter Names & Sounds

Your child must know:

All 26 letter names
All common sounds for each letter
How to produce them clearly (especially short vowels)

Once your child has both pieces—the ear skills and the letter-sound knowledge—they’re ready to begin decoding.

My 9 Recommendations for Parents

1. Follow the UFLI Foundations Decodable Curriculum (Lessons 1–128)

This FREE, research-aligned program starts with the letter a and builds one new skill per lesson. By lesson 128, children can decode and spell confidently.

Do one lesson per day—slow and steady wins the race. Spend even two days on one lesson!

It is important to get your child reading. If the full lessons seem overwhelming, please feel free to proceed directly to the UFLI decodable texts.
Have your child reread each story multiple times.
Your child should also be able to spell every word from the story.

Consistency is key. Use the program throughout the summer for outstanding results.

2. “Say it, stretch it, spell it, change it.”

This activity boosts both reading and spelling. Children manipulate one sound at a time to form new words:

cat → cot → hot → hop → hip → sip → sit → sat…

This teaches:

Phonemic manipulation
Blending
Spelling flexibility
Awareness of how small changes create new words

Tip: Short /e/ vs. short /i/ can be difficult to distinguish.
Have your child place their hand under their chin and say:

“pig” (chin barely drops)
“peg” (jaw drops farther)

Tip: Children often confuse b and d.
Teach that on the b, the baseball bat comes first. On a d, the doughnut comes first.

3. Immerse Your Child in Print

The more print your child sees, the faster the brain develops reading pathways. Ideas to immerse your child include:

Closed captioning on all shows and online read-alouds (Finland uses this widely, and they have the world’s top reading scores!)
Labels around your home: bed, door, sink, closet, fridge, Legos…

Your child’s brain needs to process print everywhere.

You can buy sight word flashcards. These flashcards are useful because they are divided by grade level.

4. Master Sight Words (In Context)

You may use sight-word flashcards, but the best way to learn sight words is through meaningful sentences and repeated reading.

Have your child:

Read decodable sight word stories
- Decodable-Dolch-Sight-Word-Stories-Preprimer-Grade-3
- Free sight word stories online
- Dolch Story – uses all Dolch words.

Students’ word recognition, fluency, and comprehension improve significantly when they practice reading text or phrases repeatedly.

Should your child encounter difficulty with a sight word, please encourage them to try to sound it out. Parts of most sight words are regular, even though many have irregular spellings. Teach your child to memorize the “irregular” part. For example, the letters “ai” in the word “said” produce the short /e/ sound.

heart word example

If you’re following UFLI, the necessary sight words are already embedded, so you can skip this step.

Click here for a printable download of the above chart.

5. Teach the 37 Most Common Rimes (listed above)

Rimes (word families) are powerful for pattern recognition.

Examples:

-at → cat, hat, sat, flat
-ight → light, might, night, sight

Teaching the 37 most common rimes unlocks 500+ high-frequency words.

Write them on index cards and practice:

Reading them
Spelling words with them
Building new words by swapping the beginning consonants or blends

Reminder:
A rime is not the same as a rhyme.
Rimes are spelling patterns.

6. Try Lexia Core 5

Lexia Core 5 is a research-based program that accelerates literacy development for students of all levels. The program supports the transition from learning to read to reading for understanding. It contains 21 levels spanning preschool through grade 5, with skill areas including automaticity/fluency, comprehension, phonics, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. My school uses it, and I can attest to the benefits.

7. Make Books Fun—Not a Battle

Let your child choose joyful, high-interest reading materials such as:

Pokémon
Barbie
Star Wars
Captain Underpants
National Geographic Kids
Comics

Reading aloud to your child is beneficial, too! It builds vocabulary, motivation, and a love of books—critical for long-term reading success.

8. Consider a Trained Tutor (If Feasible)

If your child struggles or resists reading with a parent, a tutor can help. The best tutors are trained in:

Orton-Gillingham
Wilson
Multisensory Structured Literacy (MSL)

These methods are structured, sequential, and essential for children with reading difficulties. They align closely with UFLI.

If you hire a general tutor, simply ask them to follow the steps on this page.
(They may also contact me—I’m happy to support.)

9. ONLY Use Decodable Texts for Early Readers

Avoid predictable, patterned books such as

“I like to jump.
I like to climb.
I like to dance.”

Children “read” these by guessing from the pictures—not by decoding.

Decodable texts:

Match the phonics your child has learned
Avoid advanced patterns too early
Require true decoding (real reading!)

These Orton Gillingham Decodable Readers are about $20 each on Amazon. They are systematic and parent-friendly. They progress from CVC words to multisyllabic words.

Remember:
Decoding the letters is reading.
Guessing is not.

A faulty method of teaching reading is comprehension first (guided reading), which involves having the child use context clues to read. However, the science of reading has taught us that children need phonics first to learn how to look at the letters in words. When children encounter difficulties, they must utilize phonics to solve problems!

Tips

Motivation and praise are important! Celebrate small wins: “Every word read correctly deserves praise—this builds confidence and enjoyment.”
Reading should be joyful, not stressful.
Daily Short Practice: 5–15 minutes per day of focused practice is often more effective than long sessions.
Encourage children to pause and think about the story: Who, What, Where, Why?
Ask simple questions about illustrations or text to reinforce meaning.
Parent modeling: Kids imitate fluent reading and intonation.
When a child can’t decode a word, model tapping it out, then let them try again.
Tracking progress— Keep a reading log for each session: words mastered, skills practiced, and new sight words learned. Create a motivational graph!

Montessori Sandpaper Letters

An additional multi-sensory option to consider is sandpaper tracing letters. Approx. $20 for each set – uppercase and lowercase.

Tile Board

Have your child create words using the various graphemes. If your child uses Wilson Fundations in school, they should be familiar with this activity. Approx. $29.

Use letter tiles or magnetic letters for building words.
Finger-tapping words can reinforce phonemic awareness and spelling.

A Final Note to Parents

Reading is one of the greatest gifts you can give your child.
There is no “late” reader—only a child who hasn’t yet received the right kind of instruction.

If you follow the steps on this page—slowly, consistently, and joyfully—you will be amazed at how quickly your child grows.

Related Resources

Very Early Foundational Skills – Kindergarten and 1st Grade

Rimes for Decoding and Encoding

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This page was last updated on January 2, 2026.