The king will not go to bed!
Marybeth Rivera (Dolls); Shutterstock.com (All Other Images)
A Thing for a King
Have fun with decodable text.
By Meg Richardson | Designed by Marybeth Butler Rivera
From the December 2025/January 2026 Issue
Learning Objective: Students will decode words with a final digraph -ng and understand the sequence of events in a story.
Ding, ding!
Ding, ding!
Did you ring, my king?
Yes, bring me a thing.
A thing? OK.
I got you a ring, King!
That is not the thing.
I have a lot of bling.
I got you a swing,
my king.
I do not want a swing. Bring me a new thing.
It is for you, King.
Ping pong!
No! Not ping pong.
I want a song.
Will you get to bed then?
What song can I sing?
Sing a long song! You can wing it.
Stop! Do not sing that song.
La la la!
Hello, King.
I have the thing.
Yes! That is the thing! I can get to bed.
Good night, King!
Games
(1)
Activities
(2)
Skills Activities
Answer Key
(1)
More About the Article
English Language Arts Focus
Phonics and Phonological Awareness
Fluency
Phonics Focus
Final Digraph -ng
Word List
thing, king, ding, ring, bring, bling, swing, ping, pong, song, sing, long, wing
High Frequency Words
you, got, not
Challenge Words
new, night
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Implementation
- Whole group: This fun phonics text is controlled for words with a final digraph -ng. Encourage students to use decoding strategies such as segmenting and continuous blending. Practice choral and echo reading to improve fluency and intonation
- Technology Time: Students can listen to and read along with the read-aloud feature with the article. They can also play the accompanying online game for more practice.
Pairings and Text Connections
- From the Storyworks 1 archive: “Silly Story: Wish for a Fish” (October/November 2023); “Silly Story: Bad Luck Duck” (December 2024/January 2025)
Before-Reading Resources
- Word sounds slideshow (3 minutes) Warm up reading muscles by practicing words with a final digraph -ng.
Suggested Reading Focus
Phonics and Comprehension (20 minutes)
- Tell students that a digraph is two letters that make one sound. In this story, they will read words that have the ending -ng digraph. Discuss mouth shape when making the -ng digraph sound.
- Write the following onsets of words on an easel. Ask students to add the rime -ng to make words and state them aloud:
- ra
- si
- po
- di
- fa
- lo
- Review high-frequency words from the story. Students can practice reading words with a partner, as a class, and individually.
- As children read, check comprehension: What is the problem at the beginning of the story? What things does the jester bring to help the king? What helps the king finally go to bed?
- Have students annotate text by circling words with -ng digraphs.
After-Reading Skills Practice
- Skills: final digraph -ng, phonological awareness (15 minutes)
Text-to-Speech