Webinar Recap: Turning the Page: A New Generation of Decodable Books

Erin Hubbard Published: October 3, 2024

In case you missed it, MindPlay’s Decodable Book Expert, Erin Hubbard, hosted an instructional webinar to discuss the intricacies of decodable books. The MindPlay Decodable Book Collection released this fall offers over 300 titles to support students in the direct application of the phonics skills they’re learning through their structured literacy programs. Erin discussed that, when paired with an adaptive, structured program like MindPlay Reading Coach, research shows that the effect of decodable books increases exponentially in reinforcing skill development and growing young readers, especially when introduced at an early age.

Current Limitations in Using Decodable Books

During the webinar, a poll revealed that most educators struggle with the following factors when incorporating decodable books into their classrooms:

Availability of materials
Budget constraints
Alignment with the school’s literacy curriculum
Outdated content
Cultural relevance of materials

These challenges, along with others we’ve heard from across the country, were the impetus for MindPlay to dive into the research and develop the most comprehensive decodable book collection on the market today.

The MindPlay Decodable Book Collection

Erin dove into the MindPlay Decodable Book Collection, highlighting its features and exposing all the ways MindPlay has pushed beyond the constraints of traditional decodable materials. These directly address the challenges mentioned earlier by educators all over the country.

The webinar gives an in-depth look at features of the collection, along with supporting research. Some of the main features she detailed included:

Focus on Conceptual Vocabulary

MindPlay doesn’t shy away from vocabulary; instead, it allows teachers to focus on concepts while scaffolding toward future content.

Cover of a decodable book entitled "Pig in a Bin" with a visual of a pig in a bin combined with a glimpse inside the book of the word lists.

Concept Collections

Teachers need more than one book per concept to pique student interest and exploration while still directly applying their newly-learned phonetic skills.

Collage of book covers from the MindPlay Decodable Book Collection depicting options from the FLSZ Concept Collection.

Storylines

Instead of restricting storylines, decodable books should open new worlds for students with diverse and inclusive adventures.

Open eBook page showing an illustration of diyas from a Diwali celebration with text from the decodable book.

Variety of Illustrations

Gone are the cueing days of predictable illustrations that gave away the words on the page. Instead, students can explore artistic variety and style through myriad options in decodable books.

Collage of images from the MindPlay Decodable Book Collection, including a raccoon chef, a snake licking a chocolate cake, an excited family looking at a tablet, a gecko waiting for a school bus, an older Inuit man crafting by the fire, a woman using VR, a black male chef laughing in a bakery, and an orangutan wearing leather gloves smiling.

How Do I Choose the Best Decodable Books for My Classroom?

If you’re curious about how to assess the decodable books in your collection, be sure to read How to Choose the Best Decodable Books on the MindPlay Blog. In it, Erin discusses many of the features mentioned in the webinar comparing them to more traditional decodable options. MindPlay turns the page on the way we look at decodable books, including key features that can make the difference in student engagement and achievement in your classrooms.

Decoding & the Science of Reading

Erin discussed how students can be like secret agents when they have the right decoding skills. Essentially, to “decode” is to break down the language, revealing the sounds represented by the symbols. In this case, the letters are the “secret code,” representing the “secret sounds” of the language. The secret agents are codebreakers, making the letter-sound correspondences so they can decipher the “hidden” messages. She further detailed key components of decoding that support student reading success.

Structured Literacy

As Erin walked us through some science of reading basics, she emphasized the need for structured literacy for student reading success. The chart below illustrates what she discusses in detail in the webinar, showing how evidence-based literacy elements combined with evidence-based teaching practices in the classroom create effective reading instruction.

Acquisition to Application

Erin also emphasized an acquire-then-apply process for students where they directly apply their phonetic skills to real-world decodable books. It’s best illustrated when combining MindPlay Reading Coach with our Decodable Book Collection, available in the Studio Personalized Library. This leads students to develop the fluency they need to see themselves as readers, able to pick up any book and confidently open the cover to explore a new world of information.

Decoding is a key component of structured literacy, as discussed in detail in the webinar.

Be sure to check out the full webinar, along with other MindPlay webinars, on MindPlay’s YouTube channel.

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