Actually, I don't do anything with decoding skills. We do that by putting students in the path of as much text as possible. It may not be school book text. Sadness is a dead plant in the cold winter snow. Sadness is a little girl in a boat floating away from home.
Sadness is the quiet wave of dark cold water as it hits the beach.
Sadness is the fire that takes your soul. Sadness is a car as it drives away from an old house. Sadness is the dark night sky and stars shining above you. Sadness has come. Silence is fireflies as they dance their warm summers night away.