An overview of the guided reading levels

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

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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:

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