Reading By The Rules Stories

Controlled for both orthography and narrative development

Level 1 stories are written in decodable text that follows the early sequence of sound/symbol patterns addressed in our core program, Reading By The Rules.  The narrative contains early story grammar elements of character, setting and event.  Care has been given to type font, size, and spacing to ensure the student the maximum ability to appreciate the interrelationship between letters.  The color of the paper (similar to this web page) was chosen to create a stable contrast between print and background.

Level 2 stories continue to follow in the sequence of sound/symbol patterns outlined in Reading By The Rules.  The narrative adds the elements of internal response, plan, attempts and resolution.

Level 3 stories  incorporate all sound symbol relationships addressed in the initial sequence of Reading By The Rules.  Irregular and alternative spellings will be covered in Levels 4, 5 and 6.  Narrative development incorporates all of the story grammar elements addressed in Level 2 and introduces multiple perspectives, forward inferencing, and deductive thinking.

Teachers can easily reference the level of sound/symbol correspondence that is being addressed within a story from the key to the left of each story's title.  All sound/symbol correspondences that have previously been reviewed may occur within a story.  Additionally, any words with patterns that have not yet been addressed are listed to the right of the story's title as "unfamiliar words".

We suggest that in addition to the use of these stories as practice in decodable text, that they be used to practice fluency.  Repeated readings is a technique that can be valuable in improving reading fluency.  The greatest benefit from repeated readings typically occurs within four trials.  The teacher determines if the optimum benefit would occur at the phrase, sentence or paragraph level. Readings should be rehearsed for accuracy prior to initiating repeated readings.

Stories range in length from 100 to 600 words as student progress from Level 1 through Level 3.
The samples below show the relative font sizes and spacing used for each of the three levels.

Pup hid in the trees.  He can not see his home.  Jim and Sue ran in the trees at the top of the street.  They did run and yell.  Then pup said, "Yipe, Yipe, Yipe!"

Dane sat on his back porch.  It was such a great day, but he was bored.  His pal Jake went on a trip for three weeks.  Now Dane had no pal to play with.

The score was 5 to 7.  When she was up, Jenn had hit the ball. She is now on first, and Greg is on third.  It is Beth's turn to hit. She must hit the ball to win the game.  Her legs shook as she stepped up to the plate.