Choosing Just-Right Books with Your Child

Resources for reading at home and choosing just-right books were one of the important topics discussed at conferences.  So I thought I would do a little follow-up to provide more information and resources to support your child with reading at home.

First of all, your child has different types of reading levels:

INDEPENDENT:  Level of reading which your child can do on his/her own.  This level of text is great for building reading fluency.  This is the level of text in which your child can:
* read all or most of the words with ease
* understand and re-tell the book with ease
* read at a fluent pace

INSTRUCTIONAL:  Level of reading in which your child needs some support.  This is the level of text that I instruct your child at in Guided Reading in order to push him/her forward.  If you are reading with your child at home and providing prompts for support, you may work at this level.  At this level of text, your child:
* knows many of the words but may need to word-solve 2-4 words per page with support
* understands much of the book but may need to re-visit parts of text to think deeper
* reads at a thoughtful pace

HARD: Level of text that is beyond your child's reach.  This is a level of text that frustrates your child in either reading accuracy or comprehension.  This are books that you can read TO your child.  At this level of text, your child:
* cannot read many of the words (5 per page or more)
* reads at a labored and slow pace
* has trouble understanding the text

The Five Finger Rule can help you and your child choose just-right books at home:

At home, I would recommended doing reading at both independent and instructional levels.  If your child is reading by him/herself, stick to INDEPENDENT level.  That would correlate with fingers 0-2 above.  If your child is reading with your support, that would correlate with fingers 3-4 above.


So HOW should you support your child at home in those instructional levels?

READING ACCURACY:
There are two different types of prompting your should do to help your child read accurately.  The first is when your child gets stuck on a word.  For this, prompt your child to use the word-solving animal strategies on the bookmark given at conferences:
Eagle Eye - look at the picture
Lips the Fish - get your lips ready to say the first few sounds in the word
Stretchy the Snake - stretch out the sounds through the entire word
Chunky Monkey - look for chunks in the word you already know
Skippy Frog - Skip the word and read the rest of the sentence. Then hop back to solve the word.
Flip the Dolphin - Stretch the word with two different vowel sounds
Trying Lion - Go back to the beginning of the sentence and try again.
Helpful Kangaroo - Last but not least, ask for help.
At this point, your child may need you to model the use of these strategies when asking for help.

The second kind of prompting can be used when your child makes a mistake while reading.  We want our kiddos to learn to self-monitor while reading, and one aspect of that is realizing when you have made a reading accuracy mistake.  So when your child has done that, you may use the following prompts depending on the error:
Does that MAKE SENSE?
Use this when the word does not make any sense within the sentence or context of the book.  For example, your child reads:  "Dad used the broom to swing the floor," when it says sweep the floor.

Does that LOOK RIGHT?
Use this when the word may make sense in the sentence or context but does not look right.  For example, your child reads: "This cat is fat," when it says, That cat is fat. This error makes sense but the word doesn't look right throughout the entire word.

Does that SOUND RIGHT?
Use this when the word does not sound structurally correct in the sentence, as we would speak it.  For example, your child reads, "Mom is run across the park," when it reads Mom is running across the park.



READING COMPREHENSION:
Strong readers are thoughtful and reflective readers.  Support your child in thinking and expressing that thinking about reading WHILE he/she reads.  For this, use our talking/thinking stems on the bookmark given at conferences.  Have this out WHILE your child reads to encourage reflective reading.  You may even stop every 1-2 pages and prompt your child use the the talking stems.  You may also model your own thinking, agreeing/disagreeing with your child's thinking, and adding onto each other's thinking.

At the end of reading, support your child in retelling the books from beginning to end.  I like to say, "Pretend I had never read this book before.  What would you tell me about the book?  Start at the beginning." Your child may even use the book to do so.

Want some more information and resources on supporting reading comprehension at home?  Click below to read more:
Before, During, After Approach
103 Things to Do Before/During/After Reading
Supporting Common Core Reading Standards



At conference, I did share your child's independent/instructional levels; however with questions/concerns/reminders, please do not hesitate to email me.  Want more information on text levels?  Click on Text Level Guide in Parent Links --->

Need help finding just-right books at your child's independent and/or instructional level?  Click on Scholastic Book Wizard in Parent Links ---> to search for books by Guided Reading Level.

1. Click on Search by Reading Level tab

2. Select Guided Reading

3. Input range of reading levels to search for.  For example, if your child's independent level is E but instructional is F, put in that range to find books for both types of reading at home.

4. Click Find

Then use these titles to find books at your public library, local book store, or our Scholastic Book Orders each month!  Happy reading!