How to Find a Book's Lexile or AR Reading Level
Having a number that corresponds a child's reading level to a book helps a child enjoy reading more. After testing at school to determine a child's Lexile or Advanced Reading level, this number helps a child, parent or teacher choose books that encourage reading independently. A caregiver knows by the Lexile or AR level if a child needs help reading, if a book is just right or if the child can easily read it by himself. If you are unsure of a book's reading level you can find the Lexile or AR number online.
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Instructions
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Lexile Level
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Open the web page lexile.com and search for the title of the book in the search box. If nothing comes up, there are other methods for analyzing the text to get a Lexile level.
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Hover your cursor over "Tools" and then click "Lexile Analyzer." This takes you to a registration page, which allows you to input text from the book that you want analyzed. Registration is free.
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Prepare your text for analysis by typing it directly into a word processing program and saving it as a TXT file. Use only complete sentences from the text to get an accurate Lexile score.
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Scan the text from the book or document and save it as a PDF. Choose an OCR program to convert the PDF and save it as a TXT file. This is not as accurate a method as typing it in manually due to OCR accuracy issues.
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Upload the text in the Lexile file analyzer web page where the Lexile score of the book or document provided will be measured. Print this page for future reference and repeat as necessary.
AR Level
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Open the AR Bookfinder web page arbookfind.com and enter the book title into the default quick search box. Press "Go" to get the book's AR level.
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Click "Advanced Search" to enter information such as the ISBN, title or author or create a search based on grade level or subject matter. Choose a sorting method and press "Go" to retrieve the AR level of the book.
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Click on "Awards," "State Lists" or "Librarians' Picks" to get a list of books that are in these categories. This is only useful if you aren't sure about anything else regarding the book other than it's part of these collections. It's easier to find a specific book's AR level via the search function.
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Tips & Warnings
Although a book may be in a child's Lexile or AR level, always check the subject matter for the appropriateness of the book for the child.
References
Resources
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