Early elementary school reading levels

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now I am completely confused. I googled around and found reading lists from the reading recovery levels that MCPS uses in K-1 st grade. Go Dog Go is listed as level 8? DD can read this and other Dr Seuss books like Green and Eggs and Ham or even the Giving Tree. She struggles though with some of the more simple early level books on the list.

Can you post some sites you used? My son is in kindergarten and I can't for the life of me figure out what level he is on. The books they send home are really easy and he reads them without a problem, but there are not indications they are any level, just a title.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now I am completely confused. I googled around and found reading lists from the reading recovery levels that MCPS uses in K-1 st grade. Go Dog Go is listed as level 8? DD can read this and other Dr Seuss books like Green and Eggs and Ham or even the Giving Tree. She struggles though with some of the more simple early level books on the list.

Can you post some sites you used? My son is in kindergarten and I can't for the life of me figure out what level he is on. The books they send home are really easy and he reads them without a problem, but there are not indications they are any level, just a title.

When you say he reads them, is he actually sounding out and decoding words on his own? Or is it memorization?

[Anonymous]

I have 2 children in older elementary grades MCPS..and I have never heard a parent say that their child had trouble with their guided reading book. I assume that they are purposely providing books that the child can easily read without a struggle. We parents assume that they should be reading harder material..but maybe not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 children in older elementary grades MCPS..and I have never heard a parent say that their child had trouble with their guided reading book. I assume that they are purposely providing books that the child can easily read without a struggle. We parents assume that they should be reading harder material..but maybe not?

I agree with you. I don't see much challenge. I have to provide that at home.

[Anonymous]

Many of these books have already been read a few times at school. They should be pretty easy for them to read. These easy books are often used to build fluency. The challenging reading should occur at school with a teacher's guidance.

[Anonymous]

My sister inlaw told me her kid is in 2nd and her reading level is 4.0. What is that number. I thought it goes by for example 31, 32, 34...Any body know?

[Anonymous]

Who knows? I think they just make up these levels.

I was told my child's reading level was "green". She's 6 and in K. Her best friend was told she was level "green +", whatever that means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My sister inlaw told me her kid is in 2nd and her reading level is 4.0. What is that number. I thought it goes by for example 31, 32, 34...Any body know?

They usually go by grade level and then month. So if your child was reading at 3.4, she would be reading at the 4th month of third grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Level 8 is considered 1st garde work..but keep in mind that depending on your school..everyone could be reading on the 1st grade level. My son is consistently on grade level..and also in the lowest reading group. Above grade level does not necesaarily mean above average. Also keep in mind that some schools do not test over a certain level for each grade. My daughter hit the cap and had to wait until the next year to move on...

They cap at level 16 in our school (MCPS). Sort of annoying but they are working on their writing instead.

[Anonymous]

PP again, this is K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Level 8 is considered 1st garde work..but keep in mind that depending on your school..everyone could be reading on the 1st grade level. My son is consistently on grade level..and also in the lowest reading group. Above grade level does not necesaarily mean above average. Also keep in mind that some schools do not test over a certain level for each grade. My daughter hit the cap and had to wait until the next year to move on...

They cap at level 16 in our school (MCPS). Sort of annoying but they are working on their writing instead.

DD's kindergarten teacher does this as well. I don't mind. Her writing really isn't on the same level as her reading, so I am happy that they are working to bring the two in line.

[Anonymous]

At our MCPS, ds's group (1st grade) reads at about 3rd grade level. After racing through all the 1st grade 'levels' teacher simply provided early chapter books from other sources. They don't have to stick with the MCPS curriculum, at least not in our school--thank goodness!

[Anonymous]

I know much of this is old, but Reading Recovery levels are different than Fountas and Pinnell levels, which is where the MCPS standards come from.

Also, guided reading books that are coming home with your child are books that they've read several times with teacher guidance, so they should be familiar books by now. Your child should be able to read those books independently, or else the teacher wouldn't have sent them home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our MCPS, ds's group (1st grade) reads at about 3rd grade level. After racing through all the 1st grade 'levels' teacher simply provided early chapter books from other sources. They don't have to stick with the MCPS curriculum, at least not in our school--thank goodness!

Our MCPS school divides the class into reading groups by levels, too. DD is also nearing two grade levels ahead and I'm relieved she has been able to learn at her pace.

Some teachers (typically starting in first grade) send home a monthly reading level status report highlighting some of the books read in school and charting last month's level, the current level and how these fit into MCPS grade-level expectations. That was helpful to us in the beginning to help see the progress DD was making in terms of what the school expected.

When looking up levels of books I've found that they are not always assigned the same levels by all sources. I don't know about how the letters are assigned, but it may be somewhat subjective. We were trying to assign levels to some Roald Dahl books to determine which might be better to read later and some of the letters varied by as many as three, depending on the site we checked. Other books typically differ by one letter, if at all.

I've found some teachers favor certain series and make them available to their students but at least at our school there hasn't been a set reading list.

[Anonymous]

Your son's teacher should be able to give you an alphabetical level that will indicate his reading level. My younger son finished kindergarten at level E. My older son who is finished 3rd grade is at level U. Reading level starts at A and goes to Z, kindergarten to 5th grade.