If you're not yet familiar with the ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development), it's basically the zone that incorporates where your child is with regards to learning, plus a little more and a little less. The point is that if you keep your kid in this range, learning is enjoyable. Why? Well, too easy is boring and too hard makes you want to quit. However, a little easy is good because every now and then you need to recharge without having your skills fall off the planet, and a little hard is good because it helps get you to the next level. This can be applied to just about any type of learning. That said, interest in the subject plays a huge difference in how much of a challenge someone is willing to take on ... I have little doubt that at this point in his life Joey wouldn't be self-enrolled in a college-level course if it had everything to do with his beloved Lightening McQueen and Mater. ;-)
With that in mind, we try to get reading books from the library to help us out, but if you're as familiar with these books as we are, sometimes the "Reading Level" on the back of them just don't quite line up ... thanks to the interpretations of the various publishers. A solution? Using the reading levels based on a company that's already gone through quite a few books (and whose credibility has been tested by the schools where your child and/or their peers may - eventually? - be enrolled). Enter AR (Accelerated Reader) and Lexile. Feel free to do a search on them, or just click on the links below and enjoy the lists that populate. :-) If you find any better, please feel free to share!
http://sedgefield.nn.k12.va.us/export/sites/Sedgefield/documents/ARlist.pdf - reading list sorted by ar reading level (took a while to find, since the majority of the ones that kept coming up were alphabetical)[/b]
http://www.quizlist.net/(S(0s0vef553y4nei45u2xped55))/Search.aspx - Link to a searchable list: my preference, searching based on Lexile, sorted by lexile, leaving only LG clicked at the bottom to include books that are more appropriate for the 1 & 3 year old right now.
I fount that link at quizlistinteractive, which also has other interesting links, like
http://www.quizlistinteractive.com/AcceleratedReader_BookLists.aspx ... but you'll quickly note that it's not as inclusive as one may hope. The reason for this is because they make their money from selling quizzes, I believe, and so they limit their list to what they offer.
Again the reason I like the search engine is because it does a good job of providing a fair list of AR/Lexile comparisons. The reason I like ar/lexile comparisons is because I'm finding that kiddo's reading abilities are often higher than reading level and here's the catch to that: I want to encourage newer and more complicated words without boring him with chapter books already. The challenge has been in finding shorter, less wordy, illustrated stories that advance his reading level. Getting a lexile list is helpful for that, and having an AR list helps reassure me that they're advancing at a level recognized by many institutions. (Lexile is relatively new and therefore not so recognized/incorporated. For example, our local library has a page online chatting it up ... and then fails to have a lexile searchable search engine.)
It's after 4am here and I'm wondering how much sense this post is making, so I'll try to shorten now.
Here's a list of other interesting links:
http://www.lexile.com/fab/ - link to the lexile site's search engine
http://www.renlearn.com/store/quiz_series.asp?root=recommended&s1=a&s2=z&c=MA+02%3A70%3A3+2102%2F9%2F21 - link to suggested reading lists from AR (accelerated reader)
http://www.renlearn.com/store/quiz_advanced.asp?c=MA+30%3A64%3A3+2102%2F9%2F21 - link to the complete AR library
Digg
