[LM_NET] Hit: Leveled books

[Christina Paniccia <buffcat02@YAHOO.COM>]

Hello everyone,
  I just wanted to thank those who did respond to my question about leveling books. 
I learn more from LM Net than about some topics than I do in any college class. I 
had a request from a librarian to post a hit, so here it is. I start with the 
orginal question, then with the responses. If I get some more suggestions, I will 
post another hit. 
   
  Christina Paniccia, student Librarian
  SUNY at Albany   Albany, NY 12222
   
  buffcat02@yahoo.com
  
  *********************************************************
  Original Message: 
    need any help I can get! I can't seem to level any books I need for my 
college education class. I notice that  the level is on the cover of 
the book. When I use the book "Guided Reading" by Irene Fountas, it gives 
me a different level. for example, I looked up "Jog Frog Jog" and the 
book cover says level 1, and the Guided Reading book says it is level G.    
  Does anyone have any tips on how to level books for students who are 
at different reading levels? Do you use a textbook or do you use the 
cover of the book? Please respond off the list, and to the email below. 
   
  Thanks
   ************************************
  Responses: 

You can't go by the levels on the books themselves too much.  Each 

publisher has their own way of doing it so they're not consistent.  The 

Fountas book you used, which I use here in my library/building, too, is 

great if you're familiar with their leveling system.  But for that to be useful, 
you would have to know how to assess the reader to see what 

level is right for him/her.  They have a rough grade level equivalent 

on their website, I believe:

http://www.fountasandpinnellleveledbooks.com   A-D is Kindergarten, D-I 

is First Grade, etc.
     

   
  Are you wanted guided reading levels, AR levels or lexile levels.  I
  know fountas and pinnel have a website for you have to pay to have
  access to it.  AR levels can be found at www.renlearn.com and lexile
  levels can be found at www.lexile.com
     

   
  The problem lies with the fact that there are so many formulas. Each publisher 
seems to use a different one. The trick is to find one and try to stick with it. In 
our building we actually are using two. DRA, for which there is a test in place to 
help determine a child's instructional level and then we use the Star test to 
determine their independent reading level. We also of course us AR as that levels 
the books in relation to the Star test. But even Star and DRA and quite different. 
We are leveling books for guided reading (to put in a separate area for teachers to 
checkout) and using both methods and there doesn't seem to really be a comparison.  
   
  As you see it isn't easy! We are using the Fountas and Panelle Guided Reading 
Book as a guide, also.
   
  Good luck!
     

   
  That is exactly the problem with leveling books. I don't do it. Instead I teach 
my students to use the 5 finger method, which you probably already know. (If you 
don't, email me and I will give you the info.)  I do remember being taught a 
formula for leveling books when I was in college. You use 50 words from "a 
representative portion of the text" and count the number of syllables. I know at 
the time I had a chart that told what level the # of syllables corresponded to in 
terms of grade level. I don't know what the goal of your class is supposed to be if 
it is finding books that fit the specific student, the five finger test works 
beautifully. If the goal is actually tying a level to the book, one level is just 
as good another in my opinion. They are rather arbitrary to begin with!
     

   
  http://www.lexile.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?view=ed&tabindex=5&tabid=67

Try the Lexile Website.  And if you need further conversion, use the following 
website to convert.  This is what our school system is using.  
   
  
http://www.eduplace.com/marketing/leveledreaders/pdf/teachers/conversion.pdf#search=%22lexile%20dra%20conversion%22
 
     

   

Hi Christina,

There are several different ways of books being levelled.  The attached 

may help.

Regards,

Trish

*See the attachment for this. It is a PDF file. 
     

   
  Go with Fountas and Pinnell.  They are currently the gold standard in leveling.  
Various publishers have their own systems and leveling "fields", but many more are 
going with F & P than four years ago when I began setting up a leveled library for 
our building.  Scholastic's catalog also gives levels of many books.  There is a 
wonderful website that first appeared on this listserv where you can look up books 
by title.  
   
   
   
  
  





Christina 


                        
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