Orton-Gillingham Decodable Stories: Level 7 ? A Day at the Beach is a structured decodable reader designed for developing readers learning through the Orton-Gillingham approach.
This Level 7 story builds on short-vowel words, silent-e words, digraphs, consonant clusters, r-controlled vowels, suffixes, and two-syllable words. It provides focused practice with the vowel teams ay, ai, oa, ea, ue, au, and aw.
Readers practise ay in words such as day and play, ai in pail, sailed, and rain, oa in boat and moat, and ea in beach and sea. They also practise ue in blue, au in haul, aw in saw, and final y making the long e sound in sunny and happy.
Other practice words include waves, played, and sailed.
Carefully controlled text helps children apply previously learned phonics skills while building accurate decoding, fluency, confidence, and reading independence.
Is This the Right Level?
Level 7 is designed for readers who:
• Can read short-vowel words, silent-e words, digraphs, consonant clusters, and r-controlled vowels
• Are ready to practise common vowel teams
• Are learning ay, ai, oa, ea, ue, au, and aw
• Are practising final y making the long e sound
• Are beginning to read longer sentences and two-syllable words
• Benefit from controlled text and rereading
Phonics Skills Practised
• ay, as in day and play
• ai, as in pail, sailed, and rain
• oa, as in boat and moat
• ea, as in beach and sea
• ue, as in blue
• au, as in haul
• aw, as in saw
• Final y making the long e sound, as in sunny and happy
• Review of silent-e words, suffixes, consonant clusters, and two-syllable words
Sight Words Practised
a, began, could, going, hear, Let's, loud, of, out, put, said, the, their, they, to, warm, was, you
These words should be reviewed before reading. Most other words are intended to be decoded using previously taught phonics skills.
About the Story
Max and his mom go to the beach on a sunny day. Max is happy to see the sea, hear the waves, and begin their day by playing beach bats.
They swim in the sea and wave to a boat as it sails past. Max then uses a small pail to haul wet sand and build a fort with a moat.
A loud bird tries to grab their snacks, so Mom puts the food safely in her beach bag. Later, the sky becomes dark and it begins to rain. Max and his mom quickly pack their things and run back to the car.
Max tells Mom that he had the best time.
Who This Book Is For
• Orton-Gillingham tutors
• Structured literacy and reading intervention teachers
• Parents and homeschool families
• Children with dyslexia or other reading difficulties
Written by Tammy Harris, an Orton-Gillingham certified reading tutor with over eight years of experience supporting students with dyslexia and other reading difficulties.
