Trip to Cactus Gulch 1 (The Step-up Team) Chapter Book: Sound-Out Phonics Books Help Developing Readers, including Students with Dyslexia, Learn to Re

This book has about 5,000 words.

The DOG ON A LOG Book series helps kids, including kids with dyslexia, learn to read. They are sound out books that start with just a few phonics rules. Each following Step of books adds a few more phonics rules and sight words. This gradual progression helps kids learn to read without feeling so overwhelmed.

Start anywhere in the series based on your child's reading skills. The word list below will help you decide where in the series your child should start. Printable game boards, flashcards, handwriting sheets, and more are available to for additional practice. Information on the printables is provided in each book.

The (purple) Let's GO! books have fewer words for new or less confident readers. The (red) chapter books are longer for more reading practice. Kids enjoy these stories that get more complex and longer as more phonics are added throughout the series.

Books can be purchased individually or as collection volumes. This is an individual Step 9 Chapter Book.

Additional information on using this series is available in the digital book HOW TO USE DECODABLE BOOKS TO TEACH READING.

DOG ON A LOG Books follow an Orton Gillingham/systematic-phonics progression.

DOG ON A LOG "What Step Should We Start With?" Word List

Have your child read the following words. If they can't read every word in a Step, that is probably the step they should start with. For some kids, you may want to start at an earlier Step so they can build confidence in their reading ability.

Step 1

fin, mash, sock, sub, cat, that, Dan's

Step 2

less, bats, tell, mall, chips, whiff, falls

Step 3

bangs, dank, honk, pings, chunk, sink, gong, rungs

Step 4

silk, fluff, smash, krill, drop, slim, whisk

Step 5

hunch, crate, rake, tote, inch, mote, lime

Step 6

child, molts, fold, hind, jolt, post, colds

Step 7

strive, scrape, splint, twists, crunch, prints, blend

Step 8

finish, denim, within, bathtub, sunset, medic, habit

Step 9

hundred, goldfinch, tree, wheat, inhale, play, Joe

Step 10

be, remake, spry, repeat, silo, sometime, pinwheel

Step 11

far, north, spire, turn, inhabit, calculate, Wyoming

Many early reader books or leveled books are written so they cannot be sounded out. Kids often struggle and grow frustrated when they can't sound out the words. However, kids who have been taught the phonics and sight words in DOG ON A LOG Books can be proud when they are able to sound out and read almost every word.

Paper books are optimized for learners with dyslexia. They have cream colored paper, black and white images, and large Verdana font. Research has shown Verdana is one of the most dyslexia-friendly fonts.

More DOG ON A LOG Books:

DOG ON A LOG Pup Books

---Before the Squiggle Code (Pre-Reading Skills)

---The Squiggle Code (Learning Letters and Words)

---Kids' Squiggles (First Stories)

DOG ON A LOG Parent and Teacher Guides

---Teaching a Struggling Reader: One Mom's Experience with Dyslexia

---How to Use Decodable Books to Teach Reading

Relevant portions of the DOG ON A LOG Phonics Progression (Scope and Sequence) and the Quick Assessment Tool ("What Step Should We Start With?" Word List) are inside each book.

WATCH FOR MORE STEPS AND BOOKS COMING SOON

About the Author
Brookes, Pamela: - My child needed an ongoing supply of systematic phonics books that use an Orton-Gillingham approach. Finding them proved to be a nearly impossible, expensive task so I decided to write them myself. I want to share our books with new readers and their families. I also want to make them affordable. All books are available in both digital and paper editions. The most cost-effective version is a digital collection of five same-step books. The paperback version of the five book collections is a bit more, but is still a lot less expensive than buying the individual paper books. Due to production costs, the individual paperbacks are the most expensive way to buy these books. However, these books give kids a chance to hold a book and say, "I read this WHOLE book." Since every family will have different needs and different budgets, I am making the books available in multiple formats. All the paperbacks have black and white pictures to keep prices down. The digital books all have color pictures.