Here's a perspective: here in the UK, we don't have the concept of lexile levels of books, and our children read better than US children (according to Pisa, by one point ;-) [emoticon indicating that nobody should imagine I actually think this is much of an argument!] So I'm bound to think it's not very important. I wonder whether any other countries have this concept (routinely use it in assigning books to children, I mean)?
I think having a child who learns to read without difficulty is a luxury and should be enjoyed! When my DS entered school already reading fluently, his lovely first teacher said something like "he obviously doesn't need to learn to read, let's get him reading to learn". He's done some "guided reading" of the kind you're talking about, where a group of children talk about a story they're all reading (I remember he got into "trouble" once for reading ahead, because part of what they were doing was discussing what might happen next, and that was spoilt if someone knew). Generally he has just read things that seemed interesting to him, and the teachers' interventions and ours have been mostly suggesting things outside his normal range of choices that we think he might enjoy. It's worked fine for him.
You don't actually say what your DD's oral reading is like? I'd be concerned if she can't read accurately (within reason: the odd change that doesn't change the sense is normal) and with expression when asked to do so. I'd want to understand what was stopping her in that case, and then for most causes, doing plenty of reading aloud to check progress seems reasonable. (If the problem was that she was very shy and couldn't bear to do it in a classroom situation, or something like that, of course, a different course might be needed. But you do need to understand what's going on if she has a problem with reading aloud, IMHO.) Beyond that, my personal opinion is that really good oral reading (the kind that people love to listen to) is a great skill to have, and worth working towards, but not a prerequisite for using reading in other ways. (It certainly is possible for some young children, by the way.)
I'd be concerned if class time were really being spent doing just round robin reading aloud in a group of children with no adult attention and no discussion - but I'd be cautious about taking this at face value!
Lexile.com, of course, would say that lexile levels are important, wouldn't it? :-)
Last edited by ColinsMum; 12/29/13 07:36 AM. Reason: more brackets
