One of the things that I loved doing as a classroom teacher was matching books to readers. I loved finding their comprehension level and then sharing with them the books that would continue to propel them as a reader. For me, when this was matched with strong reading instruction and powerful read alouds my kiddos who once made reading excuses would read for hours.
As a Library Media Specialist, I now enjoy matching books to readers in a different way. I get to be the fun reading aunt who isn’t going to make you eat your vegetables, I just want you to read!!!! I am no longer concerned about what their reading level is and I now want to know:
It is testing season right now in my school. And the kiddos get so excited about their reading growth and I love it when they share that excitement. Now and then, I will get a kiddo who is a bit freaked out over their reading growth.
A 5th grader come down the other day after he finished his reading test and shared his new reading level with me; he has been sharing his progress with me all year long and he has officially tested out! I am ecstatic for him, and in awe because I know that reading is not his most favorite thing in the world. He did not share my enthusiasm. You see, next year he heads to middle school and he is worried that now that he’s reading at a level Z he will be required to read super thick books.
I spent about 5 minutes reassuring him that this would most likely not be the case, and showed him some of the titles that are at his reading level. I walked him over to a few different Gordon Kormon books and series to assuage his fears and I think it worked because he said that he would go buy some at the book store over the weekend for the summer. And then, I had to laugh because he asked me to put in a good word for him with his new Library Media Specialist.
Later, that same day a parent came to me requesting book recommendations for the child based on their reading level. This happens about three times a year; right around the same time classroom teachers finish up F&Ps. I had to go digging into my old classroom files to find my lists because I wasn’t thrilled with what I had recommended. This parent’s request inspired me to update and beautify the list so that I can quickly print out suggestions for parents when they ask.
These lists originated as a list for my reference. I would then compile them into ‘Just Right Book’ stickers for my students and they kept them in their Readers’ Notebooks. My former students (and parents) appreciated these lists a lot because when they bookshopped in the classroom, they knew exactly which books to borrow. When they went to the school library during specials, they almost always came back with books in their JRB level. And families loved them because they knew which books their child should be reading at home to grow as a reader.
That was almost 10 years ago. Things have changed since then. Fountas & Pinnell now have Bands of Book Difficulty which takes content, complexity, lexile, etc into consideration. I like this better than just one reading level because it gives students a bit more flexibility when reading. Not to mention, that most authors write for a general age range that fits into a few different reading levels!
As a media specialists, my intent with these lists is to support parents and colleagues when they ask for book recommendations. I have one more book fair this year (BOGO) and plan to have some handy for parents!
If I were still a classroom teacher, I would replace those Just Right Book stickers with these lists. I would have one list matched to each reader and I would have my students paste them right into their reader’s notebooks.
