Is My Child Reading the Right Book

How do I know if my child is reading a book "Just Right" for his/her level?                                        

“Just right” books are books that are appropriate for your son’s or daughter’s reading level.  These books should also be interesting to them.  Most of your child’s reading should be at the “just right” level, but “vacation” books and “challenging” books should also be encouraged and included. 

“Vacation” books are books that are very easy for your son or daughter to read.  These types of books help to promote and increase comprehension and fluency skills.  The more practice your son or daughter has with reading familiar “vacation” books, the better their understanding of the events in the story will be.  Also, reading “vacation” books may increase the rate at which your child reads, the accuracy of each word and sentence your child reads, and the expression with which your child reads. 

Additionally, “challenging” books are just that; challenging.  When observing your son or daughter reading, a challenging book will usually have harder vocabulary words, more words on a page, smaller print, and various story events taking place.  Reading challenging books should be included within your son’s or daughter’s repertoire of reading, but should not be the sole focus of reading.  A challenging book can be shared together by reading to and with your son or daughter.  Discussions should take place regularly with your child to help with his or her comprehension of the book.  When discussing the book, some questions and discussion points include:

·        Who are the main characters in your book?

·        How would you describe these characters?  What do you visualize when you’re reading about them?

·        What has happened so far in this book?

·        Where and when is this part of the story taking place?

·        What words are you having trouble reading?  Let’s talk about synonyms and antonyms for these words.

·        Tell me about the problems in this story?  Have they been solved?  How were they solved?  What would you have done differently?

The more time that you can invest in your child’s time spent reading will help promote the life long love of reading.

For additional information please read "Am I reading a just right book" on my web page.