Leveled Books

Why Use Raz-Plus Leveled Books

Each leveled book has been carefully leveled using stringent guidelines and the proprietary, best-in-class Learning A-Z Text Leveling System to ensure accuracy and consistency.

The range of fiction and nonfiction text types ensure that students can find topics that appeal to them while also connecting literacy and content-area instruction.

Many leveled books are translated in several world languages, including Spanish, French, British English, Polish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.

How Books are Leveled

There can be a broad range of reading ability within any group of students. The guided reading, or leveled reading, instructional approach allows teachers to place students into small groups and provide each group with developmentally appropriate texts.

The eBooks and eQuizzes provide opportunities for independent practice following each guided reading session or anytime a student has access to the Internet through a computer or tablet.

• Kids A-Z management tools allow teachers to provide custom assignments that meet specific student needs.
• Self-paced assignments, made by simply filling in a student's level in the easy-to-use Kids A-Z Roster, ensure students practice reading developmentally appropriate books before moving up to the next level.
• Reading Room access through Kids A-Z provides motivation to read a wide variety of books that students can choose from based on their interests.

Some leveled books are also supported by fluency practice passages, reader's theater scripts, a writer's response activity, a literature circle journal, or might be part of a paired book set or other collection. ALL resources that support a book can be found on its homepage.

Leveled Book Formats

Raz-Plus leveled books come in different formats to meet independent, small-group, and whole-class objectives.

Printable Books can be used in class or sent home for practice. Color, black and white, single-sided, and double-sided printed options are available.

Projectable Books can be used with digital projectors and interactive white boards. Projectable Book Tips explain how to reach objectives for fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, and more using the tools provided. Projectable Book Tips guide educators to meet literacy goals for fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, and more.

Listen eBooks provide models of fluency with a natural voice and highlight words, phrases, or sentences as they are read for students to follow along. Many lower level Listen eBooks provide engaging animation and sound effects.

Read eBooks allow students to read silently, whisper read, or record their reading using a headset or a computer's microphone and our built-in recording tools. Students can send these practice recordings to your Kids A-Z In Basket so you can check their fluency progress. You can also download and save the recordings to your computer as MP3 audio files.

Multilevel Books allow students who read at different levels to enjoy the same book. Group students according to skill level, but introduce comprehension skills and reading strategies to the whole class.

Pocketbooks are the ideal size for students to take home for extra practice.

Wordless books let students use their imaginations by letting them tell their own stories with a book's illustrations. The Wordless books can also support retellings of the original text from levels aa–J. The Wordless Book Lessons provide suggested skills and strategies.

Leveled Book Support Resources

Leveled Book Lessons

• Leveled Book Lessons combine the content of the Guided Reading Lesson and the Common Core Supplement.
• The Focus Question in the book and in the lesson provides the opportunity for deeper understanding of the text while emphasizing high-order thinking.
• A concise three-page lesson guides the teacher through instruction
• Students use reading strategies and comprehension skills before, during, and after they read.
• Text-dependent questions require students to cite evidence from one or more sections of the text to formulate responses.
• Extension activities build phonological awareness, phonics, and grammar and mechanics skills.
• Book connection activities provide cross-curricular opportunities in writing, art, math, science, or social studies.

Guided Reading Lessons

• A multiple-page lesson accompanies each leveled book.
• Suggested strategies introduce the book and build background before reading.
• Reading Strategies and Comprehension Skills support students while they read.
• Questions promote after-reading discussions and quick skill-lessons build language arts skills, including phonological awareness, phonics, high-frequency words, word structure and meaning, and grammar and mechanics.
• Extension activities link to writing and other curriculum areas, such as math, science, and social studies.
• Comprehension and other literacy skills are supported by up to four worksheets with each lesson.
• Graphic organizer worksheets engage students in the reading process.

Common Core Supplement

The Common Core Supplement plans provide additional focused instructional content to the regular guided reading lessons. These plans support teachers in meeting objectives identified in the Common Core State Standards, such as: academic vocabulary, text-dependent questions, and a constructed response to reading based on a key question. Text-dependent questions require students to cite evidence from the text and are constructed at three levels of analysis:

• Level 1: Students construct an answer using evidence from one place within the text.
• Level 2: Students construct an answer using evidence from several places within the text.
• Level 3: Students construct an answer using evidence from both the text and experience, requiring an inference or conclusion to be made.

Quick Checks for Assessing Leveled Book Comprehension

Available in printable, projectable, and eQuiz format, the Comprehension Quick Check quizzes provide text-dependent questions for an easy way to assess student understanding.

• Multiple-choice questions cover a range of cognitive rigor and depth of knowledge.
• Quizzes at Level C and above (Level H and above for eQuizzes) also include at least one extended or constructed response question. These questions require students to write an answer to an open-ended question using sound reasoning. The questions allow teachers to measure skills that are difficult to assess with multiple-choice questions.
• Quick Check Comprehension Quizzes accompany every leveled book from Level A to Level Z2 and most of the serial books.

Additional eQuiz Information

• Students receive feedback on how well they performed on a quiz and earn different numbers of stars for passing or perfect quizzes. (For a complete list of star awards, see Student Awards & Incentives.) Students can correct or retake a quiz not passed.
• Kids A-Z Skill Reports provide information about skills each student missed on multiple-choice questions and help inform future instruction.
• Quiz correlations to the Common Core State Standards provide additional information about how well students perform according to grade-level expectations.

Discussion Cards

Discussion Cards support critical thinking, collaboration, and discussion among small groups or entire classes. Many discussion questions focus on text-dependent questions.

Each discussion card is tagged with the specific reading skill it targets. These include such skills as:

• Compare and contrast
• Cause and effect
• Make inferences/draw conclusions
• Analyze and evaluate

English Translated Books and Leveling

Raz-Plus English leveled books have been carefully written using stringent guidelines and the proprietary, best-in-class Leveling System to ensure accuracy and consistency.

English translators closely review the English Leveling Criteria as part of the translations process, but some books might seem easier or more difficult in English than their English level specifies.

Teachers can use the English levels on the English books as a reference point, but should use their professional knowledge when determining which English Translated Leveled Books are the best fit for individual students.

English Translated Leveled Book Lesson Ideas

Each guided reading session takes about 15 to 20 minutes and emphasizes higher-order thinking skills while providing the opportunity for deeper understanding of the text.

Guided reading begins with an introduction of the book and discussion to build background.

Students are placed in similar-ability groups and given developmentally appropriate books to read. The teacher monitors and guides each student's progress and reading as needed.

Discussion focuses on text-dependent questions which require students to cite evidence from one or more sections of the text to formulate responses.

The English lesson plan can provide ideas or support during instruction of the English book.