First grade is where most children move from short-vowel words to real reading: blends and digraphs first, then silent e, then vowel teams and r-controlled vowels. Below is one free printable decodable book for every 1st grade skill, in the order they're usually taught.
Two-letter sounds and consonant clusters — ship, chin, that, stop, hand. The next step once short-vowel words feel easy.
Words where the vowel "says its name" — cake, bike, hope, cute. Magic-e and the first long-vowel patterns.
The last of the single-syllable patterns — vowel teams (rain, boat), r-controlled vowels (bird, fort), and diphthongs (coin, cow). Next comes putting them together into longer words.
Not quite ready, or already past 1st grade skills? Start with Kindergarten Decodable Books (Level 1) or move on to 2nd Grade Decodable Passages: Multisyllable Words (Level 5).
Browse all decodable readers →Most Science of Reading scope and sequences cover three big steps in first grade. Children start the year blending consonant clusters and digraphs (ship, chin, stop, hand), move to silent-e words where the vowel says its name (cake, bike, hope), and finish with vowel teams, r-controlled vowels, and diphthongs (rain, boat, bird, coin). Every child moves at their own pace, so treat the timing above as a rough guide, not a rule. If a story feels too hard, drop back a step. If it feels easy, move ahead.
Every decodable book on this page uses only the phonics patterns taught up to that skill, plus a small set of taught sight words, so a first grader can sound out nearly every word. Each one is a full-color illustrated mini-book (cut, fold, and staple) with a read-aloud version. For more stories at each step, open the full Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 catalogs. For decodable passages, word sorts, and fluency practice on each skill, see the matching phonics worksheets. For the full K–3 order, see the reading path. When the books feel easy, try the 1st grade reading comprehension passages: very short texts with four questions each.
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