Parent Packet

© 2009 by American Reading Company®

100 Book Challenge®Linking independent Reading with Effective Instruction

Dear Parents,

Did you know that children who score at the 95% in reading on state tests spend two or more hours reading at home every night just because they like it? We know that when children love to do something, they get very good at it. Children who learn to love reading become very good readers. Good readers are successful in school. Success in school opens the doors to opportunity later in life.

Some children don’t spend much time reading at home. Often they think that reading is schoolwork and they only read what they have to. These children never really learn to love reading and often develop reading problems that turn into academic problems that can turn into life problems.

The solution is to be sure your children LOVE to read. Here’s how to make sure that happens: 1. Be the Blocker for your Home Team: Insist on 30 minutes of family reading time every single weekday night. Block out TV, computers, telephone calls, video games, and other homework. For 30 minutes insist that all of your children (and adults, if possible) read books. Have healthy snacks and comfy places to snuggle up and read together. 2. Insist that your children read books they enjoy. If they are stopping to sound out words, the books are too hard. They can only pay attention to the ideas when they don’t have to think about the words. Reading hard books is a sure-fire way to teach children that reading is not for them. 3. Do NOT test children on their reading. If you are able to read with your child, be sure to talk about the ideas, not the words. Laugh at the funny parts, wonder out loud about the information, talk about the characters. If you turn reading into a testing session, you will be teaching your child not to like to read. 4. Sign the logsheet so your children’s teachers know that you are actively involved with the home reading. Even if your children already love to read and you don’t think they need to keep Logsheets, please sign the log anyway. The children love it and you will be helping your school establish home reading routines by providing a good role model for other families. Imagine raising your children in a community where every family spent 30 minutes reading together every night.

Smart is not something you are. Smart is something you become. Reading makes us all smarter.

Thank you for your support.

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Classrooms are filled with multi-cultural books (fiction and nonfiction) at a 1. variety of color levels to match the independent success level of each child in the classroom.

Books are color-coded using the KidPace™ color-coding system to reflect grade 2. level expectations based on national standards.

Students are color-coded at their independent reading levels to make it easy for 3. them to find books that they can and want to read.

Classroom collections are rotated weekly so that children always have access to 4. new titles at their independent levels.

Readers’ Workshop (15–45 minutes) happens daily in every 100 Book Challenge 5. classroom, with at least 15 minutes of “eye-on-the-page” success-level reading time every day. During this time, the classroom teacher is actively involved in coaching the readers.

Reading logs are completed accurately and used to track the progress of each 6. student. Parents, teachers, principals, and the individual students all know how many Steps each student has completed.

The teacher uses a “Status of the Class” sheet to check in with each student daily. 7.

Every child completes 100-200 15-minute Steps each marking period as he or 8. she works toward the goal of establishing a successful reading lifestyle (with all students reading on or above grade level).

Wall charts broadcast the success of 100 Book Challenge readers. Other incentives 9. are used as needed. Readers are recognized and rewarded by the teacher and principal for their hard work.

Home reading is a daily requirement and is recorded in the teachers’ roll books. 10. Children must read at least 2 Steps (1 Step = 15 minutes of reading) every day at home, preferably with a home coach.

Stage 2: Using KidPace™ Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA) to Inform Instruction:

Once all routines are established, teachers conference with readers, according to individual needs, during 100 Book Challenge reading time. Written assessment records track the learning goals and progress of each student.

Basic Components of 100 Book Challenge

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How Much Should Our Children Read at Home?

One hour every dayfrom the time they are four months old until they take the SAT

if they want to go to any four-year public or private college:

Penn State—University Park, PA

Spelman College—Atlanta, GA

Ohio State—Columbus, OH

Morehouse College—Atlanta, GA

University of Pittsburgh—Pittsburgh, PA

Tuskegee University—Tuskegee, AL

Colorado State—Fort Collins, CO

Harvard University—Cambridge, MA

Fisk University—Nashville, TN

Stanford University—San Francisco, CA

Clark-Atlanta University—Atlanta, GA

University of Pennsylvania—Philadelphia, PA

Howard University—Washington, DC

The typical middle class child enters first grade with 1,000–1,700 hours of one-on-one picture book reading whereas a child from a low-income family averages just 25 hours. —M.J. Adams, Learning to Read

The quantity of trade book reading is the best single predictor of test score performance and success in schools, and is a better predictor than either socioeconomic factors or parental education. —Terrance Paul, Patterns of Reading Practice

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If parents read, chances are children will read.1.

Designate reading time in the home—a time when 2. television and radio are off and books are on.

Try to visit the library weekly as a family.3.

Take children to bookstores (new and used) and 4. encourage them to spend their own money on books they want.

Each home should have a library (i.e., a collection of best-5. loved books to be read often and shared with others).

Parents should read to young children.6.

Self-discipline is the key to a life of reading pleasure—7. read for information and fun.

Books are like good fruit—rare, precious, and healthy.8.

Reading LifestylesHow is Your Family Doing?

Source: Haki Madhubuti, Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous?: Afrikan Families in Transition—Essays in Discovery, Solution, and Hope

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The top 5% of students in achievement read1. 144 times more than the lowest 5%.

Students in private schools spend 67% more time reading 2. than students in public schools.

The quantity3. of trade book reading is the single best predictor of test score performance and success in schools.

The reading level at which a student is challenged by 4. exposure to new vocabulary and concepts without being frustrated is the reading level at which reading practice will promote maximum development.

Students improve 2.66 grade levels per year per 5. 60 minutes per school day they spend reading trade books.

Patterns of Reading Practice

Source: Terrance Paul, Institute for Academic Excellence, University Research Park, Madison, WI 1996

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Lots of Easy Reading is Essential

“Simply put, students need enormous quantities of successful reading to become independent, proficient readers. By successful reading, I mean reading experiences in which students perform with a high level of accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. When a 9-year-old misses as few as two or three words in each hundred running words of text, the text may be too hard for effective practice. That text may be appropriate for instructional purposes, but developing readers need much more high-success reading than difficult reading. It is the high-accuracy, fluent, and easily comprehended reading that provides the opportunities to integrate complex skills and strategies into an automatic, independent reading process.”

Source: Dr. Richard Allington, What I’ve Learned About Efficient Reading Instruction from a Decade of Studying Exemplary Elementary Classroom Teachers

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Readers Read at Their Independent Reading Levels

At Independent Reading levels, students:

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Student’s Name: Grade: Teacher:

Working along with your child, please circle all answers that apply to your child and write anything else you feel might help us encourage your child to read for knowledge and pleasure.

1. My Child

2. My Child

3. This summer, my child read

4. My child read during these times because

5. My child

6. Are there any avid readers in your home? Who?

7. Do you have any concerns about your child’s reading lifestyle? What should we know about your child as a reader? (Use the back if necessary.)

Parent’s signature Child’s signature

Date

Family Questionnaire

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On-Target: Grade Level

Four Marking Periods

Use the chart below to help determine if students are reading on, below, or above grade level, based on their American Reading Company color levels. To be considered on grade level, a student should consistently be reading books independently in school and at home at the color level indicated for his or her grade at the indicated time of year.

Caution: A student should move up in levels “naturally” as a consequence of lots of reading and good coaching. It is counterproductive to “push” a student to a higher level before he or she is ready.

On-Target: Grade Levels

Grade September November January March June

K G G

1st G GG GG B BB

2nd R R RR RR

3rd Wt Wt Wt Wt

4th Bk Bk Bk Bk

5th Or Or Or Or

6th Pu Pu Pu Pu

7th Br Br Br Br

8th Br Br Br Br Br

9th Br Si Si Si Si

10th Si Si Si Si Si

11th Si Gl Gl Gl Gl

12th Gl Gl Gl Gl Gl

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On-Target: # Steps ReadNumber of Steps Read (1 Step = 15 minutes of reading)

400 Steps 800 Steps# of weeks in school Target: 400 (2 Steps per day, 5 days per

week, plus 1 each weekend)Target: 800 (4 Steps per day, 5 days per week, plus 2 each weekend)

GOOD BETTER1 11 222 22 443 33 664 44 885 55 1106 66 1327 77 1548 88 1769 99 19810 110 22011 121 24212 132 26413 143 28614 154 30815 165 33016 176 35217 187 37418 198 39619 209 41820 220 44021 231 46222 242 48423 253 50624 264 52825 275 55026 286 57227 297 59428 308 61629 319 63830 330 66031 341 68232 352 70433 363 72634 374 74835 385 77036 396 79237 407 814

Note: To reach the minimum goal of 400, students need to read only 11 Steps each week (e.g., 2 per day, 5 days per week, plus 1 each weekend). This should be considered a bottom-line minimum for students who start the year on or above grade level. Students who begin the year below grade level should aim for twice this amount.

Set high expectations!

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Coaching Guidelines

The Reader:

The Coach:

every word the reader reads.

Says, “Oops! Try that again.”

Says, “Try making the fi rst sound.”

Says, “Try looking at the picture for clues.”

Tells the reader the word.

Logsheet after the reader reads the book. (Just one title for each Step—15 minutes of reading.)

good things the reader does and says nice things to the reader.

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Comprehension is the ability to apply understanding and meaning to what has been read. It includes skills such as listening, retelling, predicting, summarizing, evaluating, and identifying the main idea. Good readers connect their prior knowledge with the text and can easily communicate those thoughts and ideas to others. A good reader will take action and use strategies to fix comprehension when confused. Good readers think as they read, and make connections to real life, the world, and other things they have read. They use their imagination as they read and make predictions.

Actions and questions that help demonstrate comprehension:

Ask your child to do these things or answer these questions.

Retell the story as if you haven’t heard it before.Tell about the main character.What is the problem? How was it solved?What is the setting?What is an important part of the book?What does the book remind you of from your own life?Ask open-ended questions.

What would happen if…?If you were the character…?Why does the character…?

Form opinions and support them.What did you like about…? Why?What did you think about…? Why?I wonder if you think this is a good story—Why or why not?

Make predictions.What do you think this book will be about? Why?What might happen next? Why?

Practice summarizing.

out the story.What is the main idea of the book?

Find the main idea when reading. Have your child tell the purpose or the point of what has been read. What is the author trying to tell us or what is the message? Remember, the main idea is supported by details.

What else do you want to know?What is an interesting detail?What does _________ mean?What did you learn from this reading?Summarize the most important things about what you read.

Helping Your Children with Comprehension Skills

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Sight Words

G

a allam anand areat bigcan can’tcome dodown forget gohad hashave hehere Iin isit likelittle livelook lotsme myof onone saidsee shethat thethere theythis toup wantwas wewent whatwhere whowhy willwith you

GG

about animalas bebeside boybut camecould daydid doeseat fromgave girlgive goesgoing goodgot herhim hishouse howif intojump makemany newnot nowoff orour outover playput ransaw sayssome takethen thesetoo underwere whenwould yesyour

(also contractions, numbers, colors, directions words, days of the week, and family members.)

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BB

ahead along alsoanswer awful beganbehind below betweenbuild building carrycaught cent closecorner country earthenough even everybodyeveryone everything eyefamily few followfriendly giant groupguess hard highhundred hurry ideainstead large lastlater learn leaveleft letter listenmean might millionmistake mountain neighbornext noisy numberoften once openpage paper phonepicture quiet quitquite really riversentence sometimes specialstory sugar sureteacher though thoughtthrough tiny togethertomorrow tough troubleuntil upon watchwhile without worldyoung

B

after again alwaysanother any askaway beautiful becausebecome before beginbest birthday bothbring buy catchcolor count everyfar fast findfirst fly foundfriend full funnygrow hello helphold just knowlaugh let lightlong much mustmyself never nightold only otherown party peopleplease pretty pullread right schoolshow sleep smallso something startsurprise tell thanktheir them thingthink those timetoday took tryus use verywalk which whoseword work write

These are high-frequency words that often give young readers trouble. Many more sight words will

be expected at this level.

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15

16

Initi

al

Cons

onan

t So

unds

Conc

ept

of W

ord,

O

ne-

to-O

ne

Trac

king

Sigh

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ords

Initi

al

Cons

onan

t Bl

ends

, Co

ntra

ctio

ns

One

-Sy

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ord

Fam

ilies

, Vo

wel

So

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, Fi

nal

Blen

ds

Two-

Sylla

ble

Wor

ds,

Regu

lar

Patt

erns

, En

ding

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mpo

und

Wor

ds

Thre

e-Sy

llabl

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ords

, Re

gula

r Pa

tter

ns,

Thre

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tter

Bl

ends

, Vo

wel

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unds

Har

der

Mul

ti-sy

llabi

c W

ords

, Irr

egul

ar

Patt

erns

fr

om

Ever

yday

Sp

eech

(io

us, i

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(1–2

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(3–5

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(11–

15 p

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full

page

of

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)

Y/Y

Y9

9

G9

99

GG

99

99

B9

99

99

BB

99

99

99

R9

99

99

99

RR

99

99

99

99

Wt9

99

99

99

99

Bk

99

99

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Or9

99

99

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Pu

99

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99

Scop

e a

nd S

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nce

for

Phon

ics

and

Voc

abu

lary

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