leveling

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Home : 2002 : February : 27

leveling
By Katy

I know it's hard and time consuming to level books and many aren't in Fountas and Pinnell's book... I try to compare a book I don't know the level for with one I do know the level for and take an educated guess. I look at
the size of the print, count the # of lines on an average page, skim a chapter/section for difficulty of the vocabulary/content... and just try it out with a group. I know what level they are at and if it's just right, I label it as that level. If it's too easy/hard I adjust.
The other thing you could do to be more accurate is use the Fry Readability graph. If you do a search for

it on the net, you'll find it. Perhaps you and other interested teachers at your school could get in-service credits/prof. devel. points for working on a committee that levels and organizes a collection of books that the whole school can use. Does your school have a guided reading library? Do they include higher level books? Good luck!