Letters, Numbers, Virtues, We Have Them All

Schools here in Lake Forest utilize a variety of evaluation methods in determining books at a technically appropriate level for each student.  So far, we here at the Children’s Library have seen Fontas & Pinnell Guided Reading, Lexile, Accelerated Readers.  In our desire to work with local schools, we have put together extensive lists of books we own according to the each system.

The Guided Reading System, created by Fontas & Pinnell, is used by the elementary schools for newly emergent readers.  A letter designates books from A (learning to read) to Z (high school).  We have labeled many books with colored dots on the spine indicating levels A – T.  We keep a master list of these titles by level at the circulation desk.

Older students in public school are tested and graduate to a Lexile Number.  The Lexile system ranges from 0 to over 1500 in units of 10, although most new readers score at least 100.  There are so many books that have been given a Lexile number that a list would be too cumbersome.  The Lexile website is freely available to anyone wishing to determine if a book has been assigned a Lexile number and to find books at a certain level.  We have distilled a list of age appropriate books that we own for students reading above the 1000 level.  This is especially helpful for young gifted readers.

St. Mary uses the AR (Accelerated Reader) program in their literature classes.  Numbers are given as to a book’s difficulty ranging from 0 – 12, corresponding roughly to school grades.  We have created a highly granulized list of selected books we own spanning levels .2-4.9.  We have also put together a select list of chapter book series with various AR levels listed.  The AR website is freely available, but be advised that we might not own books they have listed.  We’d be happy to put together a sampling of books for your child.  Just call us with the child’s AR level and we will come up with half a dozen books put aside for you to peruse within the following few days.

District 67 has embraced 5 character traits as part of instilling emotional wellness in their students: Caring, Honesty &Integrity, Respect, Responsibility, Teamwork.  Our librarians have carefully selected a reading list of books for a variety of ages demonstrating one of these character traits.  We currently have a display of the books.

Our library catalog now often includes Guided Reading, Lexile and AR levels.  Just click on Full Record tab and then Marc Display at the bottom.  The information is usually in the 500 fields. 

 Too much librarian techno jargon?  

Then just ask us; we’d love to share our lists with you. (a lot easier!)