Leveled Books-D

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Home : 2002 : January : 10

Leveled Books-D
By Anne

D-
How far have you gotten in the Guided Reading Book? I skimmed through it earlier this summer, and have picked it back up to REALLY read right now. I am trying to see if I am on the right page about the Leveled Books.
From my understanding (what I got out of F & P and our reading specialists) is that leveled books are not "controlled" in any phonetic way, but they are books that have a certain number of words, progressing from simple plot, characters, setting, visual cues, etc. to a more complex story with richer vocabulary, more complex story lines, etc. From what I remember, the leveled books are

what you have the kids read out loud to you to increase their reading fluency, understanding of text, and self-confidence. For instance, you might have a third grader who does not read on third grade level(perhaps lower second grade level) Thus, having him read the third grade basal/trade book, would not help him in increasing his fluency, sight word recognition, etc. I thought that the principal of leveled books was to teach the children where they are--not where you WISH they were.Then your readers' workshop (where you teach comprehension skills) would be taught using grade level text. Does that make sense? I am trying to see if I am on the "same page" here in respect to leveled books. I know that the Guided Readers and Writers Book has a list of trade books in the back that are already leveled for you. I think that they are leveled by letters of the alphabet. Anyway, I was wondering if I was on the right track here. What do you think?
Anne
PS. I have enjoyed chatting with you here!