Red Series
Content Columns
The books in the Red Series are predominantly non-fiction, and include engaging topics such as Arctic hares, puppies, and space tools.
As the Red Series progresses, students need to become more flexible with their word-solving. The Red Series introduces a wider range of vowel digraphs, many of which can represent more than one phoneme. Watch as students begin to put their world and vocabulary knowledge together with their decoding skills to experience successful reading!
- Vowel Digraphs <oa>, <ea>, <ow>, and <oo>, and Trigraph <igh>
- Diphthongs <ow>/<ou> and <oi>/<oy>
- Consonant-le Pattern
- High-Frequency Words (“many”, “once”, “come”, “people”, and “some”)
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Digital Samples
Click below to see digital samples from our Red Series. If you would like a selection of hard samples for the purpose of reviewing the quality and feel of our books, please visit our online store and view our sample pack.
Frequently Asked Questions
Decodable books are sequential and skill-based. Different regions may have different curriculum sequences, so it is important to compare our Scope and Sequence with your own curriculum resources.
For example, in Ontario (where we are based), the concepts covered in the Red Series are covered in our Grade 1 Curriculum.
Yes. The majority of the books in our Red Set are non-fiction. When choosing topics, we have a few key things to keep in mind:
- we need to find topics that are engaging and informative – we strive to include at least one fact in each non-fiction book that is new to us as a team
- we need to ensure that there are enough words included in each text that demonstrate the concept being introduced (e.g., in Space Tools, we needed to make sure there were enough <oo> words in the text)
- we need to make sure that our information is accurate – this isn’t always easy, because we have limited vocabulary that we can use due to the constraint of our Scope and Sequence – we fact check in all sorts of ways, including finding multiple sources of information, and by reaching out to experts in the field (e.g., Clever Dolphins was reviewed by a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at University of California Davis)
- we need to be able to source representative and engaging photos – we do this through stock images, through reaching out to experts in the field, and through taking our own photographs
Yes. Our books come in two kinds of sets:
- Single Title Sets (1 copy of each title)
- Classroom Sets (6 copies of each title)
Yes. The Red Series is part of 2 different bundles:
Bundle B (includes Blue, Teal, Red, and Purple):
Full Series Bundle (includes Yellow Series, Green Illustrated, Green Photo, Blue, Teal, Red, and Purple):
Note: Our new Yellow Square Set is not yet in a bundle. This is our newest set, and a 20% off introductory offer will be in place until June 30, 2025.
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Red Series Teaching Resources
We are proud to offer a range of free teacher resources.
Each step in our Scope and Sequence comes with a Teacher Tip Sheet, and a list of words and phrases that can be used in instruction. We also offer a pictureless version of each book, along with a 1-page passage. Click below to access our free teacher resources.
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Red Series Scope and Sequence
Click below to review our Red Series Scope and Sequence, which includes sections on grapheme/phoneme correspondence, orthographic conventions, and morphology.