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PSPKK12316 Comments

An overview of the guided reading levels

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This post will give you a simple overview of the guided reading levels from A-P.

This post will give you simple overview of the guided reading levels from A-P.

This post contains affiliate links.

UPDATE COMING SOON: As I learn more about the science of reading, I am revising my approach. I absolutely believe in using small groups to teach our readers, but I no longer believe that this has to be guided reading in the traditional sense. Watch for an update to this post in the coming month! 

 

Welcome to post number 2 in our series, How to Teach Kids to Read Using Guided Reading.

As a teacher of guided reading, it’s important that you have a consistent system for leveling your books. That’s because one essential of guided reading is leveled texts.

You need a system for analyzing texts and organizing them for teaching your small groups.

My favorite leveling system is the Fountas & Pinnell text level gradient – also called the guided reading levels. Let’s look at how these levels correspond to different grade levels in K-3.

Of course, kids will read at different levels. My oldest three kids all started school reading at level J or higher, while my fourth child started kindergarten at level B.

You’ll also find that you’ll have older readers who are reading at a lower level. It’s not unusual to have a second grader start the year at a level G, for example.

What’s the answer? A guided reading library of leveled books.

In the next post in this series, I’ll tell you where to find those books. For now?

Let’s take a look at examples of each level.

 

 

 

 

Level A Books

 I Can Run Big Cat I Hug I See a Cat

  • Have just one line of text per page
  • Use predictable language patterns
  • Have many simple sight words
  • Use a large, clear font
  • May be just 8 pages long

Level B Books

 Up I See and See Pig Has a Plan Have You Seen My Cat?

  • Are very much like level A
  • Have up to 2 lines of text per page

Level C Books

 Pie for Chuck Little Ducks Go The Fly Flew In Bad Dog

  • Are similar to levels A & B
  • May be longer, with 2-5 lines of text per page
  • Include mostly 1-2 syllable words
  • Have many easy decodable words

Level D Books

 Car Goes Far Ed and Kip Fix This Mess Sick Day

  • Are similar to level C
  • Have slightly more complex stories
  • May have sentences with 6+ words

Level E Books

 Pete Won’t Eat A Night at the Zoo The End of the Rainbow Grace

  • Have 2-8 lines of text per page
  • Have more complex stories
  • Have fewer repeating patterns
  • May have sentences that carry over more than one line
  • May have more pages than previous levels

Level F Books

 Biscuit series Just Like Daddy “What is That?” Said the Cat A Hippo in Our Yard

  • Are similar to level E
  • Sentences may have 10+ words
  • May have a slightly smaller font
  • Stories start to have a clear beginning, middle, and end

Level G Books

 

 Are You Ready to Play Outside? More Spaghetti, I Say! Just For You Sheep in a Jeep

  • Are similar to level F
  • Have 1, 2, and 3-syllable words
  • Have more challenging vocabulary and ideas

Level H Books

 Old Hat New Hat Just Me and My Dad Sammy the Seal The Watermelon Seed

  • Include decodable words of 2 or more syllables
  • May have a smaller font
  • Have slightly more challenging ideas and vocabulary
  • Are more literary and less repetitive

Level I Books

 Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Hi Fly Guy Big Dog … Little Dog There’s a Nightmare in My Closet

  • Are similar to level H
  • Include complex and compound sentences
  • Have more complex stories with varied themes

Level J Books

 A Friend for Dragon Henry and Mudge series Poppleton series Mr. Putter & Tabby series

  • Have 3-12 lines of text per page
  • May have short chapters
  • Include words with complex spelling patterns
  • May have very few illustrations

Level K Books

 Frog and Toad series Mercy Watson series Ling & Ting series Nate the Great series

  • Are similar to level J, but are often longer
  • Still have a reader-friendly layout

Level L Books

 George and Martha books Oliver and Amanda pig books Pinky and Rex series Tacky the Penguin

  • Have 5-24 lines of print per page
  • Have a more challenging layout
  • May have minimal or no illustrations
  • May be 60-100 page long chapter books
  • Are often simple chapter books with short chapters
  • Include 1, 2, 3, and 4-syllable words

Level M Books

 Judy Moody series Vacation under the Volcano Junie B. Jones series Marvin Redpost series

  • Include longer, more complex stories
  • Have elaborate plots and multiple characters
  • May have no illustrations

Level N Books

 The A to Z Mysteries series The Enormous Crocodile Gooney Bird series Nikki & Deja series

  • Similar to level M, but slightly more challenging

Level O Books

 Ramona series Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books Huey & Julian books Amber Brown series

  • Similar to level N, but slightly more challenging

Level P Books

 Bad Kitty books Encyclopedia Brown series Magic School Bus chapter book series Wayside School series

  • Similar to Level O
  • Slightly more complex themes
  • Greater use of figurative language

And there you have it! An overview of the guided reading levels from A-P.

Check out our whole guided reading series:

Get your free overview of the guided reading levels!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

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Filed Under: Reading Tagged With: first grade, second grade, kindergarten, guided reading

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Reader Interactions

16 Comments

  1. Jill

    February 27, 2021 at 9:14 am

    Hi Anna,
    Thank you for your expertise. I love the early chapter books Guided Reading Level J-P.
    Will you have sometime in the near future a list of book series for GRL Q-Z?
    I would love to also purchase this valuable resource.

    Thank you!

    Have an awesome day!

    Jill

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      February 27, 2021 at 6:53 pm

      Hi Jill! I’m sorry that I don’t have a plan to create that. I focus on materials for preK through 3rd grade, and since that goes out of my grade range, it isn’t something I plan to work on.

      Reply to this comment
  2. Susan

    September 15, 2020 at 1:12 pm

    Do you have any suggestions on how to assess guided reading levels without purchasing an assessment curriculum?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      September 15, 2020 at 3:54 pm

      What you need is a set of benchmark texts for each level. Then you would do running records on each text and determine if the child is at an independent/instructional/frustration level for each. This is actually how I did it as a teacher; I never had an official assessment. This series is about running records: https://thisreadingmama.com/about-running-records/

      Reply to this comment
  3. Brenta Joy

    January 25, 2020 at 1:26 am

    I thought I had signed up for your site but in 2019. I would like the overview. I help with my grand daughter who is in kindergarten.

    Reply to this comment
  4. Liliana

    September 9, 2019 at 2:45 pm

    Do you have any suggestions how to help in getting my daughter from level D to level J she’s in second grade and we are way behind in reading level?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 1, 2019 at 6:13 am

      Sorry for the delay here, Liliana! I have a lot of things I could suggest, but I need more information. Please send me an email so I can help you out. 🙂 anna(at)themeasuredmom(dot)com.

      Reply to this comment
  5. Ella

    September 4, 2019 at 8:32 am

    Thank you so much for this – really helpful!

    Reply to this comment
  6. Barb

    January 24, 2018 at 5:44 pm

    Anna, you had mentioned on your finding leveled readers for your classroom that you were planning on writing reading level passages. Did they come our yet?
    I have two girls in Kindergarten that are on a J level and I find it very difficult to find appropriate readers for their level and age. I thought the short passages could help me out. Thanks for all you do for us.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      January 24, 2018 at 6:03 pm

      They’re with my editor right now. I hope to have them up next week – make sure you’re on the email list, because I’ll offer them for a reduced price that week! They’re differentiated passages, and the lowest level is J. 🙂

      Reply to this comment
      • Barb

        January 24, 2018 at 6:29 pm

        Thanks you soooooo much. I’m constantly on your sight looking for ideas for my class. Barb

        Reply to this comment
  7. Karen

    January 11, 2018 at 5:33 am

    Great post. I look forward to hearing where to find these leveled readers. I would like the reference page, but I was unable to download (the button did nothing when I clicked on it). Thanks again.

    Karen

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      January 11, 2018 at 5:59 am

      Hmm… it works when I click on it. What should pop up is a box that allows you to put in your name and email address. After that the reference sheet will pop up.

      Reply to this comment
  8. MCKHall

    January 10, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    This is very helpful. Thanks!
    You’d mentioned providing the best source to find graded books according to this reading scale.
    I’d love to know your preferred source of books.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      January 11, 2018 at 5:58 am

      That’s next week! 🙂

      Reply to this comment

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  1. Top 10 Tried and True Books that Young Readers Adore - constantlykids says:
    March 23, 2020 at 5:10 pm

    […] not sure what levels of books would be the best fit for your child, visit this post from The Measured Mom. She did an amazing job of giving an overview of reading levels with example books for each level. […]

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