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Teach your child how to pick a book at a just-right reading level.

Teachers use the words easy, just-right, and challenge to describe if their book choice is below, at, or above reading level.  Here’s the scoop on helping your child find a book that is at their reading level, in other words, a just right book.

Easy books

Easy but that’s okay.  Don’t worry if your child is reading a lot of easy books.  Kids need to read books that are comfortable and easy.  Just not all the time.

Just Right books

These books are right at instructional level for your child.  It’s not too easy or too hard.  These are the best books to choose most of the time.

Challenge books

These are the books your child will want to save for later.  Ever seen your child read and not have a clue what they read?  That probably means that the book is too hard for right now.  Help them choose a just-right book.

So, how does your child tell if it’s an easy, just-right or challenge book?

The handy-dandy 5 Finger Test!  Here’s what you do . . .

1. Get out your book.  Get one hand ready to count.
2. Open the book to any page — not the first page and not an illustration.  Any page with full text.
3. Read the entire page.
4. Hold up a finger for every missed word.  1 missed word = 1 finger up.  2 missed words = 2 fingers up.  (Don’t worry too much about weird names or last names as a missed word — as long as it’s close enough.)

0 Fingers = Easy

1 – 5 Fingers = Just-right

6 + Fingers = Challenge

Hope that helps!  Post a comment if you have a questions or email me at melissa at imaginationsoup.net.

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