The Road to Decode
Teach My Kid to Read (TMKTR) launched The Road to Decode in 2019 to enlist librarians to learn about, stock, and provide parents, caregivers, and educators with information and resources that help all children, especially early and struggling readers, learn to read. TMKTR was the first organization to promote sound aloud or decodable books, the lesser-known resources that help all children become skilled readers. Before The Road to Decode, librarians were mostly unfamiliar with decodable books. As such, decodable books and similar resources were difficult for families of early and struggling readers to access. Working with the public libraries, The Road to Decode enables all children to have equal access to resources that help them learn to read.
After participating in The Road to Decode, 100 percent of librarians stated they are likely or highly likely to learn about and stock decodable books.
The Road to Decode stresses the importance of decodable or sound aloud books because they enable children to practice the phonics skills they have just learned. Like anything, practice is the only way to improve, and children with reading issues like dyslexia need lots of practice to become fluent readers. Decoding skills are on the road to word recognition or “cracking the code.” The other road that children need practice in is language comprehension. Language comprehension provides the background knowledge so children can understand what they read. To indicate the spread of The Road to Decode, we ask librarians to feature an infographic that shows the two roads that lead to skilled reading.
The Road to Decode takes place in October and enables libraries to get involved in a nationwide initiative to support best practices for early and struggling readers. TMKTR chose October in honor of Dyslexia Awareness Month. Libraries partnering with Teach My Kid to Read on The Road to Decode can proudly demonstrate to patrons that they support resources that help all children learn to read and offer patrons opportunities to learn more about essential literacy skills.
Dyslexia Awareness Month takes place in October, but the impact of the programming takes place all year long. Libraries that join The Road to Decode can help their community offer more literacy solutions by stocking decodable books and recommending resources that help all children learn to read!
What are the Benefits of Signing up to The Road to Decode?
First and foremost, you will be part of a nationwide movement to demonstrate that the community can offer literacy solutions that promote early reading skills and help struggling readers become proficient readers. The features of the program are as follows:
- Resources and information about the process of how we learn to read and where the different resources fit.
- Infographics, visuals, and program materials that show your support for all readers and provide patrons with essential information.
- Incentives from the publishers through October for you and your patrons.
- Access to virtual events and webinars throughout the month of October and a free professional development course.
- Social media kits so you can promote The Road to Decode on your website and media feeds.
· Most importantly, training and continuous support when implementing reading help to emergent and struggling readers.