Choosing Books with Your Child

Parents often ask how to choose books for their child. For reading at home, the books should be ones that kids are interested in reading.  We're talking at school about how to choose a book that is at the right reading level. Here's how we do it at school:

1. Read the first page.
2. Every time there is a word you don't know, put up one finger to keep track. 
3. If at the end of the page, you have four or five fingers up, the book is too difficult. If at the end of the page, you have two or three fingers up, the book is just right. If at the end of the page you have one or no fingers up, the book is too easy. 

You can also ask your child to re-tell the story after reading a few pages. If they can re-tell the story, then the book is not too difficult for them.