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Welcome to Reading Inspires by Reading Is Fundamental.
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I'm your host, Dr. Erin Bailey.
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This podcast celebrates the power of books and the joy of reading.
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In each episode, we talk with educators, librarians, families, authors, and literacy champions to explore one big question: What does reading inspire for you?
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Through stories, research, and real-world experiences from classrooms, libraries, and homes, we explore what literacy looks like and why it matters.
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Whether you're nurturing young readers, shaping learning spaces, or simply love a good book, we're glad you're here.
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Be sure to subscribe to get the latest episode.
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Let's get inspired.
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Erin Bailey: Welcome everyone.
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T- joining us today are Christine Yorth, author of the Aligned Decodables and CEO of Aligned Educational Resources; Cherish Mims, Epic's Manager of Education Relations and a former classroom teacher; and Latisha
Truslow, who leads Epic School Plus and customer experience, all bringing unique perspectives on how we can give educators the right tools and help more kids discover the joy and confidence that comes with reading.
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So welcome.
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Thank you all for joining us
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Christine Hjorth: Thank you
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Cherish Mims: you for having us
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Erin Bailey: So Epic, uh, um, is known for making books accessible digitally.
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It's a e-book platform who has recently joined up with re- uh, Reading Is Fundamental on a physical library refresh in Los Angeles, which I had the opportunity to attend, um, where RIF pr- provided print books.
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Why was it so important for Epic to support a print literacy initiative, and what does that say about the role of digital and print books working together to help children become successful readers?
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Letitia Truslow: Aaron, I love this question.
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Um, it really speaks to our shared mission.
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So you know, think stories are stories, books are books, and we know that children who grow up surrounded by books tend to develop stronger literacy skills.
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And so what better way to complement one another than physical books, which, let's face it, take up a lot of space, sometimes they're expensive, with a digital platform.
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We have 40,000 titles on the Epic platform, and so you know, this is an opportunity for whether it's in a different environment to use it, on the go, in a car, um, on vacation, but there's just lots of synergy between the two.
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And again, we're-- it-- this is all about a shared, our shared mission around literacy for children
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Erin Bailey: Yeah, I love that.
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It's something actually that no one's mentioned before about the fact that physical books take up space, and that digital books are great for on the go.
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I mean, you have at your fingertips thousands of books.
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It's great for travel, in the car, anywhere, anywhere that you are.
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So I think we've talked a lot about how print books can be m- you know, more expensive, um, but the space element is, is key too.
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So thank you for adding, um, that to the conversation.
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So something very exciting is that Epic is adding over 250 decodable books to your platform, and I have to make sure I pronounce decodable so everyone can
understand me, because one time I was confused, uh, for saying Dakota bowls, um, which is kind kind of funny thinking the topic of decodables is, is phonics.
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Um, so Christine, w- can you give our audience, a little working definition around what are decodable books, and why are they such an important part of the science of reading, and how do they help young readers build that strong foundation for reading?
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Christine Hjorth: Absolutely.
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So a decodable book is essentially at its heart a phonics book.
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And in the past, we had phonics books, I taught in the early 2000, and they would focus on a sound.
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For example, like the digraph SH.
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The problem with those books were it never paid attention to what the child was actually learning at the time.
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So the book that had an SH sound in it might have the word shuttle in kindergarten, where a student in kindergarten, there's a lot of skills in that word that they cannot sound out.
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So what decodables do is they take what they're learning in sequence and include only those sounds as they're moving through the scope and sequence.
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So if you have, usually digraph comes right after consonants and short vowels, so then you're gonna have words like ship instead of shuttle.
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The reason that decodables are so good is because, um, it practices the skills in real time that the students are learning in a real format.
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So if they're learning phonic skills, then they're adding one to the decoding sequence, and they're practicing it at, that at the, the right time to get those skills, to get the confidence, and to know that reading is just about building those skills
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Erin Bailey: Amazing.
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So y- 250 is a lot.
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Can you explain why did you need so many?
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And, uh, you've shared with me some great efforts that you put into making sure that these resources are actually aligned to curriculum that teachers are already using.
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Can you share a little bit about that?
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Christine Hjorth: Well, I can take that question too.
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So when I started writing, I was a first-grade teacher, and when I was in the classroom, I was writing decodable materials for my class at the time.
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And so what I realized is that I could make more stories and more books and have them illustrated to help lots of students.
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But the problem with that is, if you don't know where it falls into the scope and sequence, you don't know how to use it appropriately.
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So for example, technically everything is decodable.
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The book War and Peace is decodable to you, but it isn't decodable to a kindergartner.
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So you need to know in that scope and sequence, what have they already learned and where are they going?
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And the problem is that there's 23 to 30 different curriculums, and you'd be surprised how different their scope and sequences are.
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So just-- You can't just say, "Well, the scope and sequence is CVC, short vowel, then blends, then digraphs, then silent E." They are all mixed up.
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So the only way for the teacher in the past to use them was to look at the skills on the back of the book and then try to figure out where this book fell, which is a lot of work.
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I was a first-grade teacher.
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I did not have a lot of time to do that.
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So when I started doing it myself, I thought the best way to do this is to actually make the alignment chart so that it's all done for the teachers already.
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So when I started working with Epic, it was awesome because I was able to explain this to them, and they set it up on the platform in a way that's easy for teachers to find their own curriculum and then find the alignment chart to use the books
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Erin Bailey: Yeah, I taught first grade as well, so I would definitely use that kind of chart.
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I find that, I, I mean, I'd probably be that person who printed it out and had it on a clipboard, honestly.
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Christine Hjorth: Definitely.
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It's available in PDF format.
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I completely, I would have it taped behind my desk, you know what I mean?
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And know, okay, these are the books that I wanna use
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Erin Bailey: Amazing.
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Um, so Cherish, where do these Decodables books fit into effective literacy instruction?
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We talked about these being an add-on to curriculum that's already being used.
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Um, what are some practical ways that teachers can use them to help their students be more confident readers?
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Cherish Mims: Great question.
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So I believe the key to use decodable texts is as a bridge between that direct phonics instruction and those authentic reading experiences.
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So this is gonna allow those students to have repeated opportunities to practice the phonetic skill that's directly being taught, and most importantly, experience reading success to build and boost their confidence.
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So for example, if a teacher is teaching a s- specific phonetic skill that week, um, whether that's a short vowel or consonant blend, um,
from their chart, they would then choose a decodable text to pair it with that gives them repeated opportunities to practice those patterns.
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So after directly teaching that skill, students can then reread that text with a partner, um, or independently or in a small group or one-on-one with the teacher to apply those patterns and skills wi- within that book.
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Um, I would say another opportunity is through rereading.
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That's an easy way to embed this in, in instruction.
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So the first read of that decodable text is gonna be for accuracy.
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Reading, um, with accuracy, and that's gonna be typically with the teacher or whole group.
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And then that way, that second and third time reading that decodable text, it could be for fluency, expression, comprehension.
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Again, this is just allowing that student to experience success and really shift their mindset so that they can say, "I can do this. I can read this." And they're experiencing that confidence boost that they need to become independent readers
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Erin Bailey: I love that.
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And I imagine this is helpful for families too, right?
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Like, if I'm a family who doesn't have a background in literacy and I get a note home that just says, "This week we're working on digraphs," I might not know what that means.
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But if I have a tangible book that I can practice digraphs, then I'm like, oh, it's, you know, H Brothers or how- what- however I learned it
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Whatever I wanna call it with my child that's gonna be fun and bring it to life, you know?
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Cherish Mims: Correct.
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Um, my daughter just wrapped up first grade, and, um, her teacher would do exactly that.
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They would send home whatever phonic skill they were learning, learning for that week, and also send a paired text, and that way we could work through those skills at home.
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Well, with Epic, you can easily assign that collection specifically on that phonetic skill that they're practicing or just an individual book.
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You can assign it to families and just really equip them with the access to the tools available so that families are confident, uh, with, you know, supporting their student at home reading.
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Erin Bailey: That's amazing.
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And I'm, like, that assigning too, because like you said, like you were saying earlier, there's 250 books, right?
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Like, I'm… And they don't all follow the same, not every curriculum follows the same scope and sequence, so as a family member, I might not know which… I'm like, "I know my child needs to read decodable books.
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I'm not sure which ones or in which order." So being able to have that assigned I can see is super beneficial, too.
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And I should mention, I will also include the link to that in the show notes for everyone who wants to get access to these
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Christine Hjorth: I also wanted to add that, um, as a first-grade teacher, I was trying to create all the books that I would want in my classroom.
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So what's really great is that I have different kinds of decodables.
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So there's the story ones, which you can work on comprehension and vocab, and there's also ones called blending books that are working just on the sounds and putting it together and sentence-level comprehension.
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There's fluency books that are like a sentence pyramid, so that they're rereading the sentence.
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So there's lots of different kinds, and there's some called passage books that don't have any pictures, so you're working fully on comprehension.
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So a s- a teacher has a lot of opportunities.
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If you're working with the, you know, SH sound, you might have three different books that you can use to practice that skill
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Erin Bailey: Yeah, that's a- a variety is key.
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I mean,
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Christine Hjorth: Yeah.
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Erin Bailey: goodness, decodables have come such a long way.
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Uh, I mean, how many times can you read that the fat cat sat on the mat before you're just bored of it, right?
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So I'm wondering, Christine, if you can share a little bit about like what kind of elements of story writing and story creation went into this effort to, to make them not boring, you know?
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Christine Hjorth: That's a great question.
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So I actually taught my own children, I have two, two teenagers now, um, using the Bob books, which there's nothing wrong with the Bob books.
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They're very simple and, and, and that worked for the time, but they are obviously pretty bland, you know?
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And so what happened was when I was teaching, I was actually teaching first graders how to write, and so I would make little stories with them all the time, and it actually kinda honed my silly story writing.
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And so I was looking for ways to make it engaging that were, that were, they were a little sillier or that they didn't quite know what was gonna happen in the story.
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And by just focusing on, "Okay, these are the only words I can use. I'm gonna write a story just with these words." You know, and another thing that makes them
engaging is that, because I worked with six-year-olds, I think, you know, I have a little bit more understanding of what's funny to a six-year-old, you know?
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And so I think sometimes as teachers we've seen materials that maybe were written by teachers of older students and don't necessarily know like what six-year-olds are really engaged in, you know, and what they think is silly.
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So that definitely helped me.
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And another way I made them engaging was to, um, which I could talk further about what's
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I have like what's called a flashcard format.
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the decodables, obviously we know that the cueing system is not really, we do not want them to picture cue.
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We don't want them to use the, the picture to try to, guess or predict what a word might be.
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And, um, so what I did was the sentence is alone on a page.
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They have to read it without any clue.
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But when they turn the page, they get to see the picture that goes with the sentence, and that allowed me for two things.
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Number one, it really focuses on decoding.
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But number two, it can build engagement, because what I did was the sentence, sometimes they think they know what they're gonna see when they turn the page, but I kind of flip the switch on them.
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You know what I mean?
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So that when they turn the page they see something silly, and it makes them want to keep going to see what the next thing is
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Erin Bailey: I, I think that's really cool too for children's imaginations.
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Like, I vividly remember when I was in first grade, my teacher read aloud to us one time.
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I- and it was only one time that she did this.
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The book was Shrek.
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Um, and so she read aloud Shrek to us and actually had us draw the pictures that we thought went with Shrek, which was really cool because I don't
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You know, you knew Shrek was an ogre and ugly and all that, but you wouldn't know what the picture said.
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So I, like … And that experience stuck with me all these years.
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So I think it's great for creativity.
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The other thing is it shows kind of the power of the difference between decoding and the pictures, and your background knowledge too, right?
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Because if I can read the word cat and I know C is c, A is a, and T is t, and I can blend them together, my personal experiences are what gonna sh- is what's gonna shape.
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When I just read the word cat without any pictures, do I see a black cat, like Halloween?
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Do I see Garfield?
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And so then for you to kinda like flip it on them shows to students, like, how things can be so different, you know?
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Christine Hjorth: And it's also, um, you know, in terms of comprehension, one of the biggest things that's pushed right now is visualization.
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It's reading those words and visualizing what it's gonna be be- you know, because when you get to books without pictures, obviously that's what you're gonna need to do.
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So Cats is a great example.
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I have a book named Cats, and it's, you know, a- about these two little cats, and it says the cat can sip.
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Okay, so you might think a cat's sitting in front of a bowl and he's, you know, licking the thing.
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But really they're sitting, when you turn the page, they're at a table with little teacups.
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You know what I mean?
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And so it's a chance for them to be like, you think you know what you're gonna see, but you don't know what you're gonna see.
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And it's also a great way to build vocabulary because, you know, I can use a lot of words.
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Like, um, there's a book called Cliff the Pest, and he does all sorts of crazy things, but he flops on the ducks.
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Okay, what does it mean to flop?
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You know, it's different than jumping.
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You know what I mean?
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So in the picture then they get to see, oh, he's, he's full out.
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He's ready to, you know, flop on top of them.
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So you can really build that vocabulary by using the different pictures and using the different words
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Cherish Mims: I love that.
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I wanted to add one thing because based on the, what you both were talking about and students experiencing, because we don't want them to think phonics is, like, the end goal.
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We want them to make meaningful reading experiences and know that they're reading to become independent learners, dreamers, thinkers.
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And so engaging with the text post, applying those skills by retelling or, you know, what was your favorite part, or having them, you know, make those
visualizations or identifying character feelings, that's gonna push them beyond that phonics instruction and make that experience meaningful for them.
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So I think that's a great, you know, just quick teaching strategy that educators can use as well to really make that reading stick
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Erin Bailey: Yeah, absolutely.
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we all are clearly passionate about the benefits of decodable text.
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I'm wondering, Latisha, if you can share what inspired Epic to expand its decodable offerings, assuming there were, you know, there were some decodables in there.
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But to really put the emphasis on creating these 250 books and aligning them to the different curriculum
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Letitia Truslow: Yeah.
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I think, Erin, the short answer is relationships.
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So we at Epic, we prioritize relationship building with districts, and principals, and superintendents, teachers, parents, students, you know.
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And it, it's in that vein, you know, part of relationship was with one of our larger districts, very active and engaged with the Epic product.
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They came to us and said, "Hey, we need-- you know, we could really use some more decodables." and that started a conversation that one qu- you know, request
started, quite a bit of back and forth internally within the organization within Epic, um, trying to understand more about, well, what is it that you're looking for?
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We had some decodables on the platform.
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You know, tell us a bit more.
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Why aren't those, you know, meeting your needs?
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What are your needs?
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Like, what would meet your needs?
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And so really we did that deep dive, and, um, very spontaneously after I had been talking with our content team, they work with the publishers.
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We have about 250 publisher partners.
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Um, and so I'd been talking to them internally, you know, this is what our-- this is what we're hearing.
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Um, we'd really like to bring some more decodables online.
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And then lo and behold, um, at a conference, the NCTE conference, National Conference for Teachers of English, we at our Epic booth, met Christine, who's on the call.
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Um, we met Christine.
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Christine came to the booth.
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We started chatting.
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She said the word decodables, and the next thing you know, we are running, not walking, uh, towards Christine's books.
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And we're starting a project to bring them, ingest them into the Epic platform, and as Christine said, also provide teachers with the
scope and sequence and the alignment charts that they need in order to find exactly what they're looking for, at the right-- at that time.
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So the collections, the 250 books, you know, they're, they are organized based on curricula.
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So the 23 curricula, we put all the books in those separate collections based on the curricula.
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and so far all the feedback has been phenomenal.
00:18:10.593 --> 00:18:12.263
It's been really great.
00:18:12.263 --> 00:18:14.565
So it, it goes back to relationship really.
00:18:14.595 --> 00:18:18.885
We just, we, we have these, these conversations, we listen, and we took some action.
00:18:19.753 --> 00:18:20.413
Erin Bailey: Amazing.
00:18:20.423 --> 00:18:22.673
It seems serendipitous to say the
00:18:22.729 --> 00:18:23.089
Christine Hjorth: It was.
00:18:23.559 --> 00:18:24.589
It really was.
00:18:25.897 --> 00:18:26.407
Letitia Truslow: Yes.
00:18:26.407 --> 00:18:32.397
We are, uh, Christine and, and Cheris, myself, we all say that all the time, how it was incredibly fortuitous.
00:18:32.667 --> 00:18:42.057
And, and even to the point where Epic hadn't been attending conferences for quite a while, and this was the first conference that we attended in, in quite some time.
00:18:42.057 --> 00:18:48.247
And so the fact that, you know, as we internally had been talking about, you know, where are we gonna source decodable titles?
00:18:48.277 --> 00:18:51.947
And, and quite frankly, like, higher quality decodable titles.
00:18:52.017 --> 00:18:55.387
'Cause what we had on the platform wasn't meeting our teachers' needs.
00:18:55.387 --> 00:18:57.517
And so, it was completely serendipitous.
00:18:57.527 --> 00:19:00.467
It was, it was as if it was meant to be, I think, Christine, right?
00:19:00.717 --> 00:19:05.397
Like, um, that you came to us, and, and it just started that, another
00:19:05.871 --> 00:19:07.891
Christine Hjorth: Because it was really right at the right time.
00:19:07.921 --> 00:19:20.921
Because I, um, I've been doing this now for five years, and I was-- I had said no to a lot of other opportunities that had come up for me, different distributors and things like that, and I just thought I wanted to wait until I found the right one.
00:19:21.001 --> 00:19:25.591
And so Epic, I really felt… You know, I didn't have Epic when I was teaching in the classroom.
00:19:25.641 --> 00:19:28.771
I would've absolutely loved having Epic if I had taught in the classroom.
00:19:29.051 --> 00:19:43.631
You know, we've talked before, too, that, you know, what's great about having a platform that has the decodables but also be on Epic is that if the students
are reading a book called Cats, and they're-- or, you know, I have a book called Kids and Pups, which is about baby animals, that they can read, just CVC words.
00:19:43.851 --> 00:19:49.671
But then the teacher can assign other books that are, like, higher level, like read-alouds, or their parents can read it to them.
00:19:49.671 --> 00:19:50.501
There's a video.
00:19:50.501 --> 00:20:02.572
You know, and it's amazing because now you can, like, cross, Assign these books so that if you're doing a unit on, on baby animals, now they're reading a book but also have acc- access to all these other books
00:20:03.710 --> 00:20:05.630
Letitia Truslow: I love that word a- access, Christine.
00:20:05.630 --> 00:20:08.700
We are always talking about how important that is, right?
00:20:09.010 --> 00:20:16.770
And, and I think that's what Epic brings to the table is access to 40,000 titles, which, let's face it, is an awful lot.
00:20:16.780 --> 00:20:21.800
So there's a ton to, you know, to sample on that buffet of, of books.
00:20:21.951 --> 00:20:27.611
and especially for that at home, you know, outside of school hours, being, um, having access, not having
00:20:27.861 --> 00:20:33.241
Maybe, maybe parents are not necessarily able to get to the library for a variety of reasons.
00:20:33.241 --> 00:20:36.391
And just the ease with which we offer this.
00:20:36.411 --> 00:20:45.641
You know, we call it, we call Epic the Netflix of books, and it … And for a reason, because really the con- there's so much content, um, to Christine, to your point, you know?
00:20:46.861 --> 00:20:54.301
So it makes it … Access is simple, and it makes it easy to assign books and, and read books outside of school.
00:20:55.127 --> 00:20:55.737
Erin Bailey: I'm glad you
00:20:55.737 --> 00:21:01.817
brought up, um, how read-alouds and decodables can support each other.
00:21:02.057 --> 00:21:04.557
I'm wondering if I can pull on that thread a little bit more.
00:21:04.557 --> 00:21:21.067
I think a lot of folks out there, families and teachers, are hesitant towards decodables, and I myself was o- was one of these, um, teachers because, and again, this is speaking of decodables out of the past, we've
00:21:21.069 --> 00:21:21.699
Christine Hjorth: That's fine.
00:21:22.227 --> 00:21:32.877
Erin Bailey: um, because the s- the stories can be quite dry, and we wanted to have s- students having, like, a real literature experience.
00:21:32.937 --> 00:21:45.607
Can you share a little bit about what you wish families understood about decodables, and teachers and families, and, you know, what are the misunderstandings, and what do you wish that they understood?
00:21:45.958 --> 00:21:47.798
Christine Hjorth: I think that you, you've pretty much hit on it.
00:21:47.798 --> 00:21:57.540
The, the biggest dis- misinformation about decodables is that they're dry, that you cannot teach comprehension with them, that you cannot teach vocabulary with them, and, and that's just not really true.
00:21:58.050 --> 00:22:03.740
And, um, the fact that they're not engaging, the fact that they can't learn anything from them.
00:22:03.750 --> 00:22:15.160
You know, there's, there's so much more that we can do with decodables now if you just kinda have an imagination for it's just words, and I'm gonna use whatever words that I can use to … You know, I have books that are based in sports.
00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:19.050
I can have books that are based in, you know, there's a whole nonfiction, you know, thing.
00:22:19.060 --> 00:22:20.700
Snakes, spiders, dogs.
00:22:20.730 --> 00:22:29.690
And you can use those while at the same time building in the read-alouds, because obviously there's some vocabulary that in kindergarten isn't going to fly.
00:22:29.690 --> 00:22:32.560
You know, in second grade it will, but in kindergarten it's not.
00:22:32.570 --> 00:22:34.730
So you want kind of a little bit of both of that
00:22:35.327 --> 00:22:36.487
Cherish Mims: I would, I would agree on that.
00:22:36.487 --> 00:22:41.988
I think one other misconception would be also that decodables are just for struggling readers.
00:22:42.057 --> 00:22:50.737
when in fact, no, they're, uh, they're a practice tool for all emerging readers, allowing them the building blocks to decoding skills.
00:22:50.737 --> 00:22:53.017
Because the English language is hard.
00:22:53.107 --> 00:22:57.027
Learning how to read is hard work, and these students are doing it daily.
00:22:57.037 --> 00:23:07.647
But it's breaking it into, you know, manageable, smart, segmented pieces for students where they can apply these skills and experience success.
00:23:07.667 --> 00:23:14.017
Because if they don't build that confidence, experience success, they're not gonna wanna continue doing it.
00:23:14.067 --> 00:23:19.455
We wanna build them up, independent readers, lifelong learners, and decodables is the key to do that
00:23:20.359 --> 00:23:22.089
Christine Hjorth: I definitely wanna follow up on what she said.
00:23:22.089 --> 00:23:22.849
It's absolutely true.
00:23:22.849 --> 00:23:25.929
They're not just for struggling readers, and they're not just for kindergartner either.
00:23:25.949 --> 00:23:28.709
People thinks, they think of a decodable like CVC words.
00:23:29.192 --> 00:23:37.252
where I just added to my collection a morphology set, which is really meant for the end of second grade, beginning of third grade, and they're all on Epic.
00:23:37.282 --> 00:23:40.982
And what they focus on is those prific- prefixes and suffixes.
00:23:40.992 --> 00:23:50.202
So there's a book, you know, that's about Simone Biles or Taylor Swift or, you know, about, you know, and there's also fiction that is really using that ending.
00:23:50.212 --> 00:23:54.202
For example, there's a book called Desert Animals, and the ending is N-E-S-S.
00:23:54.582 --> 00:23:57.932
So there's a lot of words in there like the dryness of the desert.
00:23:57.952 --> 00:23:58.462
You know what I mean?
00:23:58.462 --> 00:24:00.342
The quietness of the night, you know?
00:24:00.342 --> 00:24:10.842
And so Teachers can then use that to pull out those words and really drill down on that suffix in that case, and that's a learning opportunity that is in a decodable, but really it's focused on something else
00:24:12.098 --> 00:24:12.658
Erin Bailey: Yeah.
00:24:12.658 --> 00:24:14.908
I, I love that, and, uh, well, a couple things.
00:24:14.978 --> 00:24:17.798
I love that there are nonfiction options
00:24:17.838 --> 00:24:18.368
too.
00:24:18.925 --> 00:24:19.555
that's excellent.
00:24:19.585 --> 00:24:28.595
And I… To go back to something that you said at the beginning, every book is decodable once you've mastered phonics, right?
00:24:28.605 --> 00:24:31.835
So it's great that… And, and I mean, I'm gonna use myself as an example.
00:24:31.985 --> 00:24:43.045
Before we even hit record, I introduced myself, and then I asked everyone to go around, and I practiced pronouncing your names, because names are different origins.
00:24:43.045 --> 00:24:58.966
So myself, as someone who is still learning to read, 'cause I fully believe we are always still learning to read, I learned something new,
Christine, about your name, which is Hjorth, and the origin of it, and why the H-J makes that, what would typically be, like, a Y sound, right?
00:24:59.006 --> 00:25:12.826
And so we are always still learning to read, so I appreciate the fact that they didn't stop at, you know, first, second grade, and the way that you said that every book is, is decodable once you've mastered those phonic skills
00:25:13.494 --> 00:25:22.314
Christine Hjorth: Um, another thing I wanted to bring up too in terms of having them all on Epic or, you know, in … I also have them in physical copies, is that, um, you can differentiate.
00:25:22.534 --> 00:25:26.444
When I was in the classroom, one of my biggest thing was trying to differentiate for student needs.
00:25:26.784 --> 00:25:33.644
And in this case what I did was, there'll be certain books, like a topic like dogs, and there's like five different versions.
00:25:33.864 --> 00:25:36.984
So there's one with just CVC, and then you, there's one with blends.
00:25:36.984 --> 00:25:40.974
There's one that, you know, adds in higher level sounds and then vowel teams.
00:25:41.304 --> 00:25:48.164
So if you have a classroom, let's say a first grade classroom, where we all know you have students on a whole bunch of different levels, you can assign them the books.
00:25:48.184 --> 00:25:54.784
And everybody's learning about dogs, and everyone's coming back and telling something about dogs without feeling like they're at a disadvantage.
00:25:54.784 --> 00:26:01.444
So it's, for me, it's always the success and that self-esteem and that loving of, of reading that really makes a difference
00:26:02.204 --> 00:26:04.604
Cherish Mims: Which takes us back to that word access.
00:26:04.754 --> 00:26:05.374
Christine Hjorth: For sure
00:26:05.644 --> 00:26:14.880
Cherish Mims: Epic is able to meet every student where they are now, not where we want them to be, but there's something available for every student, on Epic
00:26:15.560 --> 00:26:16.050
Erin Bailey: Amazing.
00:26:16.050 --> 00:26:22.220
So looking ahead, um, what do you hope that Epic's expanded decodable collection will have?
00:26:22.260 --> 00:26:25.810
What impact will it have on classrooms, families, and readers?
00:26:26.408 --> 00:26:30.438
Christine Hjorth: Well, I mean, certainly I think this is where education is going, um, thankfully.
00:26:30.718 --> 00:26:35.068
I think that we're, we're, you know, we're following the science of reading or at least structured literacy.
00:26:35.338 --> 00:26:37.118
I don't think everything's been thrown out.
00:26:37.118 --> 00:26:39.248
I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.
00:26:39.258 --> 00:26:43.648
But we're moving towards structured literacy, especially in K through two.
00:26:43.668 --> 00:26:57.118
Honestly, I feel like that's where it's really important, is to get those decoding skills in the beginning years so that when you hit third, fourth grade, you can sound out a word and then you work on, you know, the higher level comprehension skills.
00:26:57.488 --> 00:27:00.778
So I think having the access to the decodables is absolutely key
00:27:01.478 --> 00:27:11.808
Letitia Truslow: Let me riff off of that too, Christine, to say that like it would be wonderful to see more at home as well as in-classroom engagement.
00:27:11.848 --> 00:27:21.998
I think sometimes we can think of Epic as the school, it's a tool to use in school, yet there's also an opportunity and an option to read from home.
00:27:22.018 --> 00:27:31.348
So getting-- even getting the parents, as we've talked about in this conversation today, sort of looping them in, making these accessible to the parents.
00:27:31.358 --> 00:27:38.148
So y- as you said, Aaron, the parents don't need to have a full understanding of what these are and how they work.
00:27:38.368 --> 00:27:40.048
They just need to know they're available.
00:27:40.368 --> 00:27:46.624
Here's what the teacher's assigning, and outside of those school hours, then kids can be reading with their parents and practicing.
00:27:46.924 --> 00:27:52.124
So I think engagement is, is something we'd all hope to see more of in the future
00:27:53.009 --> 00:28:08.979
, Cherish Mims: my hope is, you know, with us expanding the decodable collection, again, it's providing that access of engaging literacy to meet students where they are, um, giving teachers access to texts that meet all of their needs in the classroom.
00:28:08.989 --> 00:28:22.449
Because as we know, like Christine said, teachers are gonna have students at various reading levels in the classroom, and they may not have texts, physical texts, that they can, uh, use to support every student.
00:28:22.527 --> 00:28:37.320
because if you're in a first grade classroom and you have kids reading, at pre-K or then you may have some students already reading at a second grade level, um, that is the classroom of today, where it is across the board various, uh, levels.
00:28:37.350 --> 00:28:45.380
But, um, Epic can give them access to all of those tools and helping also families feel confident with supporting students in the home.
00:28:45.683 --> 00:28:52.153
Letitia Truslow: Can I-- I wanna share some of the sweetest things we've heard, and maybe that also puts a punctuation on what you said, Cherish.
00:28:52.557 --> 00:29:03.667
is that honestly, um, we find with a lot of English language learners that the parents are also learning English alongside of their students.
00:29:04.167 --> 00:29:18.967
And so the sweetest thing is hearing from teachers and literacy experts telling us how much the parents have enjoyed using Decodables, reading on the Epic platform, um, again, learning English alongside their own children.
00:29:19.267 --> 00:29:24.737
If that doesn't give you goosebumps and make you really happy, I don't know what will, right?
00:29:25.033 --> 00:29:29.073
just another layer to this, to, to the whole conversation today
00:29:30.189 --> 00:29:32.549
Christine Hjorth: And on that point, I mean, that's one thing I really focused on.
00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:34.029
I, I love words.
00:29:34.029 --> 00:29:38.179
It's, it's really just obviously from ri- being a writer, I just love them.
00:29:38.209 --> 00:29:44.239
And, and with English as a second language, a lot of times it's the different definitions of words that really trip them up.
00:29:44.569 --> 00:29:46.089
So that's one thing I focused on in the books.
00:29:46.089 --> 00:29:53.949
Like for example, in the one book, uh, the pig is in a pen, okay, which is like, you know, the little place where he stays on the farm, but he's jotting with a pen.
00:29:54.249 --> 00:30:01.879
So it says, "The pig jots with a pen in the pen." So now you have a discussion about what are these words, and why are they the same word but they're two different things?
00:30:01.879 --> 00:30:09.059
Because I think that's one thing that's hard for students and English as a second language to be like, "Well, it's the same word." And that's built right from the beginning.
00:30:09.059 --> 00:30:14.499
It's not just one lesson, you know what I mean, on, on, you know, words that are spelled the same that mean different things.
00:30:14.549 --> 00:30:16.229
It's through the entire series
00:30:17.457 --> 00:30:18.597
Erin Bailey: That's exciting.
00:30:18.607 --> 00:30:20.717
Well, thank you all so much for sharing that.
00:30:20.737 --> 00:30:28.387
I always end the episodes with this very challenging question, um, which is what does reading inspire, uh, for you?
00:30:28.387 --> 00:30:29.817
And we can start with you, Cherish
00:30:30.235 --> 00:30:34.895
Cherish Mims: I would say reading inspires me to see what's possible.
00:30:35.013 --> 00:30:41.273
open new doors to new ideas, different perspectives, and endless possibilities.
00:30:41.323 --> 00:30:49.623
Uh, allows me to see that every story has power and allows me to dream, learn, and grow as a reader
00:30:50.874 --> 00:31:01.044
Letitia Truslow: Um, yeah, I would say reading inspires me to explore new worlds, both from the writer's viewpoint and also my own in a creative way.
00:31:01.394 --> 00:31:06.304
So it's sort of like tapping into, tapping into my own creativity as well,
00:31:06.614 --> 00:31:08.154
um, thinking through the story.
00:31:08.164 --> 00:31:12.324
It's just, it's, it's wonderful to dive into other worlds
00:31:13.017 --> 00:31:18.567
Christine Hjorth: And for me, I mean, I've always been an avid reader with a big imagination, and it inspires me to think of new things.
00:31:18.567 --> 00:31:33.317
And, and a lot of what I focus on is, is the students who are reading and using books to teach them, you know, about kindness and about helping
others and about what is right, what it's like to be, you know, a good person and have perspective, and that's one thing I really focused on
00:31:34.115 --> 00:31:34.535
Erin Bailey: Amazing.
00:31:34.535 --> 00:31:35.255
Well, thank you all.
00:31:35.255 --> 00:31:39.235
I'm so excited for these decodable books to be on Epic.
00:31:39.235 --> 00:31:44.085
I'm definitely going to check them out myself, and I recommend all listeners to go check them out as well.
00:31:44.145 --> 00:31:45.095
Thank you for joining
00:31:45.895 --> 00:31:49.435
Thank you for listening to Reading Inspires by Reading Is Fundamental.
00:31:49.745 --> 00:31:55.225
I hope today's conversation sparked new ideas, meaningful connections, and a renewed love of reading.
00:31:55.575 --> 00:32:04.775
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, share it with a fellow literacy champion, and join us next time as we continue exploring what reading inspires
NOTE
This file was generated by Descript
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Welcome to Reading Inspires by Reading Is Fundamental.
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I'm your host, Dr. Erin Bailey.
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This podcast celebrates the power of books and the joy of reading.
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In each episode, we talk with educators, librarians, families, authors, and literacy champions to explore one big question: What does reading inspire for you?
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Through stories, research, and real-world experiences from classrooms, libraries, and homes, we explore what literacy looks like and why it matters.
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Whether you're nurturing young readers, shaping learning spaces, or simply love a good book, we're glad you're here.
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Be sure to subscribe to get the latest episode.
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Let's get inspired.
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Erin Bailey: Welcome everyone.
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T- joining us today are Christine Yorth, author of the Aligned Decodables and CEO of Aligned Educational Resources; Cherish Mims, Epic's Manager of Education Relations and a former classroom teacher; and Latisha
Truslow, who leads Epic School Plus and customer experience, all bringing unique perspectives on how we can give educators the right tools and help more kids discover the joy and confidence that comes with reading.
00:01:07.320 --> 00:01:07.910
So welcome.
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Thank you all for joining us
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Christine Hjorth: Thank you
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Cherish Mims: you for having us
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Erin Bailey: So Epic, uh, um, is known for making books accessible digitally.
00:01:18.050 --> 00:01:30.460
It's a e-book platform who has recently joined up with re- uh, Reading Is Fundamental on a physical library refresh in Los Angeles, which I had the opportunity to attend, um, where RIF pr- provided print books.
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Why was it so important for Epic to support a print literacy initiative, and what does that say about the role of digital and print books working together to help children become successful readers?
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Letitia Truslow: Aaron, I love this question.
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Um, it really speaks to our shared mission.
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So you know, think stories are stories, books are books, and we know that children who grow up surrounded by books tend to develop stronger literacy skills.
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And so what better way to complement one another than physical books, which, let's face it, take up a lot of space, sometimes they're expensive, with a digital platform.
00:02:07.870 --> 00:02:21.102
We have 40,000 titles on the Epic platform, and so you know, this is an opportunity for whether it's in a different environment to use it, on the go, in a car, um, on vacation, but there's just lots of synergy between the two.
00:02:21.102 --> 00:02:25.912
And again, we're-- it-- this is all about a shared, our shared mission around literacy for children
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Erin Bailey: Yeah, I love that.
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It's something actually that no one's mentioned before about the fact that physical books take up space, and that digital books are great for on the go.
00:02:35.705 --> 00:02:39.475
I mean, you have at your fingertips thousands of books.
00:02:39.475 --> 00:02:44.875
It's great for travel, in the car, anywhere, anywhere that you are.
00:02:44.875 --> 00:02:52.585
So I think we've talked a lot about how print books can be m- you know, more expensive, um, but the space element is, is key too.
00:02:52.615 --> 00:02:55.455
So thank you for adding, um, that to the conversation.
00:02:55.455 --> 00:03:16.635
So something very exciting is that Epic is adding over 250 decodable books to your platform, and I have to make sure I pronounce decodable so everyone can
understand me, because one time I was confused, uh, for saying Dakota bowls, um, which is kind kind of funny thinking the topic of decodables is, is phonics.
00:03:16.965 --> 00:03:30.954
Um, so Christine, w- can you give our audience, a little working definition around what are decodable books, and why are they such an important part of the science of reading, and how do they help young readers build that strong foundation for reading?
00:03:31.952 --> 00:03:32.702
Christine Hjorth: Absolutely.
00:03:33.062 --> 00:03:36.732
So a decodable book is essentially at its heart a phonics book.
00:03:36.922 --> 00:03:41.662
And in the past, we had phonics books, I taught in the early 2000, and they would focus on a sound.
00:03:41.662 --> 00:03:43.262
For example, like the digraph SH.
00:03:43.992 --> 00:03:49.522
The problem with those books were it never paid attention to what the child was actually learning at the time.
00:03:49.732 --> 00:03:58.222
So the book that had an SH sound in it might have the word shuttle in kindergarten, where a student in kindergarten, there's a lot of skills in that word that they cannot sound out.
00:03:58.622 --> 00:04:05.912
So what decodables do is they take what they're learning in sequence and include only those sounds as they're moving through the scope and sequence.
00:04:05.922 --> 00:04:13.442
So if you have, usually digraph comes right after consonants and short vowels, so then you're gonna have words like ship instead of shuttle.
00:04:14.582 --> 00:04:21.342
The reason that decodables are so good is because, um, it practices the skills in real time that the students are learning in a real format.
00:04:21.542 --> 00:04:33.522
So if they're learning phonic skills, then they're adding one to the decoding sequence, and they're practicing it at, that at the, the right time to get those skills, to get the confidence, and to know that reading is just about building those skills
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Erin Bailey: Amazing.
00:04:35.416 --> 00:04:37.876
So y- 250 is a lot.
00:04:37.886 --> 00:04:42.024
Can you explain why did you need so many?
00:04:42.054 --> 00:04:51.714
And, uh, you've shared with me some great efforts that you put into making sure that these resources are actually aligned to curriculum that teachers are already using.
00:04:51.714 --> 00:04:53.444
Can you share a little bit about that?
00:04:54.792 --> 00:04:56.202
Christine Hjorth: Well, I can take that question too.
00:04:56.442 --> 00:05:04.372
So when I started writing, I was a first-grade teacher, and when I was in the classroom, I was writing decodable materials for my class at the time.
00:05:04.622 --> 00:05:10.392
And so what I realized is that I could make more stories and more books and have them illustrated to help lots of students.
00:05:11.052 --> 00:05:16.582
But the problem with that is, if you don't know where it falls into the scope and sequence, you don't know how to use it appropriately.
00:05:16.942 --> 00:05:19.502
So for example, technically everything is decodable.
00:05:19.552 --> 00:05:24.072
The book War and Peace is decodable to you, but it isn't decodable to a kindergartner.
00:05:24.372 --> 00:05:29.522
So you need to know in that scope and sequence, what have they already learned and where are they going?
00:05:29.782 --> 00:05:37.212
And the problem is that there's 23 to 30 different curriculums, and you'd be surprised how different their scope and sequences are.
00:05:37.602 --> 00:05:45.022
So just-- You can't just say, "Well, the scope and sequence is CVC, short vowel, then blends, then digraphs, then silent E." They are all mixed up.
00:05:45.342 --> 00:05:54.452
So the only way for the teacher in the past to use them was to look at the skills on the back of the book and then try to figure out where this book fell, which is a lot of work.
00:05:54.452 --> 00:05:55.602
I was a first-grade teacher.
00:05:55.862 --> 00:05:57.772
I did not have a lot of time to do that.
00:05:58.122 --> 00:06:05.242
So when I started doing it myself, I thought the best way to do this is to actually make the alignment chart so that it's all done for the teachers already.
00:06:05.452 --> 00:06:15.142
So when I started working with Epic, it was awesome because I was able to explain this to them, and they set it up on the platform in a way that's easy for teachers to find their own curriculum and then find the alignment chart to use the books
00:06:16.126 --> 00:06:20.046
Erin Bailey: Yeah, I taught first grade as well, so I would definitely use that kind of chart.
00:06:20.076 --> 00:06:24.796
I find that, I, I mean, I'd probably be that person who printed it out and had it on a clipboard, honestly.
00:06:24.830 --> 00:06:25.500
Christine Hjorth: Definitely.
00:06:25.500 --> 00:06:27.180
It's available in PDF format.
00:06:27.230 --> 00:06:30.460
I completely, I would have it taped behind my desk, you know what I mean?
00:06:30.460 --> 00:06:32.380
And know, okay, these are the books that I wanna use
00:06:32.880 --> 00:06:33.710
Erin Bailey: Amazing.
00:06:34.130 --> 00:06:39.650
Um, so Cherish, where do these Decodables books fit into effective literacy instruction?
00:06:39.650 --> 00:06:44.400
We talked about these being an add-on to curriculum that's already being used.
00:06:44.420 --> 00:06:49.500
Um, what are some practical ways that teachers can use them to help their students be more confident readers?
00:06:50.152 --> 00:06:50.962
Cherish Mims: Great question.
00:06:51.372 --> 00:07:01.322
So I believe the key to use decodable texts is as a bridge between that direct phonics instruction and those authentic reading experiences.
00:07:01.572 --> 00:07:14.352
So this is gonna allow those students to have repeated opportunities to practice the phonetic skill that's directly being taught, and most importantly, experience reading success to build and boost their confidence.
00:07:14.622 --> 00:07:32.462
So for example, if a teacher is teaching a s- specific phonetic skill that week, um, whether that's a short vowel or consonant blend, um,
from their chart, they would then choose a decodable text to pair it with that gives them repeated opportunities to practice those patterns.
00:07:32.712 --> 00:07:47.822
So after directly teaching that skill, students can then reread that text with a partner, um, or independently or in a small group or one-on-one with the teacher to apply those patterns and skills wi- within that book.
00:07:48.272 --> 00:07:51.782
Um, I would say another opportunity is through rereading.
00:07:51.792 --> 00:07:54.722
That's an easy way to embed this in, in instruction.
00:07:54.902 --> 00:07:59.012
So the first read of that decodable text is gonna be for accuracy.
00:07:59.882 --> 00:08:04.532
Reading, um, with accuracy, and that's gonna be typically with the teacher or whole group.
00:08:04.812 --> 00:08:13.182
And then that way, that second and third time reading that decodable text, it could be for fluency, expression, comprehension.
00:08:13.562 --> 00:08:28.602
Again, this is just allowing that student to experience success and really shift their mindset so that they can say, "I can do this. I can read this." And they're experiencing that confidence boost that they need to become independent readers
00:08:29.968 --> 00:08:30.578
Erin Bailey: I love that.
00:08:30.578 --> 00:08:33.288
And I imagine this is helpful for families too, right?
00:08:33.288 --> 00:08:41.758
Like, if I'm a family who doesn't have a background in literacy and I get a note home that just says, "This week we're working on digraphs," I might not know what that means.
00:08:41.758 --> 00:08:49.978
But if I have a tangible book that I can practice digraphs, then I'm like, oh, it's, you know, H Brothers or how- what- however I learned it
00:08:50.598 --> 00:08:54.538
Whatever I wanna call it with my child that's gonna be fun and bring it to life, you know?
00:08:55.240 --> 00:08:55.750
Cherish Mims: Correct.
00:08:55.780 --> 00:09:01.680
Um, my daughter just wrapped up first grade, and, um, her teacher would do exactly that.
00:09:01.730 --> 00:09:10.230
They would send home whatever phonic skill they were learning, learning for that week, and also send a paired text, and that way we could work through those skills at home.
00:09:10.410 --> 00:09:19.660
Well, with Epic, you can easily assign that collection specifically on that phonetic skill that they're practicing or just an individual book.
00:09:19.800 --> 00:09:29.450
You can assign it to families and just really equip them with the access to the tools available so that families are confident, uh, with, you know, supporting their student at home reading.
00:09:29.790 --> 00:09:30.920
Erin Bailey: That's amazing.
00:09:30.930 --> 00:09:38.210
And I'm, like, that assigning too, because like you said, like you were saying earlier, there's 250 books, right?
00:09:38.210 --> 00:09:50.060
Like, I'm… And they don't all follow the same, not every curriculum follows the same scope and sequence, so as a family member, I might not know which… I'm like, "I know my child needs to read decodable books.
00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:56.660
I'm not sure which ones or in which order." So being able to have that assigned I can see is super beneficial, too.
00:09:56.660 --> 00:10:03.350
And I should mention, I will also include the link to that in the show notes for everyone who wants to get access to these
00:10:03.781 --> 00:10:10.311
Christine Hjorth: I also wanted to add that, um, as a first-grade teacher, I was trying to create all the books that I would want in my classroom.
00:10:10.581 --> 00:10:13.091
So what's really great is that I have different kinds of decodables.
00:10:13.101 --> 00:10:22.511
So there's the story ones, which you can work on comprehension and vocab, and there's also ones called blending books that are working just on the sounds and putting it together and sentence-level comprehension.
00:10:22.851 --> 00:10:26.751
There's fluency books that are like a sentence pyramid, so that they're rereading the sentence.
00:10:26.761 --> 00:10:33.771
So there's lots of different kinds, and there's some called passage books that don't have any pictures, so you're working fully on comprehension.
00:10:33.941 --> 00:10:36.321
So a s- a teacher has a lot of opportunities.
00:10:36.321 --> 00:10:41.601
If you're working with the, you know, SH sound, you might have three different books that you can use to practice that skill
00:10:42.077 --> 00:10:44.007
Erin Bailey: Yeah, that's a- a variety is key.
00:10:44.007 --> 00:10:44.337
I mean,
00:10:44.691 --> 00:10:44.981
Christine Hjorth: Yeah.
00:10:45.387 --> 00:10:49.517
Erin Bailey: goodness, decodables have come such a long way.
00:10:49.757 --> 00:10:55.917
Uh, I mean, how many times can you read that the fat cat sat on the mat before you're just bored of it, right?
00:10:55.917 --> 00:11:06.657
So I'm wondering, Christine, if you can share a little bit about like what kind of elements of story writing and story creation went into this effort to, to make them not boring, you know?
00:11:06.941 --> 00:11:07.821
Christine Hjorth: That's a great question.
00:11:07.821 --> 00:11:14.531
So I actually taught my own children, I have two, two teenagers now, um, using the Bob books, which there's nothing wrong with the Bob books.
00:11:14.541 --> 00:11:19.691
They're very simple and, and, and that worked for the time, but they are obviously pretty bland, you know?
00:11:19.691 --> 00:11:30.331
And so what happened was when I was teaching, I was actually teaching first graders how to write, and so I would make little stories with them all the time, and it actually kinda honed my silly story writing.
00:11:30.371 --> 00:11:38.841
And so I was looking for ways to make it engaging that were, that were, they were a little sillier or that they didn't quite know what was gonna happen in the story.
00:11:39.121 --> 00:11:53.434
And by just focusing on, "Okay, these are the only words I can use. I'm gonna write a story just with these words." You know, and another thing that makes them
engaging is that, because I worked with six-year-olds, I think, you know, I have a little bit more understanding of what's funny to a six-year-old, you know?
00:11:53.434 --> 00:12:05.814
And so I think sometimes as teachers we've seen materials that maybe were written by teachers of older students and don't necessarily know like what six-year-olds are really engaged in, you know, and what they think is silly.
00:12:06.144 --> 00:12:07.534
So that definitely helped me.
00:12:07.894 --> 00:12:12.304
And another way I made them engaging was to, um, which I could talk further about what's
00:12:12.354 --> 00:12:14.344
I have like what's called a flashcard format.
00:12:14.781 --> 00:12:19.971
the decodables, obviously we know that the cueing system is not really, we do not want them to picture cue.
00:12:19.981 --> 00:12:24.915
We don't want them to use the, the picture to try to, guess or predict what a word might be.
00:12:25.415 --> 00:12:29.095
And, um, so what I did was the sentence is alone on a page.
00:12:29.115 --> 00:12:30.755
They have to read it without any clue.
00:12:30.825 --> 00:12:36.155
But when they turn the page, they get to see the picture that goes with the sentence, and that allowed me for two things.
00:12:36.155 --> 00:12:38.215
Number one, it really focuses on decoding.
00:12:38.245 --> 00:12:47.695
But number two, it can build engagement, because what I did was the sentence, sometimes they think they know what they're gonna see when they turn the page, but I kind of flip the switch on them.
00:12:48.005 --> 00:12:48.675
You know what I mean?
00:12:48.675 --> 00:12:53.595
So that when they turn the page they see something silly, and it makes them want to keep going to see what the next thing is
00:12:54.459 --> 00:12:58.449
Erin Bailey: I, I think that's really cool too for children's imaginations.
00:12:58.449 --> 00:13:06.039
Like, I vividly remember when I was in first grade, my teacher read aloud to us one time.
00:13:06.079 --> 00:13:08.129
I- and it was only one time that she did this.
00:13:08.189 --> 00:13:09.369
The book was Shrek.
00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:19.119
Um, and so she read aloud Shrek to us and actually had us draw the pictures that we thought went with Shrek, which was really cool because I don't
00:13:19.169 --> 00:13:23.869
You know, you knew Shrek was an ogre and ugly and all that, but you wouldn't know what the picture said.
00:13:23.869 --> 00:13:27.599
So I, like … And that experience stuck with me all these years.
00:13:27.609 --> 00:13:29.249
So I think it's great for creativity.
00:13:29.489 --> 00:13:39.039
The other thing is it shows kind of the power of the difference between decoding and the pictures, and your background knowledge too, right?
00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:50.549
Because if I can read the word cat and I know C is c, A is a, and T is t, and I can blend them together, my personal experiences are what gonna sh- is what's gonna shape.
00:13:50.749 --> 00:13:55.999
When I just read the word cat without any pictures, do I see a black cat, like Halloween?
00:13:56.009 --> 00:13:57.209
Do I see Garfield?
00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:04.979
And so then for you to kinda like flip it on them shows to students, like, how things can be so different, you know?
00:14:05.427 --> 00:14:10.567
Christine Hjorth: And it's also, um, you know, in terms of comprehension, one of the biggest things that's pushed right now is visualization.
00:14:10.857 --> 00:14:17.477
It's reading those words and visualizing what it's gonna be be- you know, because when you get to books without pictures, obviously that's what you're gonna need to do.
00:14:17.867 --> 00:14:19.127
So Cats is a great example.
00:14:19.127 --> 00:14:24.367
I have a book named Cats, and it's, you know, a- about these two little cats, and it says the cat can sip.
00:14:24.647 --> 00:14:28.087
Okay, so you might think a cat's sitting in front of a bowl and he's, you know, licking the thing.
00:14:28.087 --> 00:14:31.167
But really they're sitting, when you turn the page, they're at a table with little teacups.
00:14:31.627 --> 00:14:32.337
You know what I mean?
00:14:32.337 --> 00:14:38.077
And so it's a chance for them to be like, you think you know what you're gonna see, but you don't know what you're gonna see.
00:14:38.257 --> 00:14:42.637
And it's also a great way to build vocabulary because, you know, I can use a lot of words.
00:14:42.637 --> 00:14:48.607
Like, um, there's a book called Cliff the Pest, and he does all sorts of crazy things, but he flops on the ducks.
00:14:48.687 --> 00:14:50.127
Okay, what does it mean to flop?
00:14:50.137 --> 00:14:51.577
You know, it's different than jumping.
00:14:51.847 --> 00:14:52.277
You know what I mean?
00:14:52.277 --> 00:14:54.977
So in the picture then they get to see, oh, he's, he's full out.
00:14:54.987 --> 00:14:57.107
He's ready to, you know, flop on top of them.
00:14:57.107 --> 00:15:01.757
So you can really build that vocabulary by using the different pictures and using the different words
00:15:03.229 --> 00:15:03.829
Cherish Mims: I love that.
00:15:03.859 --> 00:15:13.309
I wanted to add one thing because based on the, what you both were talking about and students experiencing, because we don't want them to think phonics is, like, the end goal.
00:15:13.569 --> 00:15:22.509
We want them to make meaningful reading experiences and know that they're reading to become independent learners, dreamers, thinkers.
00:15:22.529 --> 00:15:41.419
And so engaging with the text post, applying those skills by retelling or, you know, what was your favorite part, or having them, you know, make those
visualizations or identifying character feelings, that's gonna push them beyond that phonics instruction and make that experience meaningful for them.
00:15:41.419 --> 00:15:49.389
So I think that's a great, you know, just quick teaching strategy that educators can use as well to really make that reading stick
00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:51.139
Erin Bailey: Yeah, absolutely.
00:15:51.738 --> 00:15:55.568
we all are clearly passionate about the benefits of decodable text.
00:15:55.588 --> 00:16:05.758
I'm wondering, Latisha, if you can share what inspired Epic to expand its decodable offerings, assuming there were, you know, there were some decodables in there.
00:16:05.758 --> 00:16:11.828
But to really put the emphasis on creating these 250 books and aligning them to the different curriculum
00:16:12.540 --> 00:16:12.820
Letitia Truslow: Yeah.
00:16:12.820 --> 00:16:15.530
I think, Erin, the short answer is relationships.
00:16:15.940 --> 00:16:26.020
So we at Epic, we prioritize relationship building with districts, and principals, and superintendents, teachers, parents, students, you know.
00:16:26.050 --> 00:16:34.679
And it, it's in that vein, you know, part of relationship was with one of our larger districts, very active and engaged with the Epic product.
00:16:34.989 --> 00:16:51.172
They came to us and said, "Hey, we need-- you know, we could really use some more decodables." and that started a conversation that one qu- you know, request
started, quite a bit of back and forth internally within the organization within Epic, um, trying to understand more about, well, what is it that you're looking for?
00:16:51.392 --> 00:16:53.372
We had some decodables on the platform.
00:16:53.622 --> 00:16:54.922
You know, tell us a bit more.
00:16:55.052 --> 00:16:57.562
Why aren't those, you know, meeting your needs?
00:16:57.572 --> 00:16:58.852
What are your needs?
00:16:58.852 --> 00:17:00.162
Like, what would meet your needs?
00:17:00.192 --> 00:17:09.852
And so really we did that deep dive, and, um, very spontaneously after I had been talking with our content team, they work with the publishers.
00:17:09.962 --> 00:17:12.102
We have about 250 publisher partners.
00:17:12.472 --> 00:17:16.472
Um, and so I'd been talking to them internally, you know, this is what our-- this is what we're hearing.
00:17:16.832 --> 00:17:19.182
Um, we'd really like to bring some more decodables online.
00:17:19.362 --> 00:17:30.802
And then lo and behold, um, at a conference, the NCTE conference, National Conference for Teachers of English, we at our Epic booth, met Christine, who's on the call.
00:17:30.872 --> 00:17:31.792
Um, we met Christine.
00:17:31.792 --> 00:17:32.922
Christine came to the booth.
00:17:33.192 --> 00:17:34.212
We started chatting.
00:17:34.222 --> 00:17:40.712
She said the word decodables, and the next thing you know, we are running, not walking, uh, towards Christine's books.
00:17:40.732 --> 00:17:57.023
And we're starting a project to bring them, ingest them into the Epic platform, and as Christine said, also provide teachers with the
scope and sequence and the alignment charts that they need in order to find exactly what they're looking for, at the right-- at that time.
00:17:57.273 --> 00:18:02.383
So the collections, the 250 books, you know, they're, they are organized based on curricula.
00:18:02.433 --> 00:18:07.673
So the 23 curricula, we put all the books in those separate collections based on the curricula.
00:18:07.883 --> 00:18:10.513
and so far all the feedback has been phenomenal.
00:18:10.593 --> 00:18:12.263
It's been really great.
00:18:12.263 --> 00:18:14.565
So it, it goes back to relationship really.
00:18:14.595 --> 00:18:18.885
We just, we, we have these, these conversations, we listen, and we took some action.
00:18:19.753 --> 00:18:20.413
Erin Bailey: Amazing.
00:18:20.423 --> 00:18:22.673
It seems serendipitous to say the
00:18:22.729 --> 00:18:23.089
Christine Hjorth: It was.
00:18:23.559 --> 00:18:24.589
It really was.
00:18:25.897 --> 00:18:26.407
Letitia Truslow: Yes.
00:18:26.407 --> 00:18:32.397
We are, uh, Christine and, and Cheris, myself, we all say that all the time, how it was incredibly fortuitous.
00:18:32.667 --> 00:18:42.057
And, and even to the point where Epic hadn't been attending conferences for quite a while, and this was the first conference that we attended in, in quite some time.
00:18:42.057 --> 00:18:48.247
And so the fact that, you know, as we internally had been talking about, you know, where are we gonna source decodable titles?
00:18:48.277 --> 00:18:51.947
And, and quite frankly, like, higher quality decodable titles.
00:18:52.017 --> 00:18:55.387
'Cause what we had on the platform wasn't meeting our teachers' needs.
00:18:55.387 --> 00:18:57.517
And so, it was completely serendipitous.
00:18:57.527 --> 00:19:00.467
It was, it was as if it was meant to be, I think, Christine, right?
00:19:00.717 --> 00:19:05.397
Like, um, that you came to us, and, and it just started that, another
00:19:05.871 --> 00:19:07.891
Christine Hjorth: Because it was really right at the right time.
00:19:07.921 --> 00:19:20.921
Because I, um, I've been doing this now for five years, and I was-- I had said no to a lot of other opportunities that had come up for me, different distributors and things like that, and I just thought I wanted to wait until I found the right one.
00:19:21.001 --> 00:19:25.591
And so Epic, I really felt… You know, I didn't have Epic when I was teaching in the classroom.
00:19:25.641 --> 00:19:28.771
I would've absolutely loved having Epic if I had taught in the classroom.
00:19:29.051 --> 00:19:43.631
You know, we've talked before, too, that, you know, what's great about having a platform that has the decodables but also be on Epic is that if the students
are reading a book called Cats, and they're-- or, you know, I have a book called Kids and Pups, which is about baby animals, that they can read, just CVC words.
00:19:43.851 --> 00:19:49.671
But then the teacher can assign other books that are, like, higher level, like read-alouds, or their parents can read it to them.
00:19:49.671 --> 00:19:50.501
There's a video.
00:19:50.501 --> 00:20:02.572
You know, and it's amazing because now you can, like, cross, Assign these books so that if you're doing a unit on, on baby animals, now they're reading a book but also have acc- access to all these other books
00:20:03.710 --> 00:20:05.630
Letitia Truslow: I love that word a- access, Christine.
00:20:05.630 --> 00:20:08.700
We are always talking about how important that is, right?
00:20:09.010 --> 00:20:16.770
And, and I think that's what Epic brings to the table is access to 40,000 titles, which, let's face it, is an awful lot.
00:20:16.780 --> 00:20:21.800
So there's a ton to, you know, to sample on that buffet of, of books.
00:20:21.951 --> 00:20:27.611
and especially for that at home, you know, outside of school hours, being, um, having access, not having
00:20:27.861 --> 00:20:33.241
Maybe, maybe parents are not necessarily able to get to the library for a variety of reasons.
00:20:33.241 --> 00:20:36.391
And just the ease with which we offer this.
00:20:36.411 --> 00:20:45.641
You know, we call it, we call Epic the Netflix of books, and it … And for a reason, because really the con- there's so much content, um, to Christine, to your point, you know?
00:20:46.861 --> 00:20:54.301
So it makes it … Access is simple, and it makes it easy to assign books and, and read books outside of school.
00:20:55.127 --> 00:20:55.737
Erin Bailey: I'm glad you
00:20:55.737 --> 00:21:01.817
brought up, um, how read-alouds and decodables can support each other.
00:21:02.057 --> 00:21:04.557
I'm wondering if I can pull on that thread a little bit more.
00:21:04.557 --> 00:21:21.067
I think a lot of folks out there, families and teachers, are hesitant towards decodables, and I myself was o- was one of these, um, teachers because, and again, this is speaking of decodables out of the past, we've
00:21:21.069 --> 00:21:21.699
Christine Hjorth: That's fine.
00:21:22.227 --> 00:21:32.877
Erin Bailey: um, because the s- the stories can be quite dry, and we wanted to have s- students having, like, a real literature experience.
00:21:32.937 --> 00:21:45.607
Can you share a little bit about what you wish families understood about decodables, and teachers and families, and, you know, what are the misunderstandings, and what do you wish that they understood?
00:21:45.958 --> 00:21:47.798
Christine Hjorth: I think that you, you've pretty much hit on it.
00:21:47.798 --> 00:21:57.540
The, the biggest dis- misinformation about decodables is that they're dry, that you cannot teach comprehension with them, that you cannot teach vocabulary with them, and, and that's just not really true.
00:21:58.050 --> 00:22:03.740
And, um, the fact that they're not engaging, the fact that they can't learn anything from them.
00:22:03.750 --> 00:22:15.160
You know, there's, there's so much more that we can do with decodables now if you just kinda have an imagination for it's just words, and I'm gonna use whatever words that I can use to … You know, I have books that are based in sports.
00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:19.050
I can have books that are based in, you know, there's a whole nonfiction, you know, thing.
00:22:19.060 --> 00:22:20.700
Snakes, spiders, dogs.
00:22:20.730 --> 00:22:29.690
And you can use those while at the same time building in the read-alouds, because obviously there's some vocabulary that in kindergarten isn't going to fly.
00:22:29.690 --> 00:22:32.560
You know, in second grade it will, but in kindergarten it's not.
00:22:32.570 --> 00:22:34.730
So you want kind of a little bit of both of that
00:22:35.327 --> 00:22:36.487
Cherish Mims: I would, I would agree on that.
00:22:36.487 --> 00:22:41.988
I think one other misconception would be also that decodables are just for struggling readers.
00:22:42.057 --> 00:22:50.737
when in fact, no, they're, uh, they're a practice tool for all emerging readers, allowing them the building blocks to decoding skills.
00:22:50.737 --> 00:22:53.017
Because the English language is hard.
00:22:53.107 --> 00:22:57.027
Learning how to read is hard work, and these students are doing it daily.
00:22:57.037 --> 00:23:07.647
But it's breaking it into, you know, manageable, smart, segmented pieces for students where they can apply these skills and experience success.
00:23:07.667 --> 00:23:14.017
Because if they don't build that confidence, experience success, they're not gonna wanna continue doing it.
00:23:14.067 --> 00:23:19.455
We wanna build them up, independent readers, lifelong learners, and decodables is the key to do that
00:23:20.359 --> 00:23:22.089
Christine Hjorth: I definitely wanna follow up on what she said.
00:23:22.089 --> 00:23:22.849
It's absolutely true.
00:23:22.849 --> 00:23:25.929
They're not just for struggling readers, and they're not just for kindergartner either.
00:23:25.949 --> 00:23:28.709
People thinks, they think of a decodable like CVC words.
00:23:29.192 --> 00:23:37.252
where I just added to my collection a morphology set, which is really meant for the end of second grade, beginning of third grade, and they're all on Epic.
00:23:37.282 --> 00:23:40.982
And what they focus on is those prific- prefixes and suffixes.
00:23:40.992 --> 00:23:50.202
So there's a book, you know, that's about Simone Biles or Taylor Swift or, you know, about, you know, and there's also fiction that is really using that ending.
00:23:50.212 --> 00:23:54.202
For example, there's a book called Desert Animals, and the ending is N-E-S-S.
00:23:54.582 --> 00:23:57.932
So there's a lot of words in there like the dryness of the desert.
00:23:57.952 --> 00:23:58.462
You know what I mean?
00:23:58.462 --> 00:24:00.342
The quietness of the night, you know?
00:24:00.342 --> 00:24:10.842
And so Teachers can then use that to pull out those words and really drill down on that suffix in that case, and that's a learning opportunity that is in a decodable, but really it's focused on something else
00:24:12.098 --> 00:24:12.658
Erin Bailey: Yeah.
00:24:12.658 --> 00:24:14.908
I, I love that, and, uh, well, a couple things.
00:24:14.978 --> 00:24:17.798
I love that there are nonfiction options
00:24:17.838 --> 00:24:18.368
too.
00:24:18.925 --> 00:24:19.555
that's excellent.
00:24:19.585 --> 00:24:28.595
And I… To go back to something that you said at the beginning, every book is decodable once you've mastered phonics, right?
00:24:28.605 --> 00:24:31.835
So it's great that… And, and I mean, I'm gonna use myself as an example.
00:24:31.985 --> 00:24:43.045
Before we even hit record, I introduced myself, and then I asked everyone to go around, and I practiced pronouncing your names, because names are different origins.
00:24:43.045 --> 00:24:58.966
So myself, as someone who is still learning to read, 'cause I fully believe we are always still learning to read, I learned something new,
Christine, about your name, which is Hjorth, and the origin of it, and why the H-J makes that, what would typically be, like, a Y sound, right?
00:24:59.006 --> 00:25:12.826
And so we are always still learning to read, so I appreciate the fact that they didn't stop at, you know, first, second grade, and the way that you said that every book is, is decodable once you've mastered those phonic skills
00:25:13.494 --> 00:25:22.314
Christine Hjorth: Um, another thing I wanted to bring up too in terms of having them all on Epic or, you know, in … I also have them in physical copies, is that, um, you can differentiate.
00:25:22.534 --> 00:25:26.444
When I was in the classroom, one of my biggest thing was trying to differentiate for student needs.
00:25:26.784 --> 00:25:33.644
And in this case what I did was, there'll be certain books, like a topic like dogs, and there's like five different versions.
00:25:33.864 --> 00:25:36.984
So there's one with just CVC, and then you, there's one with blends.
00:25:36.984 --> 00:25:40.974
There's one that, you know, adds in higher level sounds and then vowel teams.
00:25:41.304 --> 00:25:48.164
So if you have a classroom, let's say a first grade classroom, where we all know you have students on a whole bunch of different levels, you can assign them the books.
00:25:48.184 --> 00:25:54.784
And everybody's learning about dogs, and everyone's coming back and telling something about dogs without feeling like they're at a disadvantage.
00:25:54.784 --> 00:26:01.444
So it's, for me, it's always the success and that self-esteem and that loving of, of reading that really makes a difference
00:26:02.204 --> 00:26:04.604
Cherish Mims: Which takes us back to that word access.
00:26:04.754 --> 00:26:05.374
Christine Hjorth: For sure
00:26:05.644 --> 00:26:14.880
Cherish Mims: Epic is able to meet every student where they are now, not where we want them to be, but there's something available for every student, on Epic
00:26:15.560 --> 00:26:16.050
Erin Bailey: Amazing.
00:26:16.050 --> 00:26:22.220
So looking ahead, um, what do you hope that Epic's expanded decodable collection will have?
00:26:22.260 --> 00:26:25.810
What impact will it have on classrooms, families, and readers?
00:26:26.408 --> 00:26:30.438
Christine Hjorth: Well, I mean, certainly I think this is where education is going, um, thankfully.
00:26:30.718 --> 00:26:35.068
I think that we're, we're, you know, we're following the science of reading or at least structured literacy.
00:26:35.338 --> 00:26:37.118
I don't think everything's been thrown out.
00:26:37.118 --> 00:26:39.248
I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.
00:26:39.258 --> 00:26:43.648
But we're moving towards structured literacy, especially in K through two.
00:26:43.668 --> 00:26:57.118
Honestly, I feel like that's where it's really important, is to get those decoding skills in the beginning years so that when you hit third, fourth grade, you can sound out a word and then you work on, you know, the higher level comprehension skills.
00:26:57.488 --> 00:27:00.778
So I think having the access to the decodables is absolutely key
00:27:01.478 --> 00:27:11.808
Letitia Truslow: Let me riff off of that too, Christine, to say that like it would be wonderful to see more at home as well as in-classroom engagement.
00:27:11.848 --> 00:27:21.998
I think sometimes we can think of Epic as the school, it's a tool to use in school, yet there's also an opportunity and an option to read from home.
00:27:22.018 --> 00:27:31.348
So getting-- even getting the parents, as we've talked about in this conversation today, sort of looping them in, making these accessible to the parents.
00:27:31.358 --> 00:27:38.148
So y- as you said, Aaron, the parents don't need to have a full understanding of what these are and how they work.
00:27:38.368 --> 00:27:40.048
They just need to know they're available.
00:27:40.368 --> 00:27:46.624
Here's what the teacher's assigning, and outside of those school hours, then kids can be reading with their parents and practicing.
00:27:46.924 --> 00:27:52.124
So I think engagement is, is something we'd all hope to see more of in the future
00:27:53.009 --> 00:28:08.979
, Cherish Mims: my hope is, you know, with us expanding the decodable collection, again, it's providing that access of engaging literacy to meet students where they are, um, giving teachers access to texts that meet all of their needs in the classroom.
00:28:08.989 --> 00:28:22.449
Because as we know, like Christine said, teachers are gonna have students at various reading levels in the classroom, and they may not have texts, physical texts, that they can, uh, use to support every student.
00:28:22.527 --> 00:28:37.320
because if you're in a first grade classroom and you have kids reading, at pre-K or then you may have some students already reading at a second grade level, um, that is the classroom of today, where it is across the board various, uh, levels.
00:28:37.350 --> 00:28:45.380
But, um, Epic can give them access to all of those tools and helping also families feel confident with supporting students in the home.
00:28:45.683 --> 00:28:52.153
Letitia Truslow: Can I-- I wanna share some of the sweetest things we've heard, and maybe that also puts a punctuation on what you said, Cherish.
00:28:52.557 --> 00:29:03.667
is that honestly, um, we find with a lot of English language learners that the parents are also learning English alongside of their students.
00:29:04.167 --> 00:29:18.967
And so the sweetest thing is hearing from teachers and literacy experts telling us how much the parents have enjoyed using Decodables, reading on the Epic platform, um, again, learning English alongside their own children.
00:29:19.267 --> 00:29:24.737
If that doesn't give you goosebumps and make you really happy, I don't know what will, right?
00:29:25.033 --> 00:29:29.073
just another layer to this, to, to the whole conversation today
00:29:30.189 --> 00:29:32.549
Christine Hjorth: And on that point, I mean, that's one thing I really focused on.
00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:34.029
I, I love words.
00:29:34.029 --> 00:29:38.179
It's, it's really just obviously from ri- being a writer, I just love them.
00:29:38.209 --> 00:29:44.239
And, and with English as a second language, a lot of times it's the different definitions of words that really trip them up.
00:29:44.569 --> 00:29:46.089
So that's one thing I focused on in the books.
00:29:46.089 --> 00:29:53.949
Like for example, in the one book, uh, the pig is in a pen, okay, which is like, you know, the little place where he stays on the farm, but he's jotting with a pen.
00:29:54.249 --> 00:30:01.879
So it says, "The pig jots with a pen in the pen." So now you have a discussion about what are these words, and why are they the same word but they're two different things?
00:30:01.879 --> 00:30:09.059
Because I think that's one thing that's hard for students and English as a second language to be like, "Well, it's the same word." And that's built right from the beginning.
00:30:09.059 --> 00:30:14.499
It's not just one lesson, you know what I mean, on, on, you know, words that are spelled the same that mean different things.
00:30:14.549 --> 00:30:16.229
It's through the entire series
00:30:17.457 --> 00:30:18.597
Erin Bailey: That's exciting.
00:30:18.607 --> 00:30:20.717
Well, thank you all so much for sharing that.
00:30:20.737 --> 00:30:28.387
I always end the episodes with this very challenging question, um, which is what does reading inspire, uh, for you?
00:30:28.387 --> 00:30:29.817
And we can start with you, Cherish
00:30:30.235 --> 00:30:34.895
Cherish Mims: I would say reading inspires me to see what's possible.
00:30:35.013 --> 00:30:41.273
open new doors to new ideas, different perspectives, and endless possibilities.
00:30:41.323 --> 00:30:49.623
Uh, allows me to see that every story has power and allows me to dream, learn, and grow as a reader
00:30:50.874 --> 00:31:01.044
Letitia Truslow: Um, yeah, I would say reading inspires me to explore new worlds, both from the writer's viewpoint and also my own in a creative way.
00:31:01.394 --> 00:31:06.304
So it's sort of like tapping into, tapping into my own creativity as well,
00:31:06.614 --> 00:31:08.154
um, thinking through the story.
00:31:08.164 --> 00:31:12.324
It's just, it's, it's wonderful to dive into other worlds
00:31:13.017 --> 00:31:18.567
Christine Hjorth: And for me, I mean, I've always been an avid reader with a big imagination, and it inspires me to think of new things.
00:31:18.567 --> 00:31:33.317
And, and a lot of what I focus on is, is the students who are reading and using books to teach them, you know, about kindness and about helping
others and about what is right, what it's like to be, you know, a good person and have perspective, and that's one thing I really focused on
00:31:34.115 --> 00:31:34.535
Erin Bailey: Amazing.
00:31:34.535 --> 00:31:35.255
Well, thank you all.
00:31:35.255 --> 00:31:39.235
I'm so excited for these decodable books to be on Epic.
00:31:39.235 --> 00:31:44.085
I'm definitely going to check them out myself, and I recommend all listeners to go check them out as well.
00:31:44.145 --> 00:31:45.095
Thank you for joining
00:31:45.895 --> 00:31:49.435
Thank you for listening to Reading Inspires by Reading Is Fundamental.
00:31:49.745 --> 00:31:55.225
I hope today's conversation sparked new ideas, meaningful connections, and a renewed love of reading.
00:31:55.575 --> 00:32:04.775
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, share it with a fellow literacy champion, and join us next time as we continue exploring what reading inspires
