[Michlib-l] Lexile level and reading counts

[Barbara Dinan]

Hi Ann and Amy - The best tool I've found for parents who ask librarians
to choose books based on Lexile level (rather than subject and genre) is
AR Book Find (arbookfind.com). (BTW, I don't think teachers are asking 6th
graders to read at an adult level lexile for school, that's a parent
thing.)

Schools in our area use Accelerated Reader and I found that the advanced
search function sorts by both lexile level and interest level. Using Ann's
example, I chose interest level middle grades (4-8) and lexile level
(1100-1300) to get a result with 5000+ titles.

When I show these results to parents they are amazed to discover that
there are actually a lot of choices for their super-intelligent child.
Then I ask the parents to help narrow the search, because 5000 titles is
too many, right? Does Junior like adventure? mysteries? science fiction?
We can use the facets to narrow down the options. Finally, we arrive to
where the conversation should have begun - what type of book does your
child like to read?

More stuff that parents should know... Most schools that require kids to
take quizzes have lists of corresponding titles, that's a better starting
point than working from lexile level. Many media specialists label "quiz"
books in the media center, and many teachers have a classroom library that
supports the curriculum, and there's what popular at the moment -  etc.
Even if a particular book does not have an associated quiz, I'm sure that
an accommodation could be arranged between parent, student and teacher.

I'm encouraged to see that many schools are moving away from the quizzes
and letting the kids choose their own books. Yea!

Barb Dinan
Plymouth District Library

> Ann-agreed!  Talk about killing the joy in reading.
> No, you can't read that-it isn't your level.
> Sure, you can read that, it is your level but we don't have a quiz on it
so go find something else.
> Drives me absolutely bonkers and I feel for these parents who come to me
for help with it. Also, I'm afraid that the higher the reading level (a
concept I have a hard time with) the more difficult it is for me to find a
> title. Let alone a title that I would recommend a kid read.
> my rant over...for now.
> Amy Nolan
> Children's Librarian
> St. Joseph Public Library
> 269-983-7167
> ________________________________
> From: Ann Perrigo [aperrigo at albionlibrary.org]
> Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2014 4:21 PM
> To: Amelia Nolan
> Cc: michlib-l at mcls.org
> Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] Lexile level and reading counts
> AARRGGHHHHH!  One of my pet peeves!  The whole "leveling" and testing
thing just drives me nuts.  Let the kids read what they WANT to read for
heaven's sake!
> Rant over...
> Ann
> On Thu, Nov 13, 2014 at 4:09 PM, Amelia Nolan
> <anolan at sjcity.com<mailto:anolan at sjcity.com>> wrote:
> Help! Has anyone else discovered an easy way to help parents with this
conundrum of lexile level books that also have reading count quizzes?
Today I had a mom come in who had a sixth grade son who was at a high
reading level (lexile 1130-1300) and she was looking for books.  I had a
really hard time finding titles for her that were still housed in the
children's section.
> I pulled a bunch of novels that I consider higher reading level and then
looked them up on the lexile website and many weren't even listed. The
ones I did find (they were all nf), the mom would have to turn around and
> see if these particular titles had quizzes available.
> Has anyone figured out a more streamlined way of doing this or do you
depend on the school librarian/teacher to pass out lists of titles and
levels that have quizzes?
> Thanks for any advice!
> Amy Nolan
> Children's Librarian
> St. Joseph Public Library
> 269-983-7167
> ________________________________
> _______________________________________________
> Michlib-l mailing list
> Michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:Michlib-l at mcls.org>
> http://mail2.mcls.org/mailman/listinfo/michlib-l
> --
> Ann Perrigo, Co-Director
> Albion District Library
> 501 S. Superior Street
> Albion, MI 49224
> 517 629-3993
> _______________________________________________
> Michlib-l mailing list
> Michlib-l at mcls.org
> http://mail2.mcls.org/mailman/listinfo/michlib-l