Leveled reading is a strategy for teaching literacy skills.  With this strategy, children are assigned books that best match their reading level.  As the student’s reading skills become stronger they are assigned more complex books. Leveled reading is comprised of several components; read on to learn more about what comprises leveled reading.

Theme

Books for beginners focus on topics that younger children will know about and experience, in turn making it easier for them to relate to the book.  As the children advance their literacy skills, the books will become more complex, and perhaps, the themes of the books might not be familiar to them.

Layout and Length

The layout and length of a book is very important, when it comes to leveled reading.  Parents and educators should consider the number of pages, lines per page, words per page, and font size.  Beginners should be assigned books with clearly defined spaces between words and should typically have a few sentences contained to one page. As the children become more advanced readers, they can be assigned books that have smaller fonts, as well as sentences from line to line or page to page.

Structure & Vocabulary

Beginners’ books use simple base words and repetition, in order to tell a story.  These stories are usually illustrated in a manner that helps young children achieve meaning from the illustrations.  As the students gain reading skills, they are assigned books that have more complex plots with structures featuring a beginning, middle, and end.  Additionally, these stories are told in multisyllabic words and idioms that may need interpretation.

Lectura Books offers an array of books that fit nicely into a leveled reading home or school library.  Additionally, all of Lectura Books’ offerings are bilingual books. These books portray ideas and life experiences that most English Language Learners (ELLs) can relate to.  Leveled reading is a great way to ensure that ELLs learn English at their own pace, and can advance throughout the school year.