Customer Reviews

Matching Books to Readers: Using Leveled Books in Guided Reading, K-3

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a first grade teacher that has used this book on a daily (hourly) basis. If you are using Guded Reading in your classroom, you will find this book of great value. The authors have again provided valuable information for the classroom teacher. The text is an excellent, easy read. The book also includes a list of books with a Guided Reading level as well as Word Count that makes Running Records a lot easier. I have been extremely impressed and have been able to find excellent valuable information that I can use immediately in the classroom! Again, if you are using Guided Reading in the classroom, you will find this an EXCELLENT RESOURCE. I also recommend their book Guided Reading.

Matching Books to Readers is a time saver for teachers who are trying to combine the selection process of whole language with the need for students to have phonetically protected texts. There is theory here, but there is also practicality. It provides suggestions for a range of book in a classroom library so that the needs of all students are addressed. Perhaps one of its best features is the leveling of children books in the appendix. This can be used by the teacher to order (names and addresses of publishers are provided) or to provide books for students based on a variety of levels. It is a good companion for Guided Reading. I would reccomend it for any teacher who is trying to develop a balanced reading/writing program

This book is another great book from Fountas & Pinnell and it is very much like the other Guided Reading book but has more in-depth information. I personally used this book when I was leveling an entier bookroom for the District of Hagerman, New Mexico. This book also came up through conversations at a workshop that dealt with what to do while you are doing Guided Reading. Guided Reading is a wonderful way to give individual instruction to a small group of students at their level of reading. At this time many concepts and strategies can be taught in a short period of time. This book also has a great resource in the back which includes hundreds of books that are already leveled for you! Anyone interested in Guided Reading should buy this wonderful book.

Fontas and Pinnell attempt to assist us in leveling our classroom libraries so we can better service our students. However, with so many different publishers out there, and each having their own way of leveling, I'm not so sure this book is much of a help. I tackled my classroom library and was only able to level 5% of my books using this as a reference. For the money, I'd have been better off buying more books for my students.

The most important part of this book to me are the leveled book lists. They not only list by title, but also give lists by level. If you are find that your classroom needs more books that are at level H, you can quickly locate the section with level H books. Then you'll know right away which books to order. You don't need to search through the alphabetical lists to locate your level. I noticed another reviewer thought the leveled list section was worthless and I completely disagree. I use both lists all the time.

This is a great resource for teachers that use guided reading in their classroom. I teach first and second grade and this has been a big help for me. It saves time when your trying to level books. I did not receive most of my classroom collection of books until after school started. I was able to quickly look up the titles and start using them for instruction. Fountus and Pinnell have great ideas for literacy.

If you are a teacher in the primary grades this book is for you. If you are working on putting together a literacy program for your school or classroom this book will be very helpful for you. It has a lot of ideas on literacy including setting up literacy stations and my personal favorite, leveling books. This is a comprehensive guide on leveling books.

Fountas and Pinnell, gurus of the "guided reading" approach to language arts and authors of the best-seller of the same name, have put out a much-needed resource for those schools which have a "literature-based program" and have "book rooms." I skipped over the first portion of the book, which is merely a rehash of GUIDED READING. The useful section is the list of children's books with their appropriate reading level (using their own system, but can be converted to other reading systems). However, when writing a book of this nature it is imperative that the book be regularly updated. This is not the case, unfortunately, so there are numerous trade books left out. The teacher is left to his or her own judgment where the level should be (a very time-consuming process).

The other complaint is why the authors chose to have sections of books listed by title and then crossreferenced them by level. The level section is absolutely worthless; furthermore, more than one person obviously has put the lists together for there are titles on the title list that aren't on the leveled list and vice versa. There should be only ONE list, books listed by title. Books also should have the author when it's clear there is an author. Using the publisher or book series instead of an author is again useless.

This is a great book for any older books that you may have. However, it does not include any new books, because of the date it was published. After I purchased the book, I found book wizard at Scholastic.com that includes more new books. I was able to level the majority of my books using the website rather than this book. My suggestion is to use the website (it's free) and save your money, unless you have a lot of older books.

Teachers who are interested in designing a program for their students that meet children at their reading levels, should read this book. Yet, parents can learn how to organize their children books as well. In addition, when I had a conference with my daughter's first grade teacher, I could hear the words of this book, such as leveled books. In other words, the book will allow parents to understand how teachers are trying to teach your child to read. Finally, writers can to use this book to write a book that is on the correct level.