Forum Index
»
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
Early elementary school reading levels
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| DD is in kindergarten. She brought home a book that says it is level 8, but I have no idea what that designation means. She read it with ease, no missed words. I have not gotten any feedback from the teacher as to DDs reading level. I am obviously not concerned, since she can clearly read. But I don't know if she is on grade level, above grade level or what. Teacher conference isn't until next month. This is the first time DD has brought one of these books home, so it got me wondering. Is level 8 kindergarten level? First grade level? The book was not challenging for DD at all, and I wonder if she has been tested to the extent of her abilities, or if she is just placed in a group of kids reading at different levels. |
Anonymous
In MoCo, I think kids are expected to be level 16 by the end of 1st grade, for comparison. |
Anonymous
| Thanks. Op here, and I actually dug around the MCPS website for awhile to find the answer. In their 7 keys to college readiness, Level 6 by the end of kindergarten is considered advanced. By the end of second marking period of first grade, the expectation seems to be level 8 to 11. Level 16 at the end of first grade is advanced. |
Anonymous
|
Does your school do the data notebooks? We get a monthly notebook that shows the child's current level and the level they like to see kids at.
You say the MCPS website says that 16 is advanced for the end of first grade. That is not what our teachers told us. We were told that 16 was the expected level for the end of first grade. Don't know if this is true, just sharing what we were told. Starting in second grade, the scale goes from numbers to letters. |
Anonymous
| That's right --- they expect level 6 by the end of kindergarten. My son completed level 6 at the end of kindergarten and now he's doing level 9 (that's what he brought home last night) as a first grader. I'd say level 8 for a kindergartener is super! |
Anonymous
| Some of the books that have come home withour DS have different "level" numbers on them but they don't necessarily correspond to the reading level that the teacher has assessed DS at. I hope that makes sense. Our teacher explained it that the books are graded by level as a result of how many words appear in the book. I think 40 words is level 2. But their assessment levels are decided by other factors as well. Our teacher also told us that the kids SHOULD be able to read these books easily- they read them multiple times in the classroom and have memorized them. Still I would say that level 8 is above grade level and your child is doing well. |
Anonymous
| 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... |
Anonymous
Not in MCPS. My dd 'hit the cap' as you say, so is in a group (although small) with Level 16 and above readers. |
Anonymous
| PP,The cap I described is in MCPS...so your school is more accomodating to accelerated readers than mine. I am not sure what grade your child is in but 2nd grade was capped at an S at our school. Our school says they focus on writing after the certain level of acceleration is hit in reading... |
Anonymous
| Does anyone know what reading series MCPS uses and whether they have copies in the library? We will be moving into the area for first grade so I'd like to see if DD has any issues with the series. I would guess the reading materials are similar among schools regardless of state and location or public/private but who knows. |
Anonymous
| So far my first grader has been reading books from different series. They read from the Junior Great Books series first, then moved on to another series-sorry, not sure which one. |
Anonymous
What kind of issues are you envisioning? |
Anonymous
DD is at a private school now doing more phonics, language pattern/rule based lessons, and grammar. I have been surprised at the types of words/sentences that she is learning to read with ease and the types of words that she struggles to sound out and recognize. I'd like to see some of the books to see if they are similar to what she is doing or if they are taking a completely different approach. |
Anonymous
| Our school (MCPS) doesn't use a series..just individual books (which correspond to a particular level). So hopefully your child would be correctly matched with appropriate books. You can google the reading level of any childs book on a variety of websites. |
Anonymous
| 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. |