Elementary School Lessons

Decoding is the ability to translate written language (units of sounds and/or phonetics = letters symbolizing sounds and words) as spoken words.

Decoding is the ability to put together letters to form words like C-A-T being read as “cat”

Decoding is a very important skill in developing the reading skills of children.

• Children should be able to recognize the letters of the alphabet first and match the phonetic sounds that go with each letter before they can begin to decode. First words to be read are the CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words
• Children should be able to put letters together through phonetic sounds to be able to decode, like the example above C-A-T for cat
• Alongside decoding, children should be able to sight -read commonly used words for incorporating with the decoded CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words

How to start decoding?

Start with familiar names and brands that are used on a daily basis and you are starting in the right direction. So better start “reading” those labels like street signs, consumer products, brand names (be careful with these though for the child might get used to reading expensive brand names, LOL)

Don’t forget to have the children “read” their names too, even if they can’t write it yet 🙂