Sight words are common words that break the phonetic code. They are used frequently and make up about 60% of the written language. Although they are commonly used, they are a tiny fraction of all the words in English in total. There are about 120 sight words worth memorizing and about 170,000 words in English […]
Effective Phonics Books & Lessons
Learning to read is a great migration. A child’s brain goes through an incredible transformation, linking areas that were previously unconnected. When a child isn’t exposed to science-based reading instruction, this process often goes awry.
When elephants migrate, younger elephants often get lost. An older, experienced elephant stops to help. She guides the younger one back to the herd step-by-step. Young readers deserve the same sort of guidance. Our printable phonics books guide young students through each of the most common phonics sounds in a step-by-step fashion.
Browse Our Phonics Books Library
Our printable phonics books can help your student learn to read with confidence. Close the gap between your student's level and potential with gradual, systematic instruction. Our 70+ printable phonics books can gently lead your student toward independent reading.
Kids that struggle with reading are intelligent. We must teach them in a way that works. Cognitive Science and Reading Research have shown that kids learn best with explicit, systematic phonics instruction. Yet, many classrooms across the world expect kids to guess at words and "catch on." As a result, many kids struggle with decoding. Our books can help kids learn to read effectively the first time. Our books can also help struggling readers gain ground.
Browse Our Phonics Books Library
Reading Elephant phonics books are carefully designed for beginners and kids that fall behind in K-2 reading skills. Reading Elephant books are methodically written to ease your student into reading success.
Why can’t I find books my student can read? I’ve gotten every easy reader. My student can’t even read those.
Sound familiar?
Tired of your student’s reading difficulties? Of the tears during reading time? Looking for fun, effective learn-to-read books that match your student’s unique level? Our phonics books are for you.
Reading Elephant phonics books were created to get all kids reading. Many books inadvertently teach kids to guess, memorize and "catch on." But learning to read is a process. Kids need to build strong foundational skills in decoding and word analysis. Without carefully designed incremental steps, many kids fall behind.
Browse Our Phonics Books Library
So our printable phonics books introduce sounds one at a time. Kids master one phonics unit before learning another. Sounds are added gradually. Kids read with confidence and build a strong reading foundation.
Reading Elephant offers printable, systematic phonics books that allow kids to practice: short vowels, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, silent e and long vowel phonics sounds.
Print them all from your home computer!
Browse Our Phonics Books Library
My student just memorizes books. He thinks memorizing is reading.
All Reading Elephant books encourage kids to read words sound-by-sound. Our books encourage kids to analyze phonetic units. Kids cannot memorize the books because there are no repetitive phrases or sentences. As a result, kids build transferable reading skills. In other words, they can begin reading words in the real world (not just in a book they've memorized).
My child looks at the pictures to read. When the picture is taken away, he can’t read the words!
Our pictures are carefully drawn so kids cannot use them to guess at the words. The pictures are there for fun and to color. No child should rely on pictures to read.
Browse Our Phonics Books Library
Reading Elephant books are a fun, effective, step-by-step guide to reading success.
What do Reading Elephant books offer?
- Systematic text that introduces sounds gradually, and allows kids to practice each new phonetic unit
- A gentle path toward independent reading
- A way to build confidence in beginners and struggling readers
- Fun, amusing stories and pictures
- Carefully written books that offer extensive practice on common phonics sounds
- a simple, progressive guide to introducing phonics sounds
- Extensive review. Kids get to practice old sounds with new sounds
- Easy access. You can print them all from home!
- A fun path toward independent reading
Browse Our Phonics Books Library
What phonics rules do our books cover?
Our phonics books cover a broad range of phonics rules. There are many books in each set. As a result, beginning readers are able to develop fluency (reading speed). Our phonics books cover the following phonics rules:
- 1) short vowels
- 2) consonant digraphs
- 3) consonant blends
- 4) silent e
- 5) long vowel digraphs
Our short vowel books allow kids to master short vowel sounds in the following order:
- a_ as in mat, sat, fan, ham, cap
- i_ as in lit, sit, fin, him, kit
- o_ as in got, hot, Ron, hop, cop
- u_ as in cup, hut, fun, hum, tub
- e_ as in met, set, fell, pen, let
Since our books are systematic, kids learn how to read one short vowel word type at a time. For example, short a books include sentences like: “Pam had a bat.” Later, short e books contain sentences like: “The cub ran to the den.”
Our step-by-step approach helps struggling readers master all short vowel words.
Next, our consonant digraph books introduce consonant digraphs in the following order:
- sh as in wish, dish, ship, shell…etc.
- th as in bath, math, moth, path…etc.
- th as in then, this, that…etc.
- ch as in chop, chill, chip, Chad…etc.
- _tch as in batch, witch, match, patch…etc.
- _ck as in deck, kick, Rick, chick…etc.
- _ing as in king, ring, sing, wing…etc.
- _ng as in long, song, wrong, strong…etc.
- _ang as in sang, rang, pang, bang…etc.
- wh_ as in when, whale, wheel, whim…etc.
Again, our consonant digraph books are systematic. Each book set focuses on one phonics sound. Thus, the sh digraph books include sentences like: “Shell got on a ship to get fish.” Later, our _ang digraph books include sentences like: “Jill got a pet with fangs.”
Our books teach phonics sounds in incremental steps.
Next, our consonant blends books teach kids to read two letter sounds in a row. Consonant blends words include words like spot, land, track, west, and sand. Our consonant blends books give kids extensive practice with a step-by-step approach that builds confidence.
Consonants Blends Series Now Available!
These books introduce your child to consonant letters and sounds - learning to recognize these is a crucial step in reading mastery.
Next, our silent e books teach kids to read the following phonics rules:
- a_ e as in lake, bake, lane, make, mane…etc.
- e_e as in Pete, these…etc.
- i_e as in hive, bike, dive, tile, mile, mine…etc.
- o_e as in hope, cope, hole, rope, rose…etc.
- u_e as in duke, use
- Our silent e books build a strong reading foundation.
Silent E Book Series Now Available!
Reading Elephant silent e books teach kids to read words with an e at the end. It's the fourth series of our printable phonics books.
Our long vowel books teach kids to read:
- ee as in peek, seek, seem…etc.
- ea as in leave, real, seal…etc.
- ai as in sail, mail, tail…etc.
- _ay as in bay, day, say…etc.
- oa as in boat, soap, boast…etc.
- ow as in glow, slow, row…etc.
- igh as in sigh, light, might…etc.
- _y as in my, cry, fly…etc.
- ____y as in funny, bunny, granny…etc.
Our long vowel series, like all our books, are methodically written. Kids learn one phonics sound at a time. They get to practice extensively.
Give your student a solid reading foundation. Our phonics books give kids the skills to read independently and with confidence.
Phonics Books With a Proven Approach
Reading Elephant phonics books are based on proven approaches and sound research. Furthermore, their sequential, progressive nature eases kids from easy to more challenging reading territory. Kids can have fun with phonics by starting simple and moving methodically toward complex. Moreover, gradual progression allows students to gain confidence. In addition, they build fluency and become more precise readers.
Our books are appropriate for kindergarten through second grade, but preschoolers can also learn from the simpler ones. The phonics stories are meant to engage and entertain, all while establishing fundamental building blocks for a bright reading future.
Thank you for visiting Reading Elephant!
Dinosaur Sight Word Activity for Kindergartners
Sight words break the phonetic code in some way. Many pieces of sight words are phonetic, like the /th/ in the and the /c/ in could. However, every sight word has at least one component that is not phonetic. For example, the /e/ in “the” is irregular and the /oul/ in “could” is also irregular. […]
Sight Words for Older Students
By the time kids are in second grade they should know most sight words (if not all). If they are missing some sight words, reading can be laborious and difficult. Their accuracy rate might be low. Sight words are common and a lack of sight word knowledge will cause a student to reach a stasis. […]
How to Determine Reading Level of a Book and Lesson
Accuracy rates are important in reading instruction, because they help educators level materials. If a child is reading below his level, he’s not learning. If he’s reading above his level, he gets frustrated and gives up (often after a meltdown). To get the level right, you need to use some simple math formulas outlined in […]
How to Teach Your Child To Read Short a Words
Do you have a child in Kindergarten that needs to learn to blend sounds together? With just a few activities, you can teach your child to read short a words. Some children struggle tremendously with blending sounds. However, even kids that struggle with phonemic awareness (the ability to break apart, manipulate and blend sounds) can […]
Holiday Phonics Story
Check out this free printable phonics story for beginning readers. Ken the Elf is designed for Kindergartners working on short vowels and consonant digraphs. Make sure your student reads sound-by-sound, since most of the words in the story are decodable: Ken the Elf Happy holidays!
Short a Activity- Design Donuts
Did your student just learn letter sounds? If so, it’s time to start decoding short a words. Short a says a_ as in apple. Some sample short a words include: hat, rat, bat, Dan, Tam… etc. How many words should your beginner read? These students that are at the very beginning of blending words, should […]
Why Mississippi Improved their Reading Scores…
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is like the American Report Card on reading skills. The assessment has taken place every 2 years since 1992. Schools across America test 4th and 8th graders on a broad range of reading skills. Since the scores have been recorded, American kids have progressed very little in reading, […]
What are Decodable Books?
Decodable books allow beginning readers to practice their phonics skills. They are books that start with one vowel sound—usually short a as in cat—and they continue to add one vowel sound per set. This allows a student’s knowledge to progress systematically or step-by-step. Decodable books are key for strong reading skills, because they teach kids […]
A Letter Sound Activity with Interleaving
When kids learn letter sounds, and phonics sounds in general, they benefit from interleaving–a practice in which you mix up material. For example, if t is a new sound, and the student already knows d, m, s, a, then make an activity with all 5 of these letters. Mix them up so the student doesn’t […]
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