I looked at the link GloriaVaughn provided. Doesn’t look much different between levels. The stories are slightly longer. But man, do they look boring. I would never have picked one up. Go find some more fun stuff.
http://www.icanread.com/levels/ has a comparison for leveled reading with the 1,2,3 method and the A-Z method.
It’s Harper Collins “I can read” books.
Amelia Bedelia books are examples of a “J” book.
Kids all learn at different rates. Don’t fret!
It’s likely almost summer vacation where you are.
Make this summer a summer of fun filled, rich, interesting experiences and conversations.
Introduce new vocabulary (names of animals at a zoo, types of machinery at a construction site, names of plants) whenever you are out together.
Listen to music. Look up lyrics to songs she likes.
Go to the bookstore or Target and let her pick out a fun notebook to record things in this summer. Places you go. Wishes. Things you saw. Places and things she wants to do. Food she wants to try. Do the journal together unless she indicates she wants privacy to do it. Don’t tell her this but aim to write something in it (or draw a pic) daily.
Go to a movie and then out for ice cream and talk about the plot, the characters, what you both liked or didn’t like.
Plan a day trip together. Look together online or pull out a map (city, state or country) and figure out where you want to go.
Look up menus of places before you go to eat. Talk about the menu items, ingredients, prices, etc.
Cook together.
Plant a couple of vegetable plants - pots will work. Take a photo journal on your phone of the plants growth.
Limit screen time. Maybe you keep a journal of how much time she is spending on a screen during a typical week now (don’t tell her you are doing this!) Write down all tv, computer, ipad, phone time that is not for a school purpose. When you get that weekly total aim to reduce this by 30-50% this summer - your job to carefully do this - don’t make it a punishment - fill the time with all the above!
NOTICE: None of the activities above are book time. Most are hands on, people rich activities. ALL of these will have an impact on her expressive and receptive language skills. Most will include some reading even though she/you might not realize it.
Hopefully she will still want some read aloud to her time. Hopefully she will want to read something on her own. But time with a book in her hand, sitting in a chair with a timer going is not the winning route with a reluctant reader.
Also, another summer activity. Once a week go to the library. No expectations! Just tell her you are going to spend a half hour there to look for books/magazines, etc. for yourself. Only rule is no screen time. She can sit in a chair and wait or she may browse. Go every week. See what happens.
Here’s another chart you can look at – https://www.readinga-z.com/learninga-z-levels/level-correlation-chart/ —
There is some overlap between grades:
First grade (age 6-7): D-J
Second grade (age 7-8): J-M
However, more important – these leveled readers are supposed to be used as a guide to the teacher as to which books to introduce to the child— not as a means of formal assessment. If you actually look at the books themselves you will see there is significant variation in apparent difficulty – some of the higher level books look more accessible than books with a letter-level equivalent that is lower. You can download a more detailed chart that explains what goes into the leveling here – http://www.fountasandpinnell.com/resourcelibrary/resource?id=112 (registration required for the download, but no cost).
I think you should focus on overall patterns and progress rather than specific letter levels. In other words – it is not a problem that daugher is now on level “H” - but it could be a problem if she doesn’t show any signs of progressing from level “H” to level “I” over a period of several months.
I am sending you a PM with some more info.
And if she LIKES to write a story on her own–DON’T spend your time correcting the spelling and grammar!!!
Enjoy the creative effort. Let her enjoy the creative effort without criticism of any kind.
Save the lessons on grammar for much later. Like years–it’ll come.
I think vision exams are always a good idea. I might get it done because it’s always smart to do, but otherwise I wouldn’t worry now. Try all the suggestions. Try audiobooks in the car.
However, if you find that reading hasn’t taken off by the end of second grade, I might ask for recommendations for a local pediatric optometrist who does vision therapy. You can look at the covd.org website, but I think personal recommendations are best from a friend, teacher, optometrist, or ophthalmologist.
Optometrists who do vision therapy work on eye muscles, like physical therapy for the eyes. But because they deal with eye issues, they can help tease out what is an eye muscle weakness or something more like dyslexia or visual processing or neurological.
Sometimes if there is a weakness of some kind learning to read can require more effort and is not as much fun.
Insurance can cover vision therapy depending on the diagnosis.
I have a friend whose child finally and suddenly learned to read after vision therapy, and another who is a special ed teacher was skeptical until she saw dramatic improvements in her students. Two of my kids benefitted greatly: in her ability to focus for longer periods and thus complete her work; the other in reading comprehension and math. Two others did not have eye muscle problems but the same optometrist helped figure out why they were having difficulties and when they had educational testing his thoughts were confirmed.
So, I’d say get a good eye exam now, but and if she’s still having problems next year, seek out an evaluation for vision therapy. I’d only do it sooner if self-esteem became an issue.
Thanks everyone. Its true, those level books are insanely boring. We’ve stopped using them at home. I actually see a lot of improvement in ability, despite her dislike of most books. But I was disappointed by the level comment. Not looking for her to be any kind of advanced reader, but I do want her to stay on grade level.
It seems like she does tolerate books that are funny, so I’m going to start looking out for anything on her level with some humor. She also really likes to solve puzzles, so I’ll be looking for those as well.
@gouf78 Interesting that you mention her doing her own writing. She really does like to create comics and I NEVER correct her spelling or grammar.
The titles on those level books at the website look awful. I wouldn’t want to read either. My younger son barely read at level K (Nate the Great) in the fall of 2nd grade. I was reading Harry Potter to him and it suddenly clicked. He yelled, “Mom, mom! I can read Harry Potter!” He was sooo excited. One minute all he saw was letters, the next it was words. My brother did the same thing with Wind in the Willows.
Funny books for kids - Dr. Sueuss of course. Frog and Toad are friends. George and Martha. Sheep in a Jeep. Mo Willems. My older son loved the Cam Jamsen books - easy to read mystery chapter books. (There are apparently now also a slightly easier set of Cam Jamsen books as well.)
It.is.not.a.competition.
If the teacher is unconcerned, you needn’t be concerned about this. Reading is hard! The learning part of any skill is often drudgery and discouragement and no 6 yr old needs that. Just stay positive, keep giving her chances to decode words in a fun , non pressured way. You may be amazed by the progress made in 2nd, when reading ability really helps kids enjoy it, not just endure it. She loves comics and puzzles? Awesome. Sounds like she likes words, just not books so much. It’s still reading.
If she likes stories, buy her an old typewriter and a stack of paper. And display no interest in her output (at least my writer really didnt want to share anything, and thats fine) I think strong minded children just want to find their own way.
But the point is – “J” isn’t grade level for 1st grade. – “J” is 2nd grade level. So it is a goal.
And “grade level” is a somewhat arbitrary standard, based on averages, in any case. Developmentally, there is a broader range of normal reading development.
It’s much more important at this age that the focus be on establishing a strong foundation rather than on achieving a specific level. The F&P level gradations are probably very helpful as a teaching guide, but they are too finely drawn to make sense as a specific goal— because normal little human children are simply more variable.
It is reasonable as a parent to want your child to be above-average in everything… but not so reasonable to expect that – there is just a lot more variation in normal development. Over the years I have seen more and more pushing of reading norms to earlier ages – but there is no reason to expect that 21st century 7 year olds would average out to be better readers than 20th century 7 year olds. And most kids who are educated in systems where reading is introduced later on do just fine. Finland is often cited as an example where early childhood education is play based… with formal schooling only beginning at age 7.
And it really has nothing to do with how intelligent your kid is nor is the ease or pace of reading skill acquisition predictive of much for the future.
Think of it this way: in your child’s classroom, there are kids who probably span about 18 months in chronological age – but your child’s teacher is hoping for level “J” for all the kids – whether the child is age 8 or still only 6 1/2 . That says a lot more about our educational system than it does about the children - there is an expectation that kids will learn in a uniform fashion based on grade assignment… But the reality is that each child is an individual and there is a significant level of variation in skill acquisition that is very much within normal range.
@calmom I really appreciate all you have to say. I want to assure you that I am not seeking for her to be above average. I just don’t want to fall into the trap of missing something that should be caught. You are so right about the 18 month span. My daughter is on the young side for the class. I wonder what they hope to gain by pushing the reading norms up. I did notice that there was a lot less pressure on my two older kids to hit milestones at a certain age. The same seems to be true for math. I don’t think my older kids did anywhere near this level of math in first grade.
My personal feeling in terms of possible “missing something” is to focus on the behavior end of things rather than academics, at this age. I think it’s a sign of trouble when the child seems to get overly frustrated (tantrums, tears over homework, etc.) – or develops resistance or avoidance to attending school, or complaining of headaches or tummy aches tied to school attendance.
I think what “they” hope to gain by pushing reading norms up is higher standardized test scores. And no, I don’t think that is in any way helpful to children. It just gives the schools numbers that make them look better.
Great article here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/reading-minds/201702/three-myths-about-reading-levels
I have a poignant memory of being at my parents’ home when my mom’s best friend started to read to my son. When I came back in the room, her arm was around him and he was nestled into her body. I think she could have been reading a phone book to him, and he would have been contented.
Some adults just have a knack. They do voices. They read a book as tho it’s exciting to them, even after the 500th time.
My son liked the Roald Dahl books, so I gave that series to my friends son and a cousins son. Both enjoyed them. Another boy liked the stories about athletes. I read part of the Numbers book(I can’t recall the name, about a land of numbers and letters). We read a little, then made cookies in shape,of numbers and letters. We used different color sprinkles.
I agree with many of the thoughts expressed here by other posters, but I want to suggest one additional thing, @gallentjill. You mentioned that she brings home chapter books because she doesn’t want to be seen as needing to read baby books or picture books. This is very common, and some publishers (I used to work for one) have special product lines that contain more interesting subject matter (fiction and nonfiction) and look like the books everyone else is reading without making the text too hard. Search for “hi lo” or high-interest-level low-reading-level books online. You may be able to make a list of titles and authors to look for at your library.
But mostly, I would let her find her way. I have always been a reader and while I didn’t make a point of it, my children certainly saw me reading often throughout their lives. They both learned to read early and easily but really neither had a ton of interest in free reading. They will occasionally read for pleasure but I don’t anticipate either of them devouring books like I do. And that’s totally OK.
I have two teenagers, both equally smart, both avid readers. Their reading acquisition style and timing was completely different. The first did better with sounding words out and her progress was more gradual and consistent with grade level. The second caught on to sight words and reading clicked earlier. There is no one size fits all trajectory and it may be that your child is more oriented towards other pursuits.
There have been many good suggestions up thread so I won’t repeat, except to reiterate that evaluation by a vision specialist might be worth considering if she starts to lag behind. I know a teenager who had a visual processing issue that was resolved with eye exercises and glasses. Both her confidence and her aptitude changed dramatically for the better. And I know a very bright boy who sounds similar to your own child who was evaluated and no issues turned up. He just needed more time for reading to click and is now doing just fine.
Thanks all. I did have her vision checked and was told there were no issues. I’m not sure if the exam was in depth enough to detect processing issues. The thing is that she has also never liked me or anyone else to read to her, which leads me to believe it it isn’t a visual issue.
I will look for the hi lo books. That sounds really promising.
Well…how about switching it up. Maybe she would enjoy reading to you more than being the listener.
Upstream someone suggested things like cookbooks. There are some terrific children’s cookbooks, with excellent picture support as well. Read and do recipes together.
You might also want to find some joke books. She might enjoy reading those to you as well.
Joke books are a great idea! Thanks!
@thumper1 Wow! Jokes was a great idea. I looked up some jokes for kid on the internet and she had so much fun reading them to us. Then she called her grandmother and read to her. I’ve never seen anything like it. Thank you!
My daughter used to enjoy the Amelia Bedelia books when she was young. So you might try introducing those if your daughter enjoys the humor.
From joke books to funny books, Captain Underpants or The Golly Sisters