How to Convert Books to a Leveled Library
A leveled library means that students can choose books at their reading level because books are labeled to indicate their reading level. There are several leveling systems including Guided Reading, Lexile, grade level and DRA. You can level books on one or more systems depending on your school and district policies.
Instructions
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Convert Books to A Leveled Library
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1
Choose your system (or systems). Decide whether you will use Guided Reading, Lexile, DRA or grade-level systems. The Guided Reading and Lexile systems are more specific and will be more helpful to students than the grade-level or DRA systems.
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2
Use a database. There are a number of databases on the web where all you have to do is type in the title of your book and you can get its level. The Guided Reading database charges per session, but the Lexile database is free. Scholastic's free Book Wizard allows you to search for books in all the systems, perfect if you are using more than one system.
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3
Write the level. After finding a book's level, write it down on a sticker. You can choose to color code your library with colored dot stickers or just use plain white stickers.
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4
Attach the sticker. After writing the level, attach the sticker to the binding of the book, then apply clear tape over it for durability.
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5
Repeat the process. Do steps 1-4 for each book in your library. Set books that did not show up in the databases to the side.
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6
Compare books. Compare the books you could not find levels for to the books that are already leveled. Look for close matches in vocabulary, sentence length and structure, picture support, repetition and predictability, and book length. When you find a close match, repeat steps 3 and 4.
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Tips & Warnings
You can also use the databases to find books for your library if you feel you're lacking at some levels.
Remember that levels are merely meant to be guidelines, so it's okay to let students read books that are a bit above or below their levels.
References
Resources
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