


A mother contacted me about recommending summer reading for her rising eighth grade son. Her son is learning English as a second language. His reading level is probably late fourth or early fifth grade.
The typical middle grade books I might suggest won’t work for this boy. He needs “hi-lo” books—books with high interest appropriate for his age but with low reading difficulty. Such books exist, but matching the reading level with the student’s age and interests is hard.
What do I look for in hi-lo books?
Posted in hi-low books
With half its students unable to pass reading tests, the City of New York has decided to change the way it teaches reading.
Starting this fall in some schools and in the fall of 2024 in others, “the science of reading” will ground all reading instruction. This means that students will focus on learning sounds associated with letters (phonemes) and on joining those letter sounds (phonics) to form words.
Chancellor David C. Banks will announce the change today (May 9, 2023). He hopes the new approach will change the current outcome in reading instruction in which half the city’s third through eighth graders are not proficient in reading.
The city’s schools are divided into 32 local districts. Each district can choose one of three acceptable reading programs, all of which focus–to varying degrees–on phonics. Research has shown that a phonics-based approach to learning to read produces the best results for primary grade students.
The city’s principals’ union is opposed to a one-size fits all approach in the city’s 700 elementary schools. Teachers say they need training.
Local school districts within the city will have some choice in how to proceed. They must choose one of three reading programs: Into Reading, Expeditionary Learning, and Wit & Wisdom. They can and in some cases must supplement these programs with more systematic phonics instruction.
One advantage of the unified approach is to provide students who transfer from one New York school to another a single reading curriculum. Another is to follow the mandate of New York’s Mayor Eric Adams, who has dyslexia, to teach reading using a phonics-based approach. Still another is to provide teachers with materials that have been shown to work, so each teacher doesn’t need to seek materials independently.
The change will start this fall in city school districts showing the least proficiency in reading.
New York is the latest and biggest school district to show dissatisfaction with the way reading has been taught and to turn to a research-supported approach. Poor student performance on reading tests, parents’ demanding change after Covid 19 educational losses, and a growing cohort of students who cannot read are propelling changes in reading instruction throughout the US.
Increasing numbers of state legislatures are mandating that a phonics-based approach be used to teach young children how to read. Not all states are on board yet, despite a massive study more than 20 years ago that culled research and concluded that teaching children phonemes (the sounds associated with letters) and phonics (assembling letters into words) is the most successful way to teach reading.
Beginning in 2014 in Mississippi, states have forced teacher training programs, school districts and public school teachers to switch to a phonics-based approach to teaching reading. Here are states* which have passed legislation mandating a phonics-based approach or strengthening laws already mandating such an approach.
As you can see, the number of states passing laws to require phonics-based reading instruction has steadily increased with the greatest increase in 2021. Educators surmise that because students were home for months in 2020 because of the Covid 19 virus, parents became more aware of how their children were being taught to read. As a result, they demanded change.
While not all states have updated their education laws concerning the teaching of reading, the trajectory is in that direction. Expect improved reading scores on national tests as students being taught using this approach infiltrate into higher grades. Mississippi has already noted this positive change.
*according to Education Week
A test has been devised to measure how good or how bad a student’s handwriting really is. This test takes into account your impression of five aspects of the handwriting:
This Handwriting Legibility Scale (HLS) was developed by A.L. Barnett, M. Prunty, and S. Rosenblum in 2017. You can access it at https://www.yesataretelearningtrust.net/Portals/0/Handwriting%20Legibility%20Scale%20%28HLS%29%20RIDD%202017.pdf
Briefly, let me explain. The test takes six minutes for a child of nine or older. An adult dictates a passage appropriate to the child’s reading and spelling skills. The child writes the passage on notebook paper with little direction from the adult. At the end of six minutes the adult ends the test and evaluates the handwriting. The content of the writing is irrelevant to this test.
The authors of the test suggest a scale of from one to five for each of the five elements named above. The adult assigns a value to each of the five elements as shown by the student’s writing, with a score of one meaning excellent performance and of five meaning poor performance. The five scores are then totaled. Writing scores of 5 or slightly above mean overall excellent handwriting skills, and scores closer to 25 mean a lack of good skills.
The point of this test is to identify students showing difficulty in handwriting skills, and also to pinpoint the reasons. The point is not to offer remediation.
I like this test. It takes just six minutes of the child’s time. It uses materials found at home or in the classroom. It does not take advanced education to administer the test or to evaluate the results. It identifies and separates various skills—layout and letter formation, for example—which can be worked on separately. And it’s free.
Have you ever taught a student who acts like this?
These students might be kinesthetic learners, people who need to engage their whole bodies to learn optimally. Some are hyperactive, tempermentally unable to sit still. Some are dyslexic, unable to read or to learn to read the usual way. Some are autistic, non verbal or preferring repetitive motions or intensely focused on one activity. Some are artistic, preferring to draw in almost every situation. Some are actors, dramatizing their responses.
The younger the child, the more apt he is to be a kinesthetic learner. Males tend to be kinesthetic learners longer than females. Children with highly focused hobbies or interests—assembling Legos for hours at a time, enjoying sports practice several times a week, wanting everything Spiderman, drawing and coloring every day—are probably kinesthetic learners.
The problem for kinesthetic learners is that most classrooms are made for the auditory learner, the person who sits still and listens to the teacher, the person who reads silently to learn, not for the person who roams, fidgets, mumbles, acts out, or plays games to learn.
So what hands-on activities will help your beginning reader to learn the alphabet and easy words?
You might think, these activities take time and slow down the learning process. Yes, they do take time, and yes, they do slow down the initial learning process. But since this kind of learning sticks, you need to do less reteaching and may gain time in the long run. Just as importantly, students who are reprimanded for not sitting still or for being unable to leave a task they like are praised for their learning. These students become leaders, helping other children who are not as kinesthetically gifted.
Posted in ABC's, kinesthetic learning, learning, reading tips, teaching tips
One third of US fourth and eighth graders scored in the “proficient” range or higher for reading, according to a nationwide test given earlier this year. Two-thirds of US students are reading at either a basic level or below grade level.
These findings come from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test sometimes referred to as the nation’s Report Card because it samples students in fourth and eighth grades across the country. Its results were announced today. Evaluating progress in reading and math, these tests have been given since 1994.
Reading scores across the US fell in more than half the states in 2022, with no state showing good improvement, according to the test results.
These test results are the first since the pandemic closed schools and led to online learning for many students. According to the test, 66% of fourth graders and 69% of eighth graders scored below a proficient level in reading.
Test results vary greatly by location, though factors leading to these differences can be complex. Even so, here are results, state by state, showing proficiency levels. Proficiency means “demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter,” or high achievement.
Proficiency levels in reading, 2022
State | 4th grade | 8th grade |
National Average | 33% | 31% |
Alabama | 28% | 22% |
Alaska | 24% | 26% |
Arizona | 31% | 28% |
Arkansas | 30% | 26% |
California | 31% | 30% |
Colorado | 38% | 34% |
Connecticut | 35% | 35% |
Delaware | 25% | 24% |
Dist. of Columbia | 26% | 22% |
Florida | 39% | 29% |
Georgia | 32% | 31% |
Hawaii | 35% | 31% |
Idaho | 32% | 32% |
Illinois | 33% | 32% |
Indiana | 33% | 31% |
Iowa | 33% | 29% |
Kansas | 31% | 26% |
Kentucky | 31% | 29% |
Louisiana | 28% | 27% |
Maine | 29% | 29% |
Maryland | 31% | 33% |
Massachusetts | 43% | 40% |
Michigan | 28% | 28% |
Minnesota | 32% | 30% |
Mississippi | 31% | 22% |
Missouri | 30% | 28% |
Montana | 34% | 29% |
Nebraska | 34% | 29% |
Nevada | 27% | 29% |
New Hampshire | 37% | 33% |
New Jersey | 38% | 42% |
New Mexico | 21% | 18% |
New York | 30% | 32% |
North Carolina | 32% | 26% |
North Dakota | 31% | 27% |
Ohio | 35% | 33% |
Oklahoma | 24% | 21% |
Oregon | 28% | 28% |
Pennsylvania | 34% | 31% |
Rhode Island | 34% | 31% |
South Carolina | 32% | 27% |
South Dakota | 32% | 31% |
Tennessee | 30% | 28% |
Texas | 30% | 23% |
Utah | 37% | 36% |
Vermont | 34% | 34% |
Virginia | 32% | 31% |
Washington | 34% | 32% |
West Virginia | 22% | 22% |
Wisconsin | 33% | 32% |
Wyoming | 38% | 30% |
Efforts to ban books in US libraries have reached an all-time high with 1651 books targeted so far in 2022, according to the American Library Association, a group of librarians and library professionals. In 2021 there were 1597 such titles targeted. PEN America, an organization advocating for literary freedom, concurs. What is different in 2022 is the increased organization of the groups wanting to ban books and the targeting of not one book at a time but of whole groups of books.
Targeted books fall into three groups, according to PEN America:
Most of the efforts to ban books have been led by about fifty groups, many formed in 2022. Social media is helping to spread the message and to propagate groups like Moms for Liberty whose branches are popping up all over the country. Conservative politicians seeking public office are also demanding that books be banned.
This 1,000-piece puzzle by Re-Marks Puzzle shows 55 covers of books that have been banned at various times in the US .
In addition to books targeted because of their 21st century gender content and racial content, many so-called “classic” biographies and novels have been targeted. Here are some examples:
One Texas library has even removed the Bible from its shelves.
This display in my neighborhood bookstore shows banned books.
Celebrate Banned Book Week September 18 to 24 by reading a book, banned or otherwise.
Posted in banned books
With young students, games are the easiest way to maintain interest and learn at the same time. I’d like to suggest two games to teach beginning reading (CVC words). Neither game is new, but both attract youngsters, from my experience.
One game is BLAH BLAH BLAH Word Game, Level 1000. This game consists of three sets of playing cards, color coded according to level. Each card consists of one word printed in the middle, and individual letters of that word printed in the corners. A player needs to match one letter on a card in his hand to one letter on the face-up word in the middle of the table (hat and tug, for example).
This game has three levels: CVC words; CVC words with blends; and words with long vowels (oa, ai, ee, oo, etc.). It does not include words ending with silent e at the 1000 level. When a player matches a letter, he must place his card over the face-up word already played and read the word aloud. The next player must match one of the letters on the just matched card. However, other cards (skip a turn, take four cards, change order) allow a player without a match to play. The first player to play all his cards wins.
I have played this game with an about-to-start kindergartener, who sounds out each word as he plays. He uses the “joker” cards strategically to stop a player from winning or to enact revenge on a player who interferes with his goals. But it could be used with a child learning his letters but not yet able to read words.
The only drawback I have found is the size of the cards. For little hands, regular-sized playing cards are too big to fan. Too bad the deck isn’t smaller-sized.
The other game my almost kindergartener and I like is Zingo! Each player receives a BINGO-like card with six words printed on it. However, one of the letters of each word is missing as in “_ig” or “c_t.” A player must take letter tiles distributed from a machine-like device and use them, one at a time, to create words by covering the blank spaces on his card. Consonants are black and vowels are red. The first player to cover his card wins.
This game offers two levels, one on each side of the BINGO card: CVC words and CVC words with blends. The machine-like device which distributes the tiles is attractive to little hands, and can easily distract a youngster from the purpose of the game. This game is harder than the previous game since it requires the child to read several incomplete words at each turn and to try to figure out where placing a tile makes sense. For beginner readers, this requires help.
I like to use games like this at the end of a lesson to extend the lesson time. Little kids have short attention spans, so ending a lesson with games like these continues the learning.
My honest answer is that I don’t know, and I won’t be able to know until more rigorous research is conducted.
The designers of new fonts for dyslexic readers start with the underlying belief that dyslexia is a visual problem. Change the font to aid the eyes, and dyslexia goes away or at least decreases.
But others say dyslexia is not an eye problem but a brain processing problem. For them changing a font is a simplistic and perhaps useless approach to a complicated brain problem.
Because type faces meant for readers with dyslexia are new (most not yet ten years old), more research needs to be done to see if they have any significant effect on reading ability. In the meantime, some adaptations that help all readers can help dyslexic readers:
Use generous spacing between lines of type (called leading), between words, and between letters.
Avoid italic type faces.
Choose typefaces with letters perpendicular to the horizon (not slanted and not curvy).
Use sans serif type faces, those plain type faces without the tiny projections at the ends of letters.Use larger type, including type which shows the middle parts of letters larger in proportion to the ascenders and descenders.
Use strong contrast of black (not grey) lettering against a white background. Avoid white lettering against any background.
Provide good back lighting on a computer screen or with high wattage bulbs in old fashioned reading lamps.
Posted in dyslexia