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How to Choose Which Words to Pre-Teach for Decodable Texts

How to Choose Which Words to Pre-Teach for Decodable Texts

10/8/2025

When working with early readers, decodable texts are a powerful tool to support phonics-based reading instruction. But even the most carefully constructed decodable story often contains a few words students haven’t yet fully mastered. That’s where previewing (or pre-teaching) comes in. Thoughtfully selecting which words to introduce before reading can make the difference between a choppy decoding experience and a confident, successful read. It is also a way to introduce unfamiliar vocabulary, helping students build strong comprehension of the text.

An analysis has shown that LitLab stories are highly decodable, with an average decodability greater than 95%, leaving just a handful of words in each story that may require previewing or pre-teaching with students. In this post, we’ll share a clear framework for selecting words to pre-teach using LitLab Stories as an example — but the principles apply across any decodable instruction.

Why Preview Words?

  • Fluency and confidence: Removing stumbling blocks allows students to apply their decoding skills smoothly and prevents word guessing.
  • Comprehension: Knowing a key word’s meaning helps students follow the story or text without confusion.

A Framework for Previewing Words

Here are the criteria we suggest when selecting 3–5 words to preview:

1. Out-of-sequence words
These are words that may be phonetically irregular (said, does, was) or phonetically regular (play, house, take), but haven’t been introduced yet in your phonics sequence. While LitLab stories are highly controlled to include word patterns and sight words already taught, these words sometimes appear in LitLab Stories and other decodables to make sentences more natural.

2. Words Critical to Comprehension
Sometimes a word is essential for understanding the plot or characters, even if it’s rare or outside the students’ decoding range. Previewing it can have a huge impact on your student’s comprehension of the story.

How to Preview Effectively

For vocabulary words:

  1. Say it aloud and have students repeat.
  2. Show it in context in the story.
  3. Give a short, student-friendly definition.
  4. Ask a question to connect it to their experience.
  5. Optional: act it out or use a quick sketch.

Out-of-sequence words:

  1. Say it – Say the word and use it in a sentence.
  2. Hear it – Stretch out and say each sound you hear.
  3. Map it – Match sounds to letters as you write the word.
  4. Mark it – Put a heart over the tricky part you must “learn by heart.”
  5. Show it – Show students where they will see it in the story.

Concrete example: Pre-teaching words for a decodable story (Shan Helps Pick Up Trash)

Below is an example from the LitLab Story, Shan Helps Pick up Trash.

Preview example

Steps to Choose Words to Preview

  1. Find vocabulary words that are critical to understanding the story.
  2. Find words that are non-decodable.
  3. Check how many times each word repeats.
  4. Select the words that appear most frequently and are crucial to understanding the text.

Step 1: Find vocabulary words

  • compost
  • recycle

Step 2: Find non-decodable words

  • compost
  • day
  • earth
  • recycle

LitLab will do this step for you! You can find non-decodable words in the “Words to pre-teach” section of the vocabulary guide.

Vocabulary guide

Step 3: Note the frequency of the words

  • compost (1x)
  • day (1x)
  • earth (1x)
  • recycle (1x)

Step 4: Select words to pre-teach

  • compost — Why? crucial to understanding the text
  • recycle — Why? out-of-sequence word with a prefix that is also crucial for understanding
  • earth — Why? out-of-sequence word

If a word only appears one time and you think it might be familiar to students, or it's not crucial to the meaning of the text, you may want to choose a word that appears more frequently to preview instead.

Keep It Simple. Keep It Purposeful.

Previewing doesn’t mean front-loading every unfamiliar word. In this example, we didn’t preview the word “day” even though it is an out-of-sequence word because it is a familiar word often used in the classroom.

Use this time to support meaning and confidence — not to rob the story of its decodable power. With practice, you’ll quickly learn which words need to be pre-taught and which should be left for students to decode.

Want to try it out? Browse our LitLab Stories and try previewing three words before reading with your class. Tag us with your annotated story!

👉 Explore decodable stories at LitLab.ai

Written by: Jacqueline Ontell, Elementary Teacher, Special Education & Curriculum Development