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We've leveled many, but purposely not all, of the books in every classroom library. The fact that we have leveled these books doesn't mean that teachers should necessarily convey all of these levels to children. We expect teachers will often make these levels visible on less than half of their books (through the use of colored tabs), leaving readers with the responsibility of choosing appropriate books for themselves by judging unmarked books against the template of leveled books. "This book looks a lot like the green dot books that have been just-right for me, so I'll give it a try and see if I have a smooth read," a reader might say. We believe it is important for kids to learn to navigate different levels of difficulty within a classroom library on their own or with only minimal support from a teacher. We do not imagine a classroom lending library that is divided into levels as discrete as the levels established by Reading Recovery or by Gay Su Pinnel and Irene Fountas' book, Guided Reading. These levels were designed for either one-to-one tutorials or intensive, small group guided reading sessions, and in both these situations a vigilant teacher is present to constantly shepherd children along towards more challenging books. If a classroom lending library is divided into micro-levels and each child's entire independent reading life slotted into a micro-level, some children might languish at a particular level, and many youngsters might not receive the opportunities to read across a healthy range of somewhat-easier and somewhat-harder books. Most worrisome of all, because we imagine children working often with reading partners who "like to read the same kinds of books as you do," classroom libraries that contain ten micro-levels (instead of say, five more general levels) could inadvertently convey the message that many children as well as many books were off-limits as partners to particular readers. There are benefits to micro-levels, however, and therefore within a difficulty level (or a color-dot), some teachers might ascribe a plus sign to certain books, signifying that this book is one of the harder ones at this level. Teachers can then tell a child who is new to a level to steer clear of the books with plus signs, or to be sure that he or she receives a book introduction before tackling a book with a plus. In assigning books to levels, we have tried to research the difficulty levels others have given to each text and we include these levels in our guides on a book. Fairly frequently, however, our close study of particular texts has led us to differ somewhat from the assessments others have made of a book. Of course leveling books is and always will be a subjective and flawed process; and therefore teachers everywhere should deviate from assigned levels, ours and others, when confident of their rationale, or when particularly knowledgeable about a reader. Descriptions of Text Levels One Through Seven
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A Field Guide to Your Classroom Library, Lucy Calkins and the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project,
Heinemann © 2002, Teachers College, Columbia University;
http://www.heinemann.com/fieldguides