Literably's New Decodable Texts

Overview

Literably has recently introduced 30 decodable fluency passages -- aligned to the UFLI scope and sequence -- to our assessment library. These texts are designed to provide an alternative to the existing guided reading texts for teachers looking to gather oral reading fluency data for students who are progressing through a structured phonics scope and sequence.

The table below lists each Literably decodable text, along with the UFLI lessons, skills, and irregular words addressed within the text. Literably decodable texts do not contain pictures and are each accompanied by five multiple choice comprehension questions.

Each Literably decodable text contains words addressing the phonics skills introduced in the group of UFLI lessons covered by that text, along with the irregular words introduced in those lessons. Texts are also cumulative and can include skills from previous lessons. As an example, Literably decodable text 12 (The Bake Sale) contains primarily words with a_e and i_e phonics patterns, as well as the irregular words "who," "by," and "my." The Bake Sale also contains words with skills that have been introduced in prior texts.

As a result, for students following the UFLI scope and sequence, Literably decodable texts are designed to contain 100% decodable words and known irregular words based on skills that have been introduced in the lesson sequence. For students following phonics scopes and sequences from other curricula, Literably's decodable texts will be less than 100% decodable, but the predictable sequence of skills should allow educators to select appropriate texts based on their particular scope and sequence.

Assigning Decodable Texts

To assign a decodable text, use click on the pencil icon under the Next Assessment column, and select the "Decodable texts" option in the sidebar that opens. Under "Select objectives and skills," choose a set of skills, which are aligned to the lessons in the UFLI scope and sequence:

You can select multiple sets of skills and preview a list of texts. When you are ready to assign, click on the + button under the Assign column:

Once your student has a decodable text assigned, she will be able to take the assessment in the same way as she would normally take a Fluency assessment. However, once it is graded, Literably will not automatically  recommend a next assessment. Instead, the Next Assessment column will displayed "None Assigned," and as a result, you will need to manually assign a new text (either a decodable or a guided reading text) for your student to read next.

After a student takes a decodable text, her instructional and independent levels will not change. If a student has taken a non-decodable text in the past, they will still have the same instructional/independent levels. If a student has only read decodable texts in Literably, her instructional and independent levels will be blank. The instructional level graph on the student detail page will also not change after a student takes a decodable text fluency assessment in Literably.