Early+Years+Readers

= Early Years Readers =

To find a suitable text for a child the first step would be to distinguish what level the child is currently reading at. There are four levels:
 * Identifying Suitable Texts **


 * Emergent:** At this level a child should be able to locate where the author/illustrator is written on the book. They should also be able to identify where to start reading, read top to bottom, left to right and recognize punctuation. Books at this level also tend to use a lot of high-frequency words so the child should be able to identify some of these. Children also tend to self-correct when reading and persist in problem solving (Hill 2006, p.172)
 * Early:** Books at this level have an increased length of text and sentences. There are different syntactic patterns and the layout and text varies in comparison to emergent texts. At this stage children can read from the start, left to right, top to bottom and understand punctuation. They are able to identify many high-frequency words as well as notice and interperet details in illustrations. (Hill 2006, p.178)
 * Transitional:** At this stage children are becoming more fluent in their reading and maintain a higher range of problem solving strategies. Books at this level tend to become a bit longer and a little more complex. (Hill 2006, p.181)
 * Extending:** At this level the books tend to have a variety of sentence lengths and can have up to 11 lines on each page. New vocabulary and new concepts are introduced along with a variety of text types. Children tend to read silently at this level but can begin to read aloud if the text becomes too hard. (Hill 2006, p.182)

Once we have established what level the child is reading at we can then determine the text level in which they should be reading at by following the chart below.

//(Table extracted from Hill, 2006, p.183)// Appropriate Children’s books have their level number located on the back cover.
 * Emergent || A || Levels 1-2 || Approx. 4.5-5.5 years ||
 * || B || Levels 3-5 || Approx. 5.0-5.5 years ||
 * Early || C || Levels 6-8 || Approx. 5.5-6.0 years ||
 * || D || Levels 9-11 || Approx. 5.5-6.0 years ||
 * Transitional || E || Levels 12-14 || Approx. 6.0-6.0 years ||
 * || F || Levels 15-17 || Approx. 6.5-7.0 years ||
 * Extending || G || Levels 18-20 || Approx. 7.0-7.5 years ||
 * || H || Levels 21-23 || Approx. 7.0-8.0 years ||

To assess a child’s fluency we can use the reading fluency rubric. The rubric allows us monitor a child’s development in reading aloud with clear phrasing, attention to syntax, full attention to punctuation and expression which indicates the child has interpreted the text.(Hill 2006,p.193)
 * Assessing Fluency **

The first step of the assessment involves getting the child to read a book they are familiar with and that they have read before quite well. We then would calculate how long it takes the child to read 100 words, divide the number of words by the seconds taken to read the book which will then determine the fluency level the child is at in relation to the rubric.(Hill 2006,p.193)

//(Table extracted from Hill, 2006, p.194)//
 * **Level 1** || **Level 2** || **Level 3** || **Level 4** ||
 * Read word-by-word with frequent long pauses between words || Reads most word-by-word but some two word phrases and perhaps three of four word phrases || Mixture of word-by-word reading and phrases reading || Reads in larger meaningful phrases. Phraseful reading with few word-by-word slow-down for problem solving ||
 * No recognition of syntax || Inconsistent evidence of syntactic awareness || Evidence of syntax || Full evidence of syntactic awareness ||
 * Little expressive interpretation || Little expressive interpretation || Consistent expressive interpretation || Expressive interpretation evident throughout ||
 * Very little awareness of punctuation || Some awareness of punctuation || Attention to punctuation || Full attention to punctuation ||
 * Does not reread || Some rereading to monitor his/her predictions may be present || Rereading to monitor his/her predictions || Rereading to monitor his/her predictions but the reading is generally fluent ||

To assess a child’s comprehension we can ask them different types of questions to measure the child’s understanding of a text. There are 3 different types of questions that can be asked: Literal, Interpretive and Inferential (Hill, 2006 p.236)
 * Assessing Comprehension **
 * Literal:** For the story Peter Rabbit a literal question could be “What type of animal was Peter?”
 * Interpretive:** Again for Peter Rabbit an interpretive question might be “Why do you think he went into Mr. McGregor’s garden?
 * Inferential:** An example of a inferential question would be “What did you learn from this story?”


 * __Group Comments__**

The early year learner that i originally assessed would be at the early reading stage. The child's direction of reading was good but not very fluent. Looking at the chart above he would most certainly fall into the level 2 catagory for fluency. Although when assessinh his comprehension he was able to answer a range of questions quite well, sometimes getting a little confused with the inferential questions. (Libby Salter)

I was placed in a grade prep classroom where the majority of students were at the emergent level and a small number in the early levels for reading. There was quite alot of modelled reading compared to individual reading in the classroom(partly due to other actvities taking time from literacy at the time). After modelled reading or watching a short cartoon, the teacher would ask many comprehension questions to measure their understanding and I was surprised how many facts some students could recall. (Mark Tapscott)

In the school I was placed in there was alot of solo reading. Group reading was only done when the day was wet or as a reward for something. All the students were at different levels and went though books quickly. Questions weren't asked but the teacher did take some students aside that were falling behind. (Ethan Tartaglia)

From my observation in assignment 1, Student A was able to confidently read through the story with little mistakes, suggesting that the text may have been below her level and a more challenging book should be offered. The child was able to read all pages in meaningful phrases without word-by-word reading, and showed extensive syntactic awareness. The student did, however, did not give full attention to punctuation or use expressive tone; often she would not pause for long enough when full stops were presented. The reading fluency rubric bove demonstrates that the child is assessed as being between level 3 and level 4. (Sarah Mcilroy)

A little autistic child in the prep class I was placed in was very interesting. I hadn't really been exposed to anybody with autism before and it was amazing how even at such a young age the symptoms of the condition were very evident, particularly through reading, I would place him somewhere between the early and transitional phases for fluency, he was certainly the most fluent in the class, however if asked comprehension questions, he couldn't answer. (Hayley Gleeson)