Imagine your child racing to the calendar each December evening, eager to discover which book they’ll unwrap and read together. Not just any book. A carefully chosen story that teaches exactly the phonics skill they need next. For beginning readers ages 5-6 who are learning to decode their first words, this becomes a magical bridge between practice and play.
This countdown turns reading practice into holiday anticipation. Each night for twelve nights leading up to winter break, your child opens one wrapped book. Each book targets a specific phonics concept or sight word set. By the time break arrives, they’ve reinforced twelve essential reading skills while building memories that last far beyond the season.
This countdown focuses on the core decoding skills most kindergarteners and early first graders are actively learning: short vowels, consonant blends, and consonant digraphs. Every book stays within reach of beginning readers, building confidence with each successful page.
Is This Countdown Right for Your Child?
This 12-day progression works best for children who:
- Can identify most or all letter sounds
- Are beginning to blend simple three-letter words (CVC pattern) or have recently mastered them
- Are working on short vowels and consonant combinations
- Can read simple sentences like “The cat sat” with support
If your child is still learning letter names and sounds, start with alphabet-focused picture books instead. If they’re already reading fluently with vowel teams and silent e patterns, they’re ready for more advanced material. This countdown targets that crucial beginning decoding phase where systematic phonics practice builds the foundation for all future reading.
The 12-Day Book and Skill Progression
Here is a day-by-day guide.
Day 1: Alphabet and Beginning Sounds
Start with Bob Books Pre-Reading Skills. This gentle introduction focuses on letter recognition and phonemic awareness. Children identify letter shapes and practice initial consonant sounds without heavy decoding demands. This serves as a warm-up for children who know their letters but are just beginning to blend.
Activity: Conduct an alphabet scavenger hunt. Find three objects around your home that start with letter sounds from the book.
Day 2: Short A Words
Move to Bob Books Set 1, specifically “Mat.” This simple text uses almost entirely decodable short-a CVC words, perfect for early blending success. Most kindergarteners and early first graders start their decoding journey with short-a words.
Activity: Draw Mat the cat and label the picture with three short -a words like cat, hat, or bag.
Day 3: Short I Words
Continue with short vowel mastery using Whole Phonics Level 1 short-i titles. Solidify blending with words like sit, big, and wig. Short i comes early in most phonics sequences because it’s distinctly different from short a.
Activity: Play “Word Switch.” Start with big, change one letter to make pig, then change another to make wig.
Day 4: Short O Words
Return to Bob Books Set 1 for “Dot.” The repetitive pattern text reinforces blending while building fluency. By now, your 5-6 year old is building confidence with the blending process itself.
Activity: Create “Sound Bingo.” List six CVC short-o words and let your child cover them as they appear in the story.
Day 5: Short U Words
Introduce the trickier short-u vowel with Heggerty Decodable Readers. Many children confuse this vowel with short o or a, making focused practice essential. This is often the last short vowel children master, typically around mid-first grade.
Activity: Invent “Silly U” creature names using short-u words. What does a “Grub Bug” look like?
Day 6: Consonant Blends
Progress to Whole Phonics R-Blends Set featuring titles like “Trent the Tricky Troll.” Blending consonant clusters like cr, tr, bl, and fl requires explicit instruction to avoid guessing. Most first graders tackle blends after mastering simple CVC words.
Activity: Make a paper snowflake and label each arm with a different r-blend word.
Day 7: Consonant Digraphs
Use Flyleaf Publishing Decodable Readers for digraph instruction. These carefully controlled texts teach that two letters can create one sound—sh, th, ch.
Activity: Sort holiday words into digraph categories. Where do sheep, chip, and three belong?
Day 8: Mixed Short Vowels
Use Bob Books Set 2 or Set 3, which mixes all five short vowels in one story. After learning each vowel separately, children need practice recognizing which vowel they’re seeing in different words. Titles like “Muff and Ruff” or “The Red Hen” require readers to stay flexible as they decode, switching between short a, e, i, o, and u within the same text.
Activity: Create a “Vowel Sort” game. Write ten words from the book on paper strips and sort them by vowel sound into five cups labeled a, e, i, o, u.
Day 9: L-Blends and S-Blends
Progress to Charge into Reading’s Stage 2 book “Pam and the Plums” (L-blends) or “Stan and the Slug” (S-blends). These titles from Brooke Vitale’s Consonant Blends Decodable Reader Set expand beyond r-blends to include words like slip, glad, snap, plant, and clap. Focusing on one blend type at a time helps beginning readers master these tricky consonant clusters.
Activity: Build a “Blend Snowman.” Draw three circles and fill each section with words containing different blend types: r-blends, l-blends, s-blends.
Day 10: More Digraph Practice
Choose “Josh and Pam Shop” or “The Wish” from Reading Universe’s free digraph collection, or try Tejeda’s Tots readers like “In a Rush” (sh), “Chad and Rich” (ch), or “Mud Bath” (th). Beginning readers need repeated exposure to master how two letters create one sound. Look for books that include wh and ck patterns alongside sh, ch, and th.
Activity: Hunt for digraphs in holiday words around your home. Check, which, shop, with, and thank all appear on cards, signs, and wrapping paper.
Day 11: High-Frequency Sight Words in Context
Use Bob Books Sight Words Kindergarten or DK Super Readers Pre-Level, which embed common irregular words like “the,” “was,” “said,” and “have” within otherwise decodable text. Beginning readers must learn these rule-breakers while maintaining their decoding foundation. These books keep sight word practice in meaningful context rather than flashcard memorization.
Activity: Create a paper garland of sight words and hang it near your reading spot. Point to each word before starting the book, and practice reading them quickly.
Day 12: Celebration Story
End with Sound City Reading’s free “The Wish” story or Charge into Reading’s “The Bump,” which incorporates mixed short vowels, blends, and digraphs. Ready Reader Decodables’ digraph stories like “Stuck in Muck” also work beautifully. These books feel like “real stories” with actual plots and multiple pages, but they stick to the phonics patterns your child has practiced all month. Finishing a longer, cohesive story is a huge confidence boost.
Activity: Host a family candlelight reading celebration. Your child reads one page, you read the next, and you pass the book back and forth. Serve hot cocoa and let them choose any previous book from the countdown to reread together.
Make It a Family Tradition
Wrap each book individually and number them one through twelve. Place them in a basket or arrange them under a small tree. Each evening, your child selects and unwraps the book for that night.
Keep all previously opened books on a designated “holiday reading shelf.” Children can reread earlier books freely, reinforcing skills through repetition. The shelf becomes a visual representation of their growing abilities.
End the countdown with a family reading celebration. Set up a cozy reading picnic with pajamas, hot cocoa, and soft music. Let your child choose their favorite books from the twelve to reread together.
Adjust the Starting Point to Match Your Reader
The beauty of this countdown is you don’t need to start at Day 1. If your child already knows short vowels cold, begin at Day 6 with blends and fill the remaining days with more blend and digraph books. Still working on letter sounds? Replace the first few days with alphabet books and phonemic awareness activities.
The key is matching books to what your child is actively learning right now. Don’t push ahead to skills they haven’t been taught yet. Keep sessions brief; ten to fifteen minutes is plenty. Focus on praising their decoding attempts rather than pushing for speed or memorization.
Build Skills While Building Memories
This countdown does double duty. It provides systematic phonics practice exactly when your child needs it, and it creates warm family memories centered around reading. The wrapped books, the predictable routine, the shared activities, all of it builds positive associations with literacy. For beginning readers ages 5-6, this consistent practice during the busy holiday season keeps their emerging skills sharp without feeling like drill work.
Want to know exactly which phonics skills your child should focus on this December? The Reading.com app provides systematic instruction that shows you precisely where your reader is in their development. Our structured lessons help you choose the perfect decodable books for your countdown. Start your 7-day free trial and create a December reading tradition that strengthens skills and warms hearts.