How to Create Custom Decodable Texts in Minutes

Characteristics of Engaging Texts for Early Readers

• Relates to children’s experiences and knowledge. For example, after students pop popcorn and observe how it jumps in the pot, a teacher might share this poem that reinforces the /op/ sound:

Hop to pop pop-corn.

Drop pop-corn in a pot.

Put a top on top of the pot.

See pop-corn hop and pop.

Do not let pop-corn hop out.

Put a lid on top and hop back.

• Focuses intensively on the specific phonic targets or skills (e.g., short-a words or the /k/ sound).
• Is concise and focused. AI tools can default to wordy or rambling responses: “Once, I got a great present. My mother gave me a new cat! But the cat was so heavy, I could hardly pick it up. It was fat!” A more decodable version might be: “My mom got me a fat cat!”
• Includes high-frequency words the children are learning (e.g., put, get, got, is, the, I).
• May include some words beyond the phonic goals for the lesson. For instance, in a text focusing on consonant-vowel-consonant words related to a squirrel, children can read words like nut, get, and nap, while the teacher could read the word squirrel.
• Tells a coherent story or follows some other meaningful or predictable organization.

Strategies for Writing Prompts

Start with the Right Tools and Mindset

• Train an AI “assistant.” Most versions of AI programs offer this feature, which remembers previous conversations (e.g., Gemini Gems, Microsoft agents, SchoolAI’s “Dot”).
• Tell the AI to remember key information, such as previously successful prompts or information about your target audience. Keep in mind that there may be a limit on the number of facts an AI can recall, so input reminders as necessary over long chats.
• Drop in several high-quality texts and tell the AI to model its response on those examples. If you are not the creator of the example texts, make sure to secure permission from the author or publisher to upload them.
• Have a specific vision before you start: “Write a story about a spider with spots” works better than just “a text with sp words.”

Give AI Clear Parameters

• State tense and/or helping verbs (e.g., can, will).
• Specify high frequency words that could be used for each grade level (e.g., is, get, put, the).
• Suggest key words that signal text structure (e.g., for compare/contrast text: and, but, is, not, has, does not have).
• Tell it to use content that is true in real life (e.g., things a dog can do like run and play, but not shout).
• Be specific regarding type of text; audience; tone of voice; type of materials; related activities; target words; grammatical elements to use or avoid; the actor in the text (e.g., first-person I, third person we, implied subject of commands); and stance (e.g., “Speak as if I’m a child”).
• Include “guardrails”: instructions about what you don’t want it to do (e.g., no words with final blends).
• State generally how many words in the text can vary from your target pattern (e.g., no words that don’t conform, hardly any words, a few words).

Iterate to Fine-Tune

• Treat AI as a brainstorming tool. The interaction should resemble a conversation.
• Keep trying, even if the first response isn’t great. Use longer, more detailed prompts for higher-­quality responses.
• Check for mistakes—AI can make errors even with clear parameters (e.g., in one activity, an AI incorrectly identified “sled” as not containing a short-e sound).
• Tell it what you liked and didn’t like about the response.
• Ask, “How would you improve this prompt?” then copy-paste the response into the prompt field.
• Point out spots where the result is random or doesn’t make sense. Ask the AI to logically link the sections that are random.
• Note which prompts work, and ask your AI assistant to remember them.

Finish by Hand

From Practice to Routine