I can’t believe school is almost out for summer vacation! Tim is currently in his last week of school as Kindergartener! Tim has made tremendous progress since the beginning of the year. In September, he was learning his letter sounds and adjusting to a full day of school and now he is reading beginner books and he is so proud of himself! Now that we are almost in summer mode, I plan on incorporating reading into our summer routine so that Tim maintains the skills that he has learned in Kindergarten in preparation for first grade.
Upcoming blog posts will focus on what you can do to make reading a part of your child’s summer in a fun, meaningful way, as well as finding books appropriate to your child’s reading level and how to set up a summer reading routine.
Before school gets out, it is helpful to find out your child’s reading level from his or her classroom teacher. If you know your child’s reading level, then you will be able to find books that will be “just right” books for your child to read at home, meaning books that contain words that are not too hard and not too easy. This is information that should be easy to obtain via an email, phone conversation or conference with your child’s teacher.
Typically, your child’s reading level will be a letter or a number depending upon the type of literacy assessment that your child’s school or district uses. Many schools and districts use either the DRA2 (reported in numbers) or the Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment (reported in letters). When mentioning levels in my blog, I will be listing the letter first followed by the number in parentheses. You should ask your child’s classroom teacher where your child is progressing in relation to the school or district grade level benchmarks. Here is a reference regarding grade level benchmarks that Fountas & Pinnell has out.
Please note that the Kindergarten benchmark level in particular is one level higher than the standards in many districts. This chart is meant as a guide and may vary from the benchmarks at your school, so it is important to check in with your child’s classroom teacher regarding school reading benchmarks.
When discussing reading levels it is important to note that there are three different types of levels: Instructional, Independent and Frustration.
A child’s instructional level is most commonly the level in which your teacher in instructing your child at school and most frequently the level that your teacher reports to you. When reading a book at an instructional level, the support of a teacher or a parent is often needed to figure out tricky words, read with appropriate fluency, and accurately comprehend the content of the story.
A story at a child’s independent level is one that can be read accurately and understood mostly without the support of an adult. Your child’s independent level is often at least one letter or two numbers below. For example, if your child’s instructional level was a level H(14 )then his or her independent level would be a level G(12) and all levels below level G(12).
A child’s frustration level is typically anything above your child’s instructional level, and as the level name would suggest, potentially frustrating for your child due to too many tricky words, difficult comprehension, or length of time your child spends reading the story.
Now that you know some information about reading levels, how will this information help you when selecting books for your child?
- You should select are variety of books at your child’s independent level and instructional level. Reading a variety of books at different levels helps support different skills. Books at your child’s independent level can often increase confidence and support fluency, while books at your child’s instructional level, while often requiring parent support, can prepare your child for reading more challenging books. For example, if your child is reading an instructional level K (20) at school, you might have your child read books at H(14), I 16), J(18), and K(20) at home.
- Having your child read aloud books at his or her frustration level should be avoided if possible. If your child selects a book at his or her frustration level, that book could be a book that you read aloud. Use your own judgement with books at your child’s frustration level as you don’t want your child to become discouraged.
- Books that are one to three levels below your child’s instructional level can be used to support your child’s fluency (ability to read automatically with correct intonation and expression) because books at these levels will often have very few if not any tricky words. When children aren’t spending time figuring out tricky words, they can focus on reading with expression and pausing at the punctuation marks.
I hope that this information was helpful for you and figuring out your child’s reading level. Stay tuned for my next posting in which I will discuss a helpful site for finding out the levels of books that you own or find at the library!