Lillory
Sign in
How to use decodable word lists in a lesson.
A decodable word list is only useful if every word on it uses patterns the reader has already been taught. Choose the list that matches the skill of the day, and a few minutes with it does more than a page of mixed words. Here is a short method for using one well.
Match the list to the skill, not the grade.
Pick the list for the exact pattern you are teaching or reviewing, so nothing on it needs a rule the reader has not met. Our free decodable word lists are grouped one pattern at a time, and every word is checked to use only that stage's letter-sounds. If you are unsure which pattern comes next, the scope and sequence lays out the order.
Three ways to use the same list.
Blend to read
The reader sounds each word and says it. Keep a light pace, and step in only when a guess replaces sounding out.
Dictate to spell
You say a word, the reader taps the sounds and writes a letter for each. Spelling reveals gaps that reading can hide.
A quick daily check
Five words from the list, read cold at the start of the next session, tell you whether the pattern is set or needs another day.
Keep it decodable on purpose.
The value of a decodable list is that it removes guessing: a reader can get every word by sounding it out, which is the habit you are trying to build. A mixed list quietly rewards guessing from the first letter and a picture. When you move to sentences, build them from words the reader can already decode, so the new pattern is the only new thing.
Send the same list home.
Practice between sessions works best when it repeats the exact pattern, not a harder one. Copy the list a family can use for two minutes a day, and both of you are working on the same skill. More on that in what to practice between sessions.
See it in the app
Decodable words, handed to the tutor.
The same idea, inside Lillory: the dashboard picks the next skill and gives the tutor a ready set of decodable words to read or print, so the practice never runs ahead of the teaching.
Shown: per-skill practice words, ready to read or print.
Open Lillory