Reading level

THere’s the “five finger” rule for seeing if a book’s right for a kid — basically, kids shouldn’t miss more than five words on a page.

Another formula for estimating reading level is the Fry Readability Formula explained at http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/fry/fry.html.

I think I’d want to observe the class and see what those reading groups are about, and how kids get placed into them. COuld be all he needs is a personal session reading to his teacher to prove that he needs to be moved on up, or it could be there’s some other reason that book was chosen.

It’s the “number of syllables” that determines how hard a word is. So “understand” is “harder” than “chasm” or “squelch.” And a short “sentence” or two can average out some very complex language. Totally. Completely.
NOt to mention other factors that make a book more or less “readable.”

(However, just the title of the book in question at least *sounds* simpler. It’s always possible that there’s some literary technique used in it that the teacher is using the book to teach but I”d want to know what was up)

Is the purpose of the reading group to practice decoding skills or is it to discuss the literature? Those are very different aims. when I assign a book to a group in my literature groups, it’s usually at a slightly easier level than many of the kids in the group are reading at. I want all the kids to be able to pay attention to the content and form rather than struggle with their decoding skills.

When my nonLD daughter was in third grade she was in the middle of five reading groups even though she could easily read harder material. The reason was that the teacher did not teach decoding skills above that reading level and my daughter, despite her great vocab., was weak at decoding. So there may be some other criteria for reading groups. You might ask.

If you have MS-Word you can set it up to give Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score when you select all and do a spell check. Just type in some passages from the book you are interested into a WORD document the :

On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar tab.
2 Select the Check grammar with spelling check box.
3 Select the Show readability statistics check box, and then click OK.
4 Click Spelling .

Below is the meaning of the imformation that displays on the screen when you spell check. It is also useful to check writing levels of own/child’s writing.

Readability scores

When Word finishes checking spelling and grammar, it can display information about the reading level of the document, including the following readability scores. Each readability score bases its rating on the average number of syllables per word and words per sentence.

Flesch Reading Ease score

Rates text on a 100-point scale; the higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. For most standard documents, aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score

Rates text on a U.S. grade-school level. For example, a score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader can understand the document. For most standard documents, aim for a score of approximately 7.0 to 8.0.

1 On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar tab.
2 Select the Check grammar with spelling check box.
3 Select the Show readability statistics check box, and then click OK.
4 Click Spelling .

Readability scores

When Word finishes checking spelling and grammar, it can display information about the reading level of the document, including the following readability scores. Each readability score bases its rating on the average number of syllables per word and words per sentence.

Flesch Reading Ease score

Rates text on a 100-point scale; the higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. For most standard documents, aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score

Rates text on a U.S. grade-school level. For example, a score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader can understand the document. For most standard documents, aim for a score of approximately 7.0 to 8.0.

The reading group may have been student chosen. I have groups for different purposes. When I do book club groups the students look over the choices and then choose their 1st and 2nd choice. I assign them to one of those two books. They work on comprehension strategies while reading the book. The strategies can be taught and often are taught with easier material. The important thing is the strategy and not the material. I would talk to the teacher and find out why he is reading this book.

Yes, that’s exactly what I do too. The purpose of my literature groups is different than the purpose of reading-for-decoding-skills acquisition. A good teacher should be making sure there’s opportunity for both types of reading in the classroom environment.

Horrible Harry books range from 2.8 to 3.8 reading range for grade level. Homer Price is 6.5 grade equilivant reading level. What grade is your child in?
I have students who check out very high level books to take to their regular classroom and home so the students do not know what level they are reading at.
Does your school have a STAR READING diagnostic program? This program indicates what a students optimal reading range or zone is to get the most learning out of the books a students checks out.
You might want to ask his teacher why they have asked him to read Horrible Harry. Maybe they are studying ants?

Have you really listened to your child read out loud from Homer Price?

Yes, but when I have done this, many times, I have secured reding levels that were reported much lower than I actually believe they are. I have serious concerns about that formula or that application of that formula regarding its accuracy.