I completed a WRI and passage reading last semester with a first grader. After completing these assessments hands on and reading the article I agree 100% with the them of the article. It is crucial for a child to be placed on their reading level to make any growth. If a child is placed in a lower reading level they will get frustrated and dismiss all that they have read, not comprehending the story. If a child is placed on a higher reading level all of their time will be spent on decoding the vocabulary and sentence structure and they forget what they have read by the end of the passage. When the child is reading on appropriate grade level their word automaticity will increase and they will be able to comprehend these words in the stories that they are reading. An important statement in the article that stuck out to me was “Struggling readers need books they can read–accurately, fluently, and with strong comprehension–in their hands all day long in order to exhibit maximum growth”. This sticks out to me because last year I focused my case study on an ESL student. I watched him struggle in small groups while they read freckle juice aloud,knowing he didn’t understand at all what was going on in the paragraphs because he was stumbling along the sentences. Social Studies Trade books would be a good investment for children like “Bob” who are reading below grade level. In their third grade classroom they were reading about pilgrims and the teacher could have found a book for “Bob’s” grade level for him to learn about the topic and time period. It was really sad to watch my case study student struggling to read along with the class and to take part in computer lab activities when he couldn’t read the information on the website. I am so excited about the list that has already been created that can help me in the future as a teacher with my struggling readers in Social Studies! I long to help children like “Bob”!!!
