SyllaSense in Ontario Kindergarten Classrooms
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Understanding the New Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum
Ontario has released a new Kindergarten curriculum, effective September 2026. In this updated framework, Kindergarten expectations are now formally mapped onto the Language Foundations Continuum for Reading and Writing, which outlines the concepts to be taught in a systematic and explicit way. The “Word-Level Reading and Spelling” portion of this document lays out key knowledge and skills for students to demonstrate.
- Applying grapheme-phoneme correspondence to word reading and spelling
- Beginning to use suffixes, including: -s, -es, -ed, -ing
- Applying phonological, orthographic, and morphological knowledge to decode and encode the parts of irregular words that are regular, and learning the unexpected portions of these words to support word reading and spelling
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How Can SyllaSense Help?
Decodable texts play an important role in supporting the systematic and explicit instruction of concepts. As students build their understanding of grapheme/phoneme correspondence, orthographic conventions, and morphology, they require opportunities to apply their knowledge. These texts give students opportunities to practice newly taught skills in engaging and meaningful contexts, reinforcing phonics and early reading development, and helping students develop a joy of reading.
Upcoming Webinar – From Curriculum to Practise: Using Decodables in Kindergarten
Looking for more information on using SyllaSense texts in Kindergarten? Join us for our upcoming free webinar, From Curriculum to Practise: Using Decodables in Kindergarten. Two Ontario-focused sessions are scheduled for October. To register on our Events page, click below.
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Using a Structured Literacy Program Such as UFLI or Phonics Companion?
While built on its own Scope and Sequence, SyllaSense works well with other common Scope and Sequences such as UFLI Foundations and Phonics Companion. A selection of correlation guides can be found on the website, which help you determine which text to use according to where you are in a lesson sequence.
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Our Yellow Series provides a great starting point for Kindergarten learners.
The font is large with extra spacing between words and lines, and we use a font with the single-story <ɑ>. The initial books and cards include short phrases, as well as sentences, to help beginning readers build their confidence. Simple orthographic conventions are also introduced, such as when to use <ck>.
- All Short Vowels & Single Consonants
- Consonant Digraphs <ck>, <ff>, <ll>, <ss>, and <zz>
- Suffix <-s>
- High-Frequency Words (a, and, the, and to)
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Shop Our Yellow Series
Click below to shop our Yellow Sets
- Yellow Circle: 5 Fiction Titles and 5 Photo Titles
- Yellow Square: 10 Photo Titles
- Yellow DECK-odables: 150 Cards
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Our Green Series builds on the Yellow Series, and helps Kindergarten students continue their learning.
The Green Circle – Illustrated Set is painted with vivid colours, and the stories revolve around animals and young characters. The Green Circle – Photo Set is created with engaging photographs. The stories in both sets have more of a narrative structure, describing what the characters are doing and experiencing. The Green Circle – Photo Set starts at a slightly higher level than the Green Circle – Illustrated Set (Book 1 of the Photo set aligns with Book 4 of the Illustrated set).
- Consonant Clusters in Initial and Final Position
- Consonant Digraphs <sh>, <th>, <ch>, and <qu>
- Suffix <-ed>, <-ing>, and Suffix <-s> as Possessive
- High-Frequency Words (of, was, said, and they)
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Shop Our Green Series
Click below to shop our Green Sets
- Green Circle – Illustrated: 10 Illustrated Titles
- Green Circle – Photo: 10 Photo Titles
- Green DECK-odables: 150 Cards
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Teacher 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 for and during instruction. We also offer a pictureless version of each book, along with a 1-page passage. Our “Teacher Resources” page is full of free games and activities – some are pre-made, while others are editable to meet the needs of your individual students. Click below to access our teacher resources.
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Series & Bundle Mapping
Our Series Mapping document provides a visual showing the sets of books and DECK-odables already published and available for purchase, along with the expected release dates for planned new sets. This document will be revised as we expand our product line and plan future release dates.
Our Bundle Mapping document provides a visual showing which products are included in each of the 5 Classroom Set Bundles and 5 Single Title Set Bundles currently available. Once all the planned Square Sets are available, this document will be updated to include Square Bundles as well.
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Get a Free Estimate
Every school district we work with in Canada is assigned a dedicated sales consultant. These trusted advisors can offer consultative services, recommend resources that match your needs and budget, and provide estimates. They are your first stop for pricing, samples, and much more. Click below to see our sales consultants and their territories.
Frequently Asked Questions
As we release new materials, we send them to the UFLI team for review. They analyse each book or DECK-odable card, and place it at the correct step of their scope and sequence. You can see their full Decodable Text Guide here.
Click here for the UFLI Decodable Text Guide with SyllaSense only (Note: This table has been copied directly from UFLI’s Decodable Text Guide. As they state on their original document, “this chart does not imply endorsement of a book, or set of books, or a statement about the quality of the book”. We are grateful to UFLI for creating this list, and for their ongoing work creating quality resources for teachers).
Please note that our Yellow Series books only start at Lesson 23 of UFLI. Our Yellow DECK-odables start at Lesson 2. If you are teaching Kindergarten and are starting at UFLI Lesson 1, you will likely want to include the Yellow DECK-odables in your order.
We don’t have a chart showing how our books compare to leveled readers. Decodable books and leveled books are crafted in very different ways, and as such, are not easily compared.
Decodable books follow scope and sequences that systematically introduce grapheme/phoneme correspondences, orthographic conventions, and concepts in morphology.
Leveled books are written to highlight key high-frequency words, and those words are not chosen based on a systematic scope and sequence (e.g., they tend to include long vowels, short vowels, irregular spellings, and a mix of words with and without affixes). In addition, leveled books have many “content” words, such as “butterfly”, “Ferris wheel”, and “leaves”, which students read using picture cues to support.
Decodable books are sequential and skill-based. It is important to review your curriculum, and compare it to our Scope and Sequence to see where each series falls. In Ontario (where we are based), we suggest the following breakdown:
- Kindergarten: Yellow, and the first part of Green, depending on your cohort
- Grade 1: Green (for those who need short vowel consolidation), Blue/Teal, Red, and the first part of Purple
- Grade 2: Purple
Our books are also appropriate for students in older grades, who are at an early stage of reading, or for English Language Learners.
Yes. Our books come in two kinds of sets:
- Single Title Sets (1 copy of each title)
- Classroom Sets (6 copies of each title)
We do not offer lesson plans, however, we have a wide range of teacher resources that are free to download. Each book has a Teacher Tip Sheet. Rather than being a full lesson plan, each Tip Sheet provides specific information about the concepts covered in each book, as well as practical lesson ideas such as word and phrase lists for reading and spelling. We also have free “pictureless books”, 1-page passages of each book, and editable games and activities.
Decodable books are the “grand finale” of a structured literacy lesson. Educators will teach a concept to students, who will then read and spell the concept at the word, phrase, and sentence level.
Decodable books are only used once an educator is confident that the students understand and can apply the concepts that have been taught. A decodable book is a student’s opportunity to apply what they have learned in a meaningful way.