New printable decodables and free quizzes

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I’ve just made free follow-up Wordwall quizzes for all the Phonics With Feeling decodable readers, including three new Extended Code Set 1 books now available (update January 2022: There are now 5 books in this set).

The 41 quizzes, of ~20 questions each, are all in a folder called Phonics With Feeling here. I’ve also made printable versions without pictures, which you can download for free here.

The online quizzes are made in the basic Wordwall Quiz format, but you can use them in Gameshow Quiz format for a few more bells and whistles, which many children enjoy, though the timer freaks some highly anxious children out. Click at the right of the startup screen if you want to switch to Gameshow format:

Click on the Share button below each quiz to set it as an after-reading assignment.

The quiz questions are comprehension/concept questions about the Phonics With Feeling readers, which provide extra Really-Nail-That-Pattern practice for children in Years 1 or 2, or slightly older struggling learners. The Initial Code readers are also suitable for many children approaching the end of their first school year (we Victorians call them Preps). Each quiz is written at the same decoding level as the relevant reader.

The quizzes contain some deliberate garden path questions, and traps for picture-guessers and kids inclined to read the start and end of words, and guess the middles, e.g. “Did Red Hen make a net?” followed by “Did Red Hen make a nest?” I hope this makes skimming kids do a double-take, and look more closely at ALL the letters.

The three new Extended Code Set One Phonics With Feeling readers look like this once you’ve printed them with nice coloured cardboard covers:

These new books target:

  • /s/ as in ‘cent’ (spelt C),
  • /j/ as in ‘gem’ (spelt G) and
  • Unstressed final syllable ‘le’ as in ‘candle’ and ‘middle’.

Like all the other Phonics With Feeling books, the Parent/Aide version allows you to print up to 5 copies of each book for 40c per copy, plus printing and materials costs.

If you want to use the books with a whole class or caseload, the Teacher/Clinician versions allow printing of up to 30 copies of each book, which works out at 20c per print. We hope this allows teachers to use them as class sets, and have a few spares to replace any that get lost, leaked on by drink bottles, chewed by puppies etc.

The download-and-print quizzes don’t have pictures, and may be useful as follow-up paper-based activities, or you might like to turn the questions into Kahoot!s, or other games/competitions. If my quizzes are too long for your students, just leave some of the questions out, and tweak the remainder. Save yourself the brain-frying experience of writing decodable text from scratch.

40 Phonics with Feeling books are currently available, but I’ve made 41 Wordwall quizzes, because the last Set Seven book has two stories in it – ‘Sue and the Glue’ and ‘Robot Andrew’. The Phonics With Feeling Extended Code Set Three should be available in November, and will target single-letter ‘short/long’ vowels, providing children with many opportunities to practise ‘flipping’ vowel sounds till they get a word they know that makes sense in context (e.g. the ‘o’ in ‘poster’ and ‘roster’).

Still too hard for your learners? Try the new, free Sounds-Write texts

If these books and quizzes are too hard for your kids, and you need more basic decodable texts, Sounds-Write has a cute new free e-book First Steps Collection about strange pets (including a bug, a fox, a crab, a skunk, a moth, a chimp and a squid), for Units 4-11 of Sounds-Write. They’re a bit easier than the original Sounds Write books. Printed versions are also available, though I think at the time of writing they haven’t yet arrived at Australian suppliers DSF, Soundality or Rise Literacy.

If even those books are too difficult for your learner, we’ve made some 10-question WordWall quizzes for Sounds-Write Units 1-3:

We’re working on quizzes for later units now, if you can smell our brains frying.

Hope you find at least some of this useful, especially those of you who are still (like us, sigh) in COVID-19 lockdown. Stay well!

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11 responses to “New printable decodables and free quizzes”

  1. Thank you so much! Brilliant resources. Our students will reap the reading rewards.

  2. Catherine Bourne says:

    Thank you again Spelfabet! Such excellent resources for time poor teachers. I like the idea of printable decoders. I use these as additional readers when working with children in learning support as I think reading various types of readers at the same decodable level is great for genuine literacy gains.
    Thanks again
    Catherine .

  3. Mrs Annette van Brakel says:

    You are on my list of ‘who would you ask for dinner, living or dead’. I think you are so talented and generous and an asset to our Structured Literacy community. You’re a bit of a hoot, too, as your posts always make me smile! Also in lockdown here in Auckland, hopefully for one more week… so I feel your pain. 🙂 Thanks again, Nga mihi, Annette

    • alison says:

      Hi Annette, that is hilarious, if I’m ever allowed to visit NZ again I’m definitely going to take you up on that! Thanks so much for the lovely feedback, and hope you’re soon out of lockdown and able to enjoy it NOT BEING WINTER! Alison

    • Andrea says:

      I second this sentiment, Annette!

  4. Michelle Oakes says:

    Amazing resources! Thanks so much, these will be put to good use 🙂

  5. Laura says:

    Thanks so much for this! I love the idea of readers! It just make so much sense!

  6. AnnieM says:

    Hello, is there a cost or a charge that we have to pay to be able to access these “MOST excellent” resources?

    • alison says:

      You can access the basic code quizzes and Sounds Write books listed at the end of the post for free, and the quizzes for the Phonics With Feeling books are also free, but you need the books to use the quizzes, first kids need to read the books and then do the quizzes. There is one free sample book, and then the rest are paid, but they are a lot cheaper than most decodable books (though of course you have to provide printing, paper/card and assemble them). Sorry, in a perfect world I’d like to provide everything free, but authors need to be paid for their work, and we’ve had 200+ days of swimming through Covid-19 lockdown mud here in Melbourne, so income from the website has helped keep us afloat and meant I haven’t had to stand any staff down. All the best, Alison

  7. Amy says:

    Wow, this is such a fantastic resource! I’ve been looking for engaging decodable readers for my little ones, and the Phonics With Feeling series seems perfect. The quizzes will be a great way to reinforce their learning. Thank you for making these available, especially during these challenging times of lockdown. My kids are going to love them! – Amy

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