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Reading
Stages
(adapted from the
State College Area School District Language
Arts Continuum)
Emergent
readers
•
display curiosity about books and reading
• pretend read and write
• rely on pictures to tell the story but are beginning to focus on print
• may know some letter names and sound associations
• can write some letters, usually those in their own names
Developing
readers
•
can read predictable books (The Very
Hungry Caterpillar or The Teeny Tiny
Woman)
• can identify letters by names and know most letter sounds
• begin to use spaces between words in writing but not consistently
• will recognize familiar words such as labels and names of classmates
• can participate in books discussions, will use personal experiences to make
connections to literature
Beginning
readers
•
begin to apply reading strategies (sentence structure, meaning, phonetic clues)
• rely on print more than illustrations to create meaning
• understand basic punctuation such as periods, exclamations, and question
marks.
• read a range of early-reader series such as I
Can Read, Little Bear, and
Amelia Bedelia
• can retell the beginning, middle, and end of stories
• participate in discussions about the story’s characters, setting, events,
and problems
Expanding
readers
•
use a variety of decoding strategies independently (sentence structure, meaning,
phonetic clues)
• read known and predictable favorites while also stretching into a
variety of new
materials; may choose to read a
range of beginning chapter and picture books like The
Boxcar Children books, Amazing Grace,
and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.
• silent read for a longer period, perhaps 20 minutes or more
• participate in guided literary discussions and are able to retell settings,
characters,
problems, major events and solutions of the stories they read or hear
• also read non-fiction materials such as New
True Books, or Ranger Rick
Bridging
readers
•
strengthen their skills by reading longer books with little repetition of
vocabulary
• integrate sentence structure, meaning and phonetic clues to identify words
• independently read medium-level chapter and picture books such as James and the Giant
Peach,
Charlotte’s Web, Bunnicula, Murfaro’s
Beautiful
Daughters, The
Babysitter’s Club
books, and American Girls books
• increased knowledge of literary elements and genres may allow them to
describe
character’s traits and growth over time, understand the importance of the
setting and plot in a story, and compare and contrast books
• broaden their interests by choosing a wide variety of material such as World
Magazine,
Eyewitness or Explorer books.
Fluent
readers
•
can deal with more complex issues and topics
• may read preadolescent literature such as Fighting
Ground, Old Yeller, Stuart Little,
My Side of the Mountain, Number the Stars,
and Words of Stone.
• select and finish a wide variety of materials and silent read for 30 or more
minutes
• participate in teacher-guided or student-led literary discussions
• can analyze and debate the relationships among literary elements
Proficient
readers
•
avid readers who can silent read for at least 30 minutes
• independently select challenging and complex pre-adolescent literature such
as the trilogy by Tolkein, Monkey Island, Early
Thunder, and Maniac Magee
• move between genre with ease, although they may have strong preferences
• can interpret sophisticated meaning
• can become deeply involved in complex literary discussions through
literature circles
• can plan appropriate strategies
for conducting information searches as they integrate information from
various resource materials.
Independent
readers
•
select, read and understand materials of a sophisticated and complex nature,
such as The Giver, Jacob Have I Loved,
This Boy’s Life, Watership Down, Where the Red
Fern
Grows,
and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
• evaluate, interpret, and
analyze literary elements in depth
• investigate related issues by generating ideas, questions, and posing
problems
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