Establishing Lexile levels for children in the 1st grade provides the perfect platform for the years to come. The earlier a child can learn their Lexile level, the earlier they can begin their quest for the journey of literacy improvement.
The first few years of school offer the largest scope for growth when it comes to Lexile scores, and typically a student of this age will achieve a score of up to 300L.
Introducing the Lexile system at a young age can assist educators and tutors in determining any reading problems, and as such, allow for appropriate research-based strategies and activities to help them overcome any hurdles.
Teach Literacy Early and Often
As with pre-school grades, teachers should be looking to instill good reading habits into children and encourage reading on a daily basis. This is crucial in allowing children to reach their maximum growth potential and will set the tone for future grades.
Studies using a national sample of students have provided data on what the typical student in each grade can achieve using Lexile, and in a normal classroom, you will find around 50 percent of students who achieve the base average, 25 percent will perform at a higher level, and then 25 percent at a lower level.
Choose the Reading Material Wisely
Using the Lexile system with the right reading platform will be beneficial to children in all of these categories, and the ability to personalize their reading material will make a major difference. Students tend to read much more often when the book is about topics they are interested in.
Books with a text difficulty of between 190L and 530L would be appropriate for children in the first grade based on their reading skills, and once accurate Lexile scores are determined, educators can suggest books that will provide a decent challenge in that range.
It is important not to force students into reading books that are well over their current level as this is a sure way to lose their interest. Once a young student becomes overly frustrated with the book because of fluency and comprehension issues, they are less likely to come back and try again.
LightSail Education is a comprehensive LexileⓇ and standards-aligned literacy platform and digital e-book library that can offer students access to thousands and thousands of books. LightSail holistically assesses and nurtures each student on their K-12 literacy journey.
At the core of LightSail’s DNA is the Lexile® framework. Lexile® is a highly respected, world recognized independent metric for measuring students’ reading ability, as well the com- plexity of any given book. Students take a benchmark assessment before starting to read on the platform. The system automatically adapts book recom- mendation every 2 weeks based on Lexile progress monitoring.
ADAPTIVE LEXILE CENTRIC READER
- Every 15 days, LightSail assesses each student’s reading level, expressed in a Lexile® value. Based on this, it automatically adapts the recommended books in the library to the students.
- Continually improving performance, so that they can read books that are within their Zone of Proximal Development.
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