1. Just Right Books: Supporting Your Child in the Reading Process

2. Why do readers need leveled books?
Independence
Engagement
Organization
Practice
Attainable difficulty

3. Children Learn to word solve by using all 3 sources of information
Meaning
Syntax
Visual

4. Meaning
The child looks at the picture to think about what may ‘fit’ in the sentence.
Thinks: Does my choice make sense in
this story?”
Correct Choice: The dog is running in the park.
Incorrect Choice: The bag is running in the park.

5. Syntax
The structure of the text (up to and including the substitution) should make an acceptable English language construction.
Thinks: Does it ‘sound right’ to say it that way?
Correct choice: Look at my ice cream.
Incorrect choice: Look at me ice cream.

6. Visual The child is processing the individual letters of each word.
Thinks: Does the word look right?
Correct choice: Dad is home.
Incorrect choice: Bad is home.

7. Characteristics of Each Level:
A & B
Highly supported by pictures
Repeating language
Short, predictable sentences
Sight words and familiar vocabulary
C & D
More text on a page
Longer, more complex words (-ing, -ed)
Characters and Dialogue
Punctuation (…, “”, ?, !)

8. Characteristics of Each Level:
E & F
Most concepts supported by detailed pictures
Sequence of Events
Longer sentences and words
Contractions
Words with predictable spelling patterns
Compound sentences
G & H
Texts with unusual settings
Smaller font
Complex letter-sound relationships
Content-specific language
Question and answer books
More dialogue with multiple speakers
Minimal illustrations

9. TCRWP Benchmarks 1 2 3 4 January D or below E/F G/H I or above March
E or below
F/G
H/I/J
K or above
June
G or below H
I/J/K
L or above

10. Good Habits to Solve Hard Words:
Check the picture
Look at all of the parts of the word
Get a running start
Check it and do a double check –
Does it sound right?
Does it make sense?
Try it two ways
Crash the parts together

11. Word Detectives Take an Even Closer Look:
Break long words into small words
Pay attention to the beginning of the word
Break the ending off of a word
Look out for vowel teams
Use parts of words that you know

12. Comprehension Support:
Ask questions about specific parts of the story
Make inferences
Make a connection:
How is this story similar to another book?
Have you had a similar experience?
Visualize the story
Retell the story – Characters and Key Details