Language Patterns
Which format should I use?
Probably a bit of all of them...
Paper! Books are always the best, but not always what you need...
PROs
Best for reading decodables.
Best for individual work.
Leaves a permanent record of your students' work.
CONs
Expensive for whole classes.
Can't project them.
PDF is very versatile, you can project them, print them, use them on your iPad/tablet and even mark them up!
PROs
Print any page you want.
Project on a screen or whiteboard.
Write on them using markup tools.
CONs
Technology dependent.
A little more difficult to navigate than paper or epubs.
Epub will work on your book readers on iPad or other tablet device.
PROs
Works with any e-reader like Apple Books, Kindle, most android e-readers.
Use on individual devices or project to screens or whiteboards.
CONs
Technology dependent.
Hard to mark up.
Which format should I use?
Books.
Best For:
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reading decodables
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doing workbook exercises
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planning lessons
Ideally, you will have enough decodables for your class (usually a set of 6 or 8 copies of each book), a single Parent/Teacher/Ontario Teacher Edition, and a copy of each workbook for each student.
For the best learning/teaching experience, we recommend that you use paper books for decodables and workbooks, and while the Parent/Teacher/Ontario Teacher Edition can be in any convenient format, paper is very easy to make notes on as you work or plan lessons.
Best For:
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selected workbook pages
PDFs are very versatile and extremely affordable, but a little labour-intensive. You can print copies of whichever workbook pages you want to use with your students, in any number, and in b/w if you wish. You can print the decodable stories on whatever paper you have, and they look good in b/w (though better in colour). If your budget is very tight you can project the worksheets on a screen/whiteboard and have the students work on blank or lined paper. It takes a little thought to arrange the paper with the students (we provide a presentation with instructions), but it can be done.
You can buy a single copy of each book and use them as many times as you want.
You can open a PDF on any PDF viewer like Preview or Adobe, all you have to do is double-click and your system will use the default PDF viewer for your system.
You can also add them to pretty much any e-reader like Apple Books or Kindle. Just right-click and use the "open with" option.
Epub
Best For:
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Parent/Teacher/Ontario Teacher Editions
Epub is a very convenient format for keeping your teaching instructions handy, or anything you don't need to share. However, they are projectable if you do want to share something with the class.
Epub is probably the second-best way to read decodables - they look great on e-readers, but keep in mind that many schools/boards/ministries recommend that screen time be kept to a minimum.
They are also very handy for Parent/Teacher/Ontario Teacher Editions so you can have them handy. They project well, but are hard to markup, so they are not the best for workbooks.
Double-click on the epub file and your system should open it with your default system reader.
RIght-click on your epub file and use the "Open with" option to choose your favourite reader.
You can transfer epub files to your Kindle reader with the "Send to Kindle" app. You will need an Amazon account.
Combinations
You can mix and match formats to your best advantage. Paper is always the format of choice for workbooks and decodables. Here are some other options. This is not an exhaustive list of possibilities and you can be as creative as you like!
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Paper decodables, paper Student Editions, Epub for Parent/Teacher/Ontario Teacher Editions. Your students get all the advantages of paper, while you can keep the Parent/Teacher/Ontario Teacher Editions handy on your tablet/e-reader.
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Paper decodables, paper and PDF/Epub Student Editions, Epub for Parent/Teacher/Ontario Teacher Editions. As above, but you can project the worksheets for students to see on a screen/whiteboard so they can follow your instructions better.
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Paper decodables, PDF for Student Editions, PDF or Epub for the Parent/Teacher/Ontario Teacher Editions. Your students are reading physical books while you can print whatever workbook exercises you want for them to work on. They have the advantage of working with paper-and-pencil while you have your parent/Tacher/Ontario Teacher Edition handy on your tablet.
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Epub decodables, PDF for Student Editions, PDF or Epub for the Parent/Teacher/Ontario Teacher Editions. Reading books on an e-reader is a pretty good substitute for paper, and reading from a screen is something your students will be doing a lot of over the years. You can project/print the workbook pages and keep your Parent/Teacher/Ontario Teacher Editions handy on your own e-reader.
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Epub/PDF decodables. It is nice to project decodables on a screen/whiteboard, but you need to be careful when reading in groups that every student is actually reading, not just saying what other students say.
