There is a way to answer what the author's intent in writing a book was for pretty much every story, including Clifford.

Anonymous wrote:What are the character traits of Clifford the big red dog and tell me about the story plot around his birthday. What was author's intention and how do you interpret the symbolism of Clifford's behavior? Lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MCPS there is a writing component to all DRA levels above 16. Being able to actually read the book is only half the battle, so books will seem "easy" for a long time. Its fine though because from an "easy" book she can learn things about story elements, character traits, determining central theme, interpretation etc. and a lot about writing. There is much more than just being able to read the book.

Well, they are not doing this kind of analysis at our K. Neither do they write about books they've read. They answer questions about what the have read, at best.

Writing competent starts at level 20 I believe (second grade levels).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MCPS there is a writing component to all DRA levels above 16. Being able to actually read the book is only half the battle, so books will seem "easy" for a long time. Its fine though because from an "easy" book she can learn things about story elements, character traits, determining central theme, interpretation etc. and a lot about writing. There is much more than just being able to read the book.

Well, they are not doing this kind of analysis at our K. Neither do they write about books they've read. They answer questions about what the have read, at best.

Anonymous wrote:In MCPS there is a writing component to all DRA levels above 16. Being able to actually read the book is only half the battle, so books will seem "easy" for a long time. Its fine though because from an "easy" book she can learn things about story elements, character traits, determining central theme, interpretation etc. and a lot about writing. There is much more than just being able to read the book.

I just don't want her to be bored and doing easy reading at school.

Anonymous wrote:Question for OP: If your DD tests at a formal DRA test at let's say a level 14, would you accept that or would you believe she has a higher level than that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to throw another issue into all this, but assessment of reading levels is reading aloud. Not every fluent "inside your head" reader is good at reading aloud. Sometimes their brain is going faster than their mouth.

Cheer up everyone, it could be worse.

Not true - only for some grades.

Anonymous wrote:Not to throw another issue into all this, but assessment of reading levels is reading aloud. Not every fluent "inside your head" reader is good at reading aloud. Sometimes their brain is going faster than their mouth.

Cheer up everyone, it could be worse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But you failed to write and say, "Gee, I'm feeling sheepish that I jumped the gun and just assumed that my DD's teacher didn't know her reading level. Kind of silly of me to think that since "the school assessed her at a 2nd grade level," [albeit on a fluency, not a comprehension test." Instead, you continually wrote things like not needing a formal test to know your own child's reading level.

No. I still don't know if she knows my child's level because she doesn't have to listen to her read and some random parents are doing it. She sent another book - DRA 18 if you are interested.

Before you started this post, I guarantee you had zero idea what goes into assessing a child's reading level yet you can't even acknowledge that, nope, maybe you don't know her true level. .

I don't want to do complex assessment of DD's level. I keep it simple. We read books. If she reads it fluently and can talk about the story we move on. If she stumbles we read it again.