Decoding Teaching Resources
Build students' decoding skills with reading activities, printable worksheets and more teacher resources, all created by teachers for classrooms like yours.
This comprehensive collection is filled with resources aligned with both the TEKS and Common Core English curriculums, and each resource has undergone the Teach Starter teacher team's thorough review process. Download resources you know you'll be able to add to your lesson plans immediately!
New to teaching students decoding strategies? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including a look at how this skill plays into early literacy development and tips to help your students build their decoding savvy!
What Is Decoding in Reading?
It's something you likely know, but we like to start from the top, so let's dig into the meaning of decoding in a reading context. (Just want some ideas? Feel free to scroll down to our collection!)
Simply put, decoding is translating written words into spoken language.
Need a little more?
In early literacy education, decoding refers to the process of breaking words down into their individual sounds and then blending those sounds together to form recognizable words. As students build their skills, they are eventually able to decode — or read — increasingly more complicated written texts.
The process of encoding builds off of phonics instruction, understanding of sight words, pattern recognition and the use of context clues, helping students become fluent readers with strong comprehension skills.
Decoding vs. Encoding — What's the Difference?
When discussing decoding in early education, we typically talk about reading instruction. As noted above, we teach our students to decode — or translate — the written word into the spoken form.
Of course, we don't do this in isolation. Kids need to learn to encode too, and linking instruction of both has been shown to help students learn to be stronger readers and spellers.
So, what is encoding, and how does it differ from decoding?
In an educational context, encoding is the polar opposite, and we tend to use the term in regard to teaching kids to write. In its most basic forms, encoding involves learning to spell different words by representing the sounds with corresponding written letters.
In essence, instead of translating written words into speech, encoding means teaching our students to translate spoken words into written words.
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Digraph Coding Robot Mat
Practice identifying digraphs with the help of a coding robot and mat.
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Science of Reading Decoding Strategy Bookmarks and Poster
Help students succeed in reading fluency with this free printable bookmark and poster set of strategies for decoding unknown words.
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Th Word List and Digraph Flashcards
Practice reading and spelling words with the Digraph TH with a list of 50 words and accompanying illustrated flash cards.
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Wh Digraph Lesson Resource Pack
Introduce students to the wh digraph with this set of teaching slides and mini activity book.
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Silent Letter Words - Reading Fluency Worksheets
Practice identifying the silent letters in words with this comprehensive collection of reading fluency passages.
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Silent Letters Worksheets - Read, Find, and Color
Identify letters that are silent with this set of three find and color worksheets.
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Short Vowels or BUST! Card Game
This phonological awareness activity awards points for correctly identifying the words with short vowel sounds.
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Ultimate Blends Poster Pack
Supplement your phonics curriculum with a consonant blends anchor chart/poster pack.
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Medial L Words - List & Flashcards
Practice reading and articulating Medial L words with a list of 50 words and accompanying illustrated flash cards.
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Consonant Digraph Cut-and-Paste Worksheets
Reinforce your students' knowledge of consonant digraphs with this set of cut-and-paste worksheets.
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Spring Short and Long Vowel Sort
Practice distinguishing short and long vowels with a Spring-themed short and long vowel sorting activity.
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Building Sundaes Game - Vowel Teams (OA, OW, OE, and EY)
Decode words with OA, OW, OE, and EY long vowel teams by crafting cute desserts!
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Phoneme Spotter Story – Long 'i' Sound
A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the long 'i' sound.
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Vowel Teams Diphthong Worksheets
Practice diphthongs with this set of fun and engaging worksheets.
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Long Vowel Digraph Cut-and-Paste Worksheet
Reinforce your students' knowledge of long vowel digraphs with this set of cut-and-paste worksheets.
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EE, EA and EY Vowel Team Lesson Resource Pack
Introduce students to EE, EA and EY vowel digraphs with this set of teaching slides and mini activity book.
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Diphthong Vowel Teams Interactive Activity
Practice knowledge of diphthongs during your phonics lessons with this fun bubble-themed interactive activity.
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Common Spelling Rules - Instructional Slide Deck
Boost your students' spelling skills with an instructional slide deck teaching the different spelling rules.
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Long O Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common “long o” graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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OI and OY Words - Word Search
Explore words containing “oi” and “oy” with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Decoding Strategy Poster Pack
Display different decoding strategies in the classroom with this printable poster pack.
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Word Study List - Trigraphs
Introduce and explore words with trigraphs using a list of 50 trigraph words.
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Phoneme Spotter Story – Long 'u' Sound
A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the long 'u' sound.
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Ph Digraph Lesson Resource Pack
Introduce students to the ph digraph with this set of teaching slides and mini activity book.
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Diphthong Vowel Teams Teaching Slides
Teach your students about diphthongs with this set of 23 teaching slides.
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Vowel Teams Picture Puzzle
Practice decoding words with long vowel team conventions with this 15 piece picture puzzle.
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OW and OU Words - Word Search
Explore "ou" and "ow" words with this set of differentiated word searches.
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My Magic E Story - Silent E Words Mini-Book
Practice reading and writing sentences with silent e words with this magic e-mini-book.
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Blends and Digraphs Clip Card Reading Center
Practice identifying digraphs and blends in word through interactive Google slides and traditional PDF printable formats.
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Short and Long Vowels Google Interactive Activity
Read and identify short and long vowel sounds and place the pictures into the correct columns.
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This or That! PowerPoint Game - Vowel Teams
An active PowerPoint game to practice decoding words with vowel teams.
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Vowel Digraphs Poster Pack
A poster showing words and pictures for various vowel blends.