Starting students off with a strong foundation is essential to building literacy skills. This is why Bonnie Miller, a kindergarten teacher from Houston, loves Just Right Reader’s Science of Reading decodables. Bonnie began her journey through Teach for America and “immediately fell in love with phonics and the science behind teaching reading.” We interviewed Bonnie about how and why she uses our Science of Reading decodables to accelerate reading achievement!

Question: What is your favorite part about using Just Right Reader decodables? 

Answer: "I love how interesting and exciting the stories are. A word we often use in literacy is “high quality texts.” You don't just want kids reading books because they can decode them. You want kids to read high quality texts that have purpose and meaning. This builds motivation and helps me when I’m teaching comprehension and vocabulary. You don't usually get this with decodables but you get it with Just Right Reader’s decodables, and that's really huge for literacy teaching. I also love how the Take-Home Decodable Packs are for kids to keep—they get so excited to read to their caregivers or siblings." 

Question: How do you use your Take-Home Decodable Packs? 

Answer: "Each time our class gets a new set, we’ll gather on the carpet with the box. Each kid runs up one at a time to get their Take-Home Decodable Pack. They always love how exciting it is and they think it's really fun that they have a pack just for them with their name on it. I’ll give them some time that first day to explore and see what they want to read. Then I’ll have each kid pick one or two decodables they think are super interesting and they’ll come up and read them to me. Throughout the week, we use them for independent reading and small groups."  

Question: Do you have any moments from reading decodables with your kids that stick out to you?

Answer: "One student came into the year not knowing his letters or sounds. He had trouble sitting and paying attention to reading, but after picking up a Just Right Reader decodable focusing on CVC skills, he was sounding out words and blending perfectly! Having high-quality Science of Reading decodables made him so excited to turn to the next page!"

With over 700 decodable titles, our Classroom Libraries and Take Home Decodable Packs supports literacy growth in every context from strengthening caregiver engagement to small group instruction.

Interested in adding our Science of Reading decodables into your school’s reading programs? Send us an email at Schools@JustRightReader.com or purchase our Science of Reading decodables here!