We want our children to read, read, and read...but how do we know if we are selecting books that match our child's reading level?? When our children are reading we want them to be reading at a level that does not cause them to become frustrated, but one in which the right level of challenge and ease exists. The purpose of daily reading is to build confidence and a joy for reading...so the more we understand about our child's reading level the better . Many schools now use Lexile measures to determine an individual's reading level and how well they will comprehend the text. There are two types of Lexile measures: the Lexile reader measure and the Lexile text measure. A Lexile reader measure is a score from a reading test that identifies a student's reading ability. A Lexile text measure refers to the book's reading difficulty (level). The books level is determined by the Lexile Analyzer software.
If you know your child's Lexile level then you can visit the following site to select books that fall in their range: http://www.lexile.com/findabook/. Another excellent source to find the Lexile level of books is the The Teacher Book Wizard. However, if you are not sure of your child’s Lexile level, you will be able to figure out your child's approximate reading level by visiting Barnes and Noble's Lexile Reading Level Wizard. The Lexile Wizard from Barnes and Noble will estimate your child's Lexile level and also generate a list of books.
Dr. James Kim, a Harvard University Professor, conducted more than a decade of research and found that a primary reason that children do not read enough during the summer is the difficulty of finding books at their reading level and of interest to them. He states that. "Young people have to want to read a book and they have to be able to read it." His research found that a child's reading abilities can actually grow over the summer when they read high-interest books in their Lexile range. If you would like to read more of his research click here. I hope that the tools noted above will assist you in helping your child reading abilities to grow by leaps and bounds.
