I began to go through my classroom library to see how many of the books I already had. I wanted to pull them, read them, and think about things I could do with them next year. I didn't understand why, out of the 60 titles, I only possessed five. Just five! I have A LOT of books in my classroom library.
So I sat down at my computer and began typing titles into Accelerated Reader.
These are the books I have and they are very rarely picked up by one of my second grade students.
Title Reading Level
Cinderella 5.1
The Ox Cart Man 4.5
Amazing Grace 3.5
The Little House 4.2
Charlotte's Web 4.5
The other books on the list ranged from 2.7 to 7.4. Only one book in the list was on a second grade level, Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting.
There are 17 books that are listed as 'student copies'. I assume that means there will be a copy for each second grader to hold in their hands. The levels for those books are 2.7 (only one) -5.1.
I understand that the CCSS level books by Lexile, so I looked up the Lexile levels. Those range from 500L-1000L. If I am reading this chart correctly https://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/grade-equivalent/grade-equivalent-chart/ , second graders should be reading 420L to 650L.
Using this chart, the 17 student copies range as follows:
- None fall below 420L, five fall between, six are above 650L.
- One selection is a poem (no Lexile available), four stories have no Lexile level, and one is a wordless picture book.
- The books listed as "Read Alouds" ranged from The Kamishibai Man (600L) to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1000L).
- Most of the "Read Alouds" are found online at Core Knowledge. I haven't had time to download them and read them.
- There are ten selections that are listed as "Group (choice for independent reading)". The levels for these are from 600L to 925L.
My concern.... I teach inclusion kids. My class reading level is around a 2.4. I have some reading on a first grade level and some reading on a third grade level.
What am I going to do?
