decodable - Starting the School Year Strong - 3 Moves for Parents

August 1, 2026

The back-to-school banners are up in stores, and maybe you're feeling that familiar mix of hope and worry. Will this be the year reading clicks? Will your child's new teacher understand their needs? Will the dreaded homework battles return?

You're not alone in those questions. And while we can't predict every twist the school year will bring, there are three things you can do this week - before the first bell rings - that will set your child up for their strongest reading year yet.

TRY THIS

Before school starts, build a tiny daily routine that wakes up the reading brain. No worksheets. No drills. Just five minutes of play that activates the same neural pathways your child will use all year.

• Sound stretch (1 min): Say a word like "stop." Stretch each sound: "ssss-t-o-p." Ask your child to count the sounds on their fingers - four sounds.
• Letter flashback (2 min): Grab 5-10 index cards with letters your child learned last year. If they hesitate more than 2 seconds, just say the letter name and sound and move on. No pressure, no judgment.
• Blend it (2 min): Say two sounds: "/k/ /a/ /t/." Ask your child to smoosh them together: "cat." If that's easy, try four: "/s/ /t/ /o/ /p/."

Five minutes. That's it. Do it at breakfast, in the car, or while waiting for the bus. Consistency matters more than duration - a five-minute warm-up every day beats a 30-minute session once a week.

MICRO-TIPS

• Write a "Hello, I'm a reader" letter to the teacher. One paragraph. Your child's strengths, what they love to read (even if it's just graphic novels or audiobooks), and one thing that helps them most. Teachers tell us these letters are gold.
• Reset the reading spot. Find a corner, a couch cushion, or a chair. Add a small basket with 3-5 books your child can actually read (decodable texts, familiar favorites, high-interest low-level options). Let them arrange it.
• Choose one non-negotiable. Pick the single reading habit you will protect this year no matter what: reading together for 10 minutes before bed, a weekly library trip, or using audiobooks during the afternoon wind-down. Just one.
• Keep it short and sweet. A five-minute warm-up every day beats a 30-minute session once a week.

A NOTE FOR YOU

A new school year carries weight when your child struggles with reading. The IEP meetings, the careful conversations with teachers, the hope that this year will be different - it's a lot to carry. And you've been carrying it with grace you don't always feel.

Here's what we want you to know: you don't need to have everything figured out by day one. You don't need a perfect plan, a color-coded schedule, or a shelf full of decodable books (though those help). You just need to keep showing up. Every morning warm-up, every letter to a teacher, every five-minute sound game - these aren't small things. They're the scaffolding your child's reading brain is leaning on. And you are building it, day by day. You've got this. The school year hasn't started yet, and you're already making it stronger.

Sources & Further Reading

• Reading Rockets - Phonics and Decoding and Phonological and Phonemic Awareness
• National Center on Improving Literacy - Resources for Families
• National Center on Improving Literacy - Phonological Awareness
• Five from Five (Australia) - Phonics explains how sound games build the reading brain.
• British Dyslexia Association (UK) - Advice on starting the school year with the right support.