Reading is a process of constructing meaning from print and other symbols (Hill, 2006,pg 170). There are several different phases of reading development, they are; beginning, early emergent, emergent, early, transitional, and extending. Many teachers will organize books into levels of difficulty so the students reading development is being scaffolded and to also make sure they are getting adequate practice from each of the different texts at their level of text difficulty. The different levels of text difficulty are based on: Complexity of concepts in the texts, Complexity of syntax and vocabulary, length of text, size and placement of text on a page, and the amount of contextual support in the illustrations (Hill, 2006, pg 148-150). Reading involves active problem solving where the reader checks against several sources of information; semantics, syntax, phonology, and the letters. Leveled books can provide a teacher with an assessment of how the child uses reading strategies, selecting small groups for group work, and for selecting texts that promote reading challenges as well as scaffolding support (Hill, 2006, pg 170-171). Teachers need to assess the accuracy of each child’s reading as well as the child’s comprehension and reading fluency. It is useful to find out how many high frequency words a child can read by sight and write independently as this will speed up their reading and writing.
Development of Reading
Reading is a process of constructing meaning from print and other symbols (Hill, 2006,pg 170). There are several different phases of reading development, they are; beginning, early emergent, emergent, early, transitional, and extending. Many teachers will organize books into levels of difficulty so the students reading development is being scaffolded and to also make sure they are getting adequate practice from each of the different texts at their level of text difficulty. The different levels of text difficulty are based on: Complexity of concepts in the texts, Complexity of syntax and vocabulary, length of text, size and placement of text on a page, and the amount of contextual support in the illustrations (Hill, 2006, pg 148-150). Reading involves active problem solving where the reader checks against several sources of information; semantics, syntax, phonology, and the letters. Leveled books can provide a teacher with an assessment of how the child uses reading strategies, selecting small groups for group work, and for selecting texts that promote reading challenges as well as scaffolding support (Hill, 2006, pg 170-171). Teachers need to assess the accuracy of each child’s reading as well as the child’s comprehension and reading fluency. It is useful to find out how many high frequency words a child can read by sight and write independently as this will speed up their reading and writing.
(Hill, S 2006, Developing Early Literacy: Assessment and teaching, Eleanor Curtain Publishing, Prahran)
Boy and girl picture - http://funtoreadlearntoread.googlepages.com/learningtoread-somethingsibelieve
Word picture - http://www.learningresources.com/