Building A Reading Life

The beginning of the school year is all about establishing routines and expectations. We have been discussing things that good readers do and are beginning to work those habits into our reading lives.  I have completed some initial assessments and students now know what their independent reading level is.  This means that books at this level should feel “just-right”.  As you may know, there are many ways to measure book difficulty.  I am using the Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Leveling system which spans from A to Z.   One way you can find out the level of a book is using the Scholastic Book Wizard.  Please remember that this is not an exact science and your child could still thoroughly enjoy books that are a level below or above their Independent Reading Level.

There is one important way for children to progress from the book level they can read to the next level and it is this: the child must read many books at his or her level.  The child will do best if he or she can talk about those books with someone who also loves reading.

One way we are working on talking about the books we read is by using post-its to flag different ideas. Please try to encourage them to do this at home also.  This will help them to be more comfortable discussing and sharing about the books that they are reading.