Reading in the Classroom and at Home: Book Lists- UPDATED 9/09!
Helping to Read Appropriate Books in the Classroom and at Home
Our Classroom Library: Reading Genres
This year I have divided our classroom library up into various reading genres. The students have practice determining the genre of various books they have read. They are encouraged to read different types of books during Reader's Workshop. This is monitored by our interactive bulletin board, "Unlock the Door to the World of Reading." For more information about this bulletin board, visit our Interactive Literacy Bulletin Board page. Use the poster below as a reference if you'd like to reinforce reading genres at home. If you need another copy of this sheet, please let me know.
Our Classroom Library: Book Levels
In our classroom library, books are divided into four leveled categories: red, yellow, green and blue. This helps students read books that are appropriate for them. The students have a card on their book box that reminds them the color of the books they should be reading. Red cards can read red, yellow, green and blue. Yellow cards can read yellow, green and blue and green cards can read green and blue.
Occasionally when I send home Scholastic Book Orders, I will attach a sheet that tells you your child's color level. I will also suggest some titles included on the order form to help in your selection from the local library.
Below are general lists of books that exemplify each color level. You can access these lists by clicking on the links below. If you are unsure of what color level your child is reading at, please let me know.
We spend a lot of time in our classroom going over the process of choosing "just right" books. Students are expected to be able to choose books that are appropriate to their reading levels. Since book leveling is not an exact science, there needs to be a way for students to know when a book is not a good fit for them. While the color levels can help them, it is not always accurate. Two books could have the same reading level and be very different dependent upon sentence length and the amount of dialogue used. Because of this, students use the five finger rule to help them.
5 Finger Rule
1. Open to a page of the book. 2. Begin reading. 3. Each time you come to a word you don’t know, hold up 1 finger. 4. After you finish reading the page, check to see how many fingers you are holding up.
Finding Appropriate Books to Read at Home Many of you have expressed an interest in receiving more information on how to find appropriate or "just right" books for your children to read at home. I have comprised some links to help guide you with search. Feel free to look up these popular titles at our local library.
For Red Books: Click here and look for GRL = L+ For Yellow Books: Click here and look at GRL = J-K For Green Books: Click here and look at GRL = F-I
When Reading at Home
When reading at home with your child it is beneficial for them to be reading appropriate books. This happens when they read at their independent level, decoding 97% of the words in the book correctly. For more information on the different reading levels, please see the excerpt below. Also be sure that your child is comprehending the story beyond the literal level, which is the who, the when, and the what. These are basic details that come directly from the story. In second grade, we begin to promote comprehension at the inferential level. This is when students have to read "between the lines" to make connections with what is being read. This is often the "why" behind the details. For more information about making inferences, please visit the English Language Arts Highlights section of our website.
FINDING THE READING LEVEL Most authorities define three reading levels.
1. Independent Reading Level. Easy reading. In oral reading, a child would have one or less word calling errors in 100 words of text, with 100 percent accuracy on comprehension questions about the story. A student could read it alone with ease.
2. Instructional Reading Level. This is the best level for learning new vocabulary. It requires the assistance of a teacher or tutor. The word error range allowed while reading orally to the teacher is from 2 to 5 word calling errors per 100 words of text (95% accuracy or better), with at least 80 percent comprehension on simple recall questions about the story. This is where the best progress is made in reading. Children who are forced or permitted to attempt reading beyond the 5-word error limit soon begin to feel frustration when in an instructional setting. "Just right" books fit into this category.
3. Frustration Reading Level. This is too hard for the reader. Word errors are over 5 per 100 words of text. Comprehension questions are below 70 percent accuracy. Unfortunately, teachers sometimes allow this to happen, especially when the words missed are basic vocabulary sight words, such as "was" for "saw" and "what/that." The practice of having young children work in frustration level reading materials is not professionally sound.
5 Finger Rule Correlation
Too Easy: 0 - 1 fingers (independent level)
Just Right: 2 - 3 fingers (instructional level)
Too Hard: 4 - 5 fingers (frustration level)
How to Monitor the Books Your Child Reads at Home
I am always asked about how parents should help their child choose books at home. Children often want to read books that are not "just right" books when they are not in school. My suggestion is to create two bins of books for your child to choose from. One could be labeled "Read with Someone" and the other should be labeled "Read by Myself." Your child can choose each night which bin he/she wants to read from. You sort which books go into which bins. The "just right" books would be in the independent bin and the more challenging books are ones you could read together.
To download basket labels: click on the picture of labels below.
