Free Winter Decodable Readers

Decodables are books that are simplified to mainly include words with phonics concepts your child has already learned, and irregular words that have already been covered.   The best decodables are of course the one that come with the reading curriculum you use, as they will meet your child just where they are and allow them to practice the skills they've just learned.

But sometimes it's nice to have something to read related to specific seasons or holidays.   Below is a list of free printable decodables from various sources, including general winter themed decodables, as well as printable books for winter holidays and events such as Christmas, New Years, Valentines Day, and more.  

To make it easier to align these to the skills your child is learning, I've organized these by phonics concept, and noted other concepts included in the decodables, since not all programs teach concepts in the same order (sometimes I will just list the word with that concept if there's only one or two words that use that concept).    However, since nearly all programs start with CVC words, digraphs th, sh, ch and/or blends, I don't usually list these in later concepts.  I also only usually list "a," words ending in double letters,  and words that end in an s sound but say "zzz" in the CVC, Digraphs, and Blends sections as these concepts tend to be learned fairly early.   

Some books include a "FOCUS."  This is a concept or word that is used frequently in the book, or highlighted by underlining or in some other way.  Assume if a book is listed under a certain concept, that that concept is a focus of the book even if it's not listed as such. 

TIP:  If a decodable has a few words with concepts your child hasn't learned, here are a few ways to handle that:

1. If you catch a hard word while reading, just step in and read it for them.
2. Highlight or underline those words beforehand, and let your child know you'll read the underlined/highlighted words.  
3. Go over the words beforehand.   Point out the parts they can read regularly, and the irregular or advanced parts.
4. Let them read it, and when they do, ask if it sounds close to any words they know.   For example, in the word "was" the a has a u sound, but a child might be able to figure out the real word even if they pronounce it with a short a, as it's spelled.  So you can ask, is that close to a word that would make sense here?   This strategy is called set for variability.    I don't suggest this strategy for kids in the earliest stages of reading, where they are still mastering sounding out basic CVC words and blends, but once that is solid, this can be a valuable strategy to teach kids. 
5. If a book contains multi syllable words and your child hasn't learned to read those yet, you can help them by  drawing lines to divide the syllables for them.  
6. Just skip that page.   In some of these books, not all the pages are necessary to the story.   Sometimes it's easier just to remove a page.  

THE DECODABLES 

CVC Words (basic phonetic 2 and 3 letter words)

• (Christmas) Tree Farm and The Man by Natalie Lynn
• 1st 2 books in set.  The Man is about Santa. 
• Both books includes: will, the,  a.  

• Christmas by Even THAT Kid

• (Christmas) The Big Red Hat  by Think&Grow.com
• This is part of a multi-resource set with other holiday decodable and games.  Find it under the name Hanukkah Digraph Decodable
• Includes: a, the, and, can*, sees, toys, has, of

• (Groundhog Day) Pat Pops Up by Down in Kinderville
• Includes:  a, the, to, is, am, look, see, and, his, go

• (Groundhog Day) A Nap by Trisha Hyde
• Includes: a, his, the, was, for, he, more, weeks

• Valentines Day by Even THAT Kid
• (Valentines Day) The Big Red Love Bug by Lauren's Lil Learners
• Includes: a, love
• Includes an additional story

• (Valentines Day) The Big Red Box by Lauren's Lil Learners
• Includes: a, for, with (th)
• Includes an additional story

• Valentines Puppet Play by Little Kinder Creations
• This is not a book, but a puppet play with two parts.
• PART 1 (Val) includes:  do, the, you, see, has
• PART 2 () includes: do, we, the, is, a, I, look

• The Dog In the Snow by Miss Hodgman's Kindergarten
• While this is a "predictable book" the only non-decodable words in the parts that change can all be skipped by omitting those pages.   The words "the" and "snow" can not be omitted because they are on every page.  
• Includes:  ending s, the, snow, look*, plays* (easy to skip pages with these words).

• Fun in the Snow by Paige Maguire 
• Includes snow, snowman, the, and, my, with, all, hill, like, me, go, of
• Grammar error on page 5 (My pal pat the snow - should be "pats" but they were probably trying to avoid an s ending).   

• Snow Day by 
• Focus words:  the, snow
• Includes ending s, -ck,  -ll, snow, snowball, can*, of, the, to, too, he, has, wall,  them, no, look
• The words snow and snowball have pictures above them in the text to help identify them

Digraphs (th, sh, ch)

• Hot Cocoa  by Natalie Lynn
• 3rd book in set. Includes: -ll words, the, a, pack, whip, to

Blends (st, br, fl, etc.)

• (Christmas)  Wish List  by Natalie Lynn
• 4th book in set. 
• Includes digraph sh, the, I, a, to, my
• Tess and the Big Chill by LitLab.ai
• Focus:   Floss rule
• Includes double letters, the, was, of, said
• The Best Sled by Pioneer Valley Books
• Focus:   e sound
• Includes digraphs, -ing, double letters, is, can*, the, go, going, day, down, like, look, my, said, snow, ice, wheee
• (Christmas) Fen the Elf by Coda Books
• Includes a, the, are
• (Gingerbread Man) Lost Gumdrops by Lucy's Little Learners
• Includes a two syllable word (gumdrops), find, can*, look, the 

Double Letters/Z Floss Rule

(double letters....al and ol words covered in another sections) 

• Tess and the Big Chill by LitLab.ai
• Includes the, was, of, said
• The Empress of Frost (Snow Queen retelling) by Endless Phonics
• Includes blends, digraphs, two syllable words, a, he, I, is, of, she, so, the, too, to, you, they, name, ending s, which, -ed (missed)

Open 1-Syllable Words (be, go, hi)

• My Hat by Even THAT Kid
• Includes: you, my, is, digraphs and blends
• (Christmas - Religious) Alices Decodable Stories: Book 3 by Illustrated Decodables 
• This printable contains several decodables.   See below for the specific one.
• Chapter 7:  Can it be? (Christian Nativity Story)
• Includes: blends, digraphs, -ing, -ink, true, here, see, leads, here, by, manger, could, by, should, says, shepherds, to, her, the, can*
• Snow Day by Miss Catherine's Kindergarten
• Focus word:  the, snow
• Includes:  snow, -ee, blends, digraphs (th), can*, to, -ll, you, my, like, I

_________________________________________________

All sections past this point may not note inclusion 

of  digraphs, basic blends (ch, sh, th), double letters,

or s making a z sound at the end of words 

_________________________________________________

VCE (Silent E) Words

• White Whales (Summer Olympics) by LAPREA Education
• This is part of multi-book resource
• Focus:  wh-
• Includes:  wh-, their, to, what, talk, see 
• A Fun New Year's Eve by Reading With Mrs. Richards
• Includes  al word (small), 2 -ed ending words, and was, they, said, have, down, saw.   
• A Gift For Mom (Valentines) by Reading With Mrs. Richards
• Includes: have, some, one, cupcake (compound word), to, for, icing (2nd sound of c), white (wh), said, smiled.  
• (Valentines) Ben and Jen by Miss Becca's Classroom
• Includes a, the, to, are, was, you, she, he, so, of, for, have, said, put
• Includes apostrophe's and quotation marks

R-controlled (ar, or, er, ur, ir)

• Alices Decodable Stories: Book 3 by Illustrated Decodables
• This printable contains several decodables.   See below for the specific one.
• Chapter 13:  The Star
• Focus ar (also includes er)
• Includes: ending a (Ara), 2-3 syllable words, vowel teams (ai, ay, ea), -ng, -ght, silent e, ee, ending y (long i), open syllables, -ed, always, lives, because, others, of, one, new, ever, before, from, who, her

-al / -all Words

• The Snowball Fight by Heather Floodman (Flood of Fun in Primary)
• Focus:  al words, oo words
• Includes ow words, oo words,  compound word (snowball), of, can*

Vowel Teams/Dipthongs (ee, oo, ea, ai, ay, ow, oi, etc.  .)

Also see Advanced/Review section for more difficult passages to review vowel teams and advance vowel teams such as -eigh and -ei

• Christmas Snack  by Natalie Lynn
• 5th book in set
• Vowel Team:  ee 
• Includes the, a, by, milk*
• It's a Leap Year by Reading With Mrs. Richards
• Vowel Team:  ea 
• Includes:  the, r-controlled, -ay, -ed, (+ -ear), there, once, one, have, are, every, February
• (Groundhog Day) Can a Groundhog Tell the Weather  by LAPREA Education
• This is part of multi-book resource
• Vowel Teams: oi/oy, ou/ow
• Includes: Multi-syl, -ol, -al, r-controlled, -ed, -ng,  -y (long e), VCE, vowel teams (ay, ee, ea, oe, oo), are, of, live,  February, other, people, always, another 
• (Super Bowl) The Big Game by Learning a Latte In First
• Vowel Teams:  ee, oo, ea, ie, oi, ey (they)
• Includes:  silent e, r-controlled, -all words, are, to
• The Mitten Mix Up by Pioneer Valley Books
• Readers Theater:   I've listed the parts below as different parts cover different skills
• Narrator: 
• FOCUS:  -ow words
• Includes:  2-syl, -er, -ur,  -ol, -ull, -ay, -ow, -ild, -ile, -tch, -ea (ready), -ear (bear), VCE. a, the, one, does
• Child: 
• Includes: 2-syl, -ay (play), VCE, that's, the,  no,to, want, my+, gone, there, again. (Pg 11:  could change "make in again" for "fix it"
• Wind:  
• digraph sh, oo, ow, I, again, once, more
• Rabbit:  
• digraphs sh, -ng, -aw, -ol, -ay, what, are, please, do, little, mouse, come
• Fox: 
• 2-syl, -ng, -ol, ee, oo, go, ears, little, mouse, come, hey, move,  
• Bear:  
• ee, oo, VCE, want, I, little, mouse, come, (grumbles - in "stage direction" only)
• Mouse:  
• 2-syl, ee+, oo, ending y, there, for, me, 

Closed Syllable Words (2 Syllable)

• The Mitten by Reading With Mrs. Richards
• FOCUS HFW:  go, said
• Includes: compound words, the, go, said
• (Valentines) Yasmin's Quest by LitLab.ai
• Includes one 3 syllable word ("Valentines") and some two syllable words where both syllables make a short sound when there is only one vowel after the first vowel.
• Includes silent e words, -y (my), -er words, -ay (day), -ed suffix, the, you, your, what, said, to
• Has both a blank story where kids draw their own picture, and one with pictures (cute but high printer ink). 

VCV  2 Syllable Words (Open and Closed) 

• Visit and Ice Hotel (Summer Olympics) by LAPREA Education
• This is part of multi-book resource
• Most VCV 2 syllable words are open syllable (1st syllable), but "visit" is closed syllable and used several times. 
• Includes:  of, are, you, can*, would, because, are, what, from

Advanced Easy Readers + Concept Review

While still in the easy reader category, these less controlled texts have more multi-syllable words and harder concepts, and because there are many I am not listing all the concepts.  I suggest reading over these texts beforehand and going over words you think your child may have difficulty with.

General/Mixed Skills 

• Santa's Workshop by 2nd Grade Snickerdoodles

Advanced Vowel Teams  (ei, eigh, igh, ight, etc.) 

• (Hanukkah) The Lamp that Did Not Quit by Think&Grow.com
• FOCUS:  -ight
• This is part of a multi-resource set with other holiday decodable and games.  Find it under the name Hanukkah Digraph Decodable

• (Christmas) Santa's Lost Reindeer by Illustrated Decodables
• FOCUS:  Long a vowel teams: ei, eigh, ey, ea

• (Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year) Sue Observes New Year by LitLab.ai
• FOCUS:   Vowel Team Review (various vowel teams)

• The Reindeer Who Lost Her Way by Pioneer Valley Books

*Asteric words are words that may be tricky words because of how they are pronounced in some regions.  I won't know all of these, but know about some. 

OTHER SEASONS

Spring Decodables

Summer Decodables 

Fall Decodables

Header graphic courtesy of Pixabay.

Paper Penguin Craft

I've done this craft with several kids I nanny or tutor, ages 4-7.   All enjoyed it and had fun.  It's a pretty quick one...takes 10-20 minutes.

The first time I tried this we cut out paper circles for eyes...the kids really struggled cutting those small circles, even the 7 year old.  That's why I switched to googly eyes the next time I did this.


SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Cardstock or construction paper in the following colors:  

• Black
• White
• Orange
• Light Blue
  

Glue (I prefer glue sticks for this one)
Large Googly Eyes


It's fairly straight forward.

1.  Cut off the bottom of white sheet of the paper, about 2-4 inches up for the snow in the background.   You can make the cut a little curvy, or go straight across.   Glue this to the bottom of your light blue paper.

2.  Cut a black tall oval a little bit smaller than your blue paper.   Glue it on the paper so it's sitting on top of the snow.

3.   Cut a white oval shorter and less wide than your black oval.   If it doesn't look big enough to put a face on the black, cut it down a little more.  Glue it towards the bottom of your black oval.

4.   On the edge of a black paper, cut two thin semicircle to make the wings.   They should be about half the length of the black circle that makes the penguin body.  You can cut them separately like in the penguin above, or fold the paper  in half first so you can cut two wings at once.  Glue those on the edge of the black and white circle, so that the top part is fully in the in the black area, and the bottom sticks out into the blue background. 

5.   Glue your googly eyes to the top of your penguins head. 

6.   Cut a small triangle for the nose.   With younger kids I just had them cut a corner off an orange paper.   Glue it under the eyes.


And you have a penguin!

Torn Paper Mountain Craft

 

Making torn paper mountains is a fun, really easy artwork you can do with kids of almost any age (or even adults!).


Supplies: 

Different color paper
Glue
Scissors (optional, for second part).


You will need different shades of paper.   In mine I used different shades of purple cardstock, plus black for silhouettes in the front and a blue background.   Shades of green or blue look nice too, or you can also do this with multiple colors of paper, or even patterned paper, for a different look.  

First, tear the paper in a zig-zag or wave pattern to make mountains.

Before gluing anything down, you might want to suggest your kids figure out what order they want their mountains in. 

While it seems obvious, as adults, that you have to glue the mountains in the background first, you may need to explain that to your children.   I've done this with two groups of kids now, and I notice little kids often start by gluing the mountain in the foreground, even though that needs to go over the the other mountain.   

Also, if you are going to add trees (see below) decide if you want any between your mountains before gluing.

OPTIONAL - ADD A TREE

The mountains on their own look beautiful, but if you want you can add a silhouette of a tree, or a few trees, like the ones I cut out here.  

Here are several arrangements I tried of my trees...I encourage kids to move around their pieces and find the way they would like them to be placed before gluing.

First Year Homeschool Memories: Snow in Texas

One of the things I loved about homeschooling was the rare fleeting moments we would get when everyone else was in school.   Like enjoying a brief Texas snow flurry.

Snow is rare in Texas, so even the smallest dusting is a treat.   That morning we headed out as soon as the snowflakes began to fall.   There was a little koi pond at a gardening store at the end of our block...and we walked out to it.  My son wanted to know if fishes get cold.  I'm sure they do...they were all huddled up on the bottom in one corner of the pond...and didn't come up to the top to greet us like they usually do.

My other two were in school when the snow hit.  After we finished our walk out in the white stuff, I hemmed and hawed about whether to go get them out of school.  I finally looked at the weather and it said it would get warmer later so I got my youngest re-bundled and got in the car.

It was still snowing when we left, but half way to their school it started to rain. Alas, no point in them missing a day to play in slush, so we turned around.

My older two later told me they did get a few minutes out in the snow.  At the intermediate school the whole school got to go outside for 10 minutes (not much, but at least it was something).  The elementary school stayed inside for recess (Ptttth!  Come on!  Let them play in it!  But, maybe it was turning to rain by then.).  However,  during library time the kids were taking pictures through the window, and the librarian had pity on them and let them go outside for a few minutes to take pictures of the snow with their ipads.   Yeah for librarians!   But honestly, with how infrequently we got snow back in Texas, I'm surprised the teachers didn't jump on the change to let the kids experience it.    I was sorry my older kids didn't get to do more than that.   But it made me so thankful that at least my youngest home for it. 


Shared on Throwback Thursday

Christmas Freebie Faves

 I will probably add some more freebies to this page in the coming week, but wanted to share these with you before its too late to use them...

Math
Santa's Elapsed Time Activity


Science
Winter Science - Multiple Activities
Gingerbread Science Activity


Crafts 
Paper Wreath Craft Activity 
Foil Ornament Activity


Geography/Culture
Holidays Around the World Passport 
Celebrations Around the World Passport