# Can anyone here explain the Scholastic codes?



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

DD has been bringing home these Scholastic flyers for a couple of years now.  I ordered from them a few times but guessed wrong as far as the reading level, and the books were much too easy.  

Then I tried ordering ahead for a while  --  buying books that I knew were too hard, so that she could grow into them.  But that's now pretty much a non-issue.  Reading material isn't limited so much by ability now as by her lack of comprehension of more YA or grown-up topics.  And she really wants me to order from these flyers for reading material for NOW.

I can't make sense of the codes that Scholastic uses to identify reading levels, nor what those levels go by.  Is it vocabulary only, or also concepts?  I haven't found anyone who could explain the codes, but when the new flyer arrived I realized there was a great resource for such questions here at KB!

I see codes RL, AR, GRL, and DRA.  Some have numbers, some have letters, some have a range.  How does one make sense of those?  And assuming that some of those are grade level or age, how does one go about determining an individual child's position on that scale, since those numbers are presumably averages?

(And yes, I've asked her teacher, and a friend who is a children's librarian, neither of whom knew.  And the Scholastic website doesn't help either.)

Can anybody explain these, or point me in the right direction to find out more?


----------



## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

I have all the exact levels at work. I can pm you tomorrow. But, for now,  I can only recall off the top of my head that AR is accelarated reader. It is a computer program schools use.  The kids read the books and can take quizzes at schools for grades. RL is the students ability to read and comprehend at this grade level.  GRL is the "guided reading level", meaning it is read to a child or with a child, by an adult, who helps them process the skills to read and progress to that level. If you want more specific info pm me or post here her reading level, both what she can read on her own, and comprhend, and what she can follow someone read to her and comprehend. If you give me some examples of titles I can give you levels where she is.


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Thank you so much!  I'll PM you since I imagine this isn't of interest to anyone else.


----------



## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

*It can be confusing at times but I found that when I ordered through the Scholastic website, they now label most books with their "reading level" so it would be easier for parents to choose what to order. Your DD's teacher should have told her/you what level she is reading at. My DD's school uses the RL system that goes from A-Z. For me, going by what grade DD is in doesn't work for us as she's an advanced reader so I pretty much go by the RL...sometimes one step up to challenge her and at times one step back just for fun.

Here is a website a teacher friend sent to me that may be helpful or give you an idea...

Leveled Book List

Hope this helps  *


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

chynared21 said:


> *It can be confusing at times but I found that when I ordered through the Scholastic website, they now label most books with their "reading level" so it would be easier for parents to choose what to order. Your DD's teacher should have told her/you what level she is reading at. My DD's school uses the RL system that goes from A-Z. For me, going by what grade DD is in doesn't work for us as she's an advanced reader so I pretty much go by the RL...sometimes one step up to challenge her and at times one step back just for fun.
> 
> Here is a website a teacher friend sent to me that may be helpful or give you an idea...
> 
> ...


Thanks, Chynared! Her teacher was fairly vague about the level, just said (about six months ago) that the books DD had been reading were about third or fourth grade level. I'll try to pin it down more. I wouldn't care about measuring it more precisely except for ordering from these catalogs. And going by the grade doesn't work here either. New school in fall though, perhaps they'll use the RL system.

I appreciate the suggestions!


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Susan, have you checked at the library. . . .maybe some one there can give you an idea of what the levels mean. . .and show specific books so you have something to compare to. . . .

Ann


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Susan, have you checked at the library. . . .maybe some one there can give you an idea of what the levels mean. . .and show specific books so you have something to compare to. . . .
> 
> Ann


I've checked with them for book recommendations to match the current level, unsuccessfully. I took one of the Wizard of Oz books and a science book on marine life that DD had checked out before off the YA shelves and went to the librarian, and explained that much of what I was seeing on the YA shelves was not suitable yet because of the concepts and themes, and asked for recommendations. She asked DD's age, and when I told her steered me to the section with the one-sentence-per page books. When I explained that we'd been through those some time ago, she just shrugged and said that those were the age-appropriate ones. Grrr. I asked a second one, but she just echoed the first. So I don't have much confidence in their ability to tell me a code equivalent of what I'm looking for.

It's a challenge to find new reading material that's at the right reading level but not beyond her maturity level. I certainly don't want to be overprotective, and if she wants to read something specific I let her, but there are a lot of YA books with themes that she just doesn't get yet (she just turned six), and so the books don't make sense to her at all. ("Mama, why does Alison in the book want to use her mom's lipstick when she goes to see a movie with George but not when she goes to see one with Cindy?")

On the bright side, she's at this moment reading the Just So Stories for the third time. Thank goodness for the classics...


----------



## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> Thanks, Chynared! Her teacher was fairly vague about the level, just said (about six months ago) that the books DD had been reading were about third or fourth grade level. I'll try to pin it down more. I wouldn't care about measuring it more precisely except for ordering from these catalogs. And going by the grade doesn't work here either. New school in fall though, perhaps they'll use the RL system.
> 
> I appreciate the suggestions!


*You're welcome 

Yikes...she's only 6? What books is she capable of reading right now that she enjoys? My DD is in 3rd grade but reading at almost a 5th grade level. While she can read and somewhat comprehend "older" books, it's the content that I have to worry about  Right now she loves the "younger" Judy Blume books like the Fudge series and also Beverly Cleary...there are a whole slew of books that she's written that are about friendships, etc. and she also has a few series going on. Ralph Mouse is a good one that your daughter may like...though you may have to help her a bit as they are advanced chapter books.

If you can give me an idea of what she has been reading, I can ask DD's old teacher for some recommendations )*


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

chynared21 said:


> *You're welcome
> 
> Yikes...she's only 6? What books is she capable of reading right now that she enjoys? My DD is in 3rd grade but reading at almost a 5th grade level. While she can read and somewhat comprehend "older" books, it's the content that I have to worry about  Right now she loves the "younger" Judy Blume books like the Fudge series and also Beverly Cleary...there are a whole slew of books that she's written that are about friendships, etc. and she also has a few series going on. Ralph Mouse is a good one that your daughter may like...though you may have to help her a bit as they are advanced chapter books.
> 
> If you can give me an idea of what she has been reading, I can ask DD's old teacher for some recommendations )*


Sounds like you're in the same situation, just a few years ahead of me.... The content is the problem.

We do in fact have the other two Ralph books (but not Ralph Mouse) checked out right now from the library! She liked them just fine, so more books along those lines would be good.

I don't know the Fudge series. She's read a bunch of Cleary's Ramona books, and thought those were "pretty cool", in her words. I don't know much about all the other Cleary books, though.

Whenever there's an Usborne book fair, we find a bunch of good ones, but I'd like to be able to order books without looking through them in person every time.

I'm collecting all the recommendations I can... summer will be here soon, and that means I need a stack at the ready!


----------



## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> Sounds like you're in the same situation, just a few years ahead of me.... The content is the problem.
> 
> We do in fact have the other two Ralph books (but not Ralph Mouse) checked out right now from the library! She liked them just fine, so more books along those lines would be good.
> 
> ...


*Wow...she really is ahead. DD just told me Beverly Cleary runs along an "O" level. Good starting point...I'll ask DD's old teacher for some recommendations along the lines of Ralph Mouse. DD also said that the Fudge books are about "P or Q" level...nothing bad in it except for sarcasm, etc. Emotionally, I don't know if your DD will understand some of that stuff. I believe some of the other BC books are geared about friendships and such. There is also a series with Ramona and her Mother as well as Ramona and her Father too. There are a lot of Ramona books.

Madonna's English Roses series is a good series...also about friendships. There are 9 so far besides the original one that introduced the friends.

I'll have to put my thinking cap on *


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

chynared21 said:


> *Wow...she really is ahead. DD just told me Beverly Cleary runs along an "O" level. Good starting point...I'll ask DD's old teacher for some recommendations along the lines of Ralph Mouse. DD also said that the Fudge books are about "P or Q" level...nothing bad in it except for sarcasm, etc. Emotionally, I don't know if your DD will understand some of that stuff. I believe some of the other BC books are geared about friendships and such. There is also a series with Ramona and her Mother as well as Ramona and her Father too. There are a lot of Ramona books.
> 
> Madonna's English Roses series is a good series...also about friendships. There are 9 so far besides the original one that introduced the friends.
> 
> I'll have to put my thinking cap on *


Then using an "O" level as a starting point, I'll look through the current Scholastic catalogs and see what they have. You're right that sarcasm still goes totally over her head; she takes things completely literally. And I'm taking notes on all the ones you mentioned.  Thank you!


----------



## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> Then using an "O" level as a starting point, I'll look through the current Scholastic catalogs and see what they have. You're right that sarcasm still goes totally over her head; she takes things completely literally. And I'm taking notes on all the ones you mentioned.  Thank you!


*LOL...sarcasm used to go over DD's head up until the beginning of 2nd grade. She used to ask me questions about things she didn't understand and now she "gets" it ;-p

DD also mentioned Meg Cabot...she hasn't read some of her books yet but the main character is 9, so I don't think it would be too bad for her. Also, has she read The Tales of Desperaux? If not, it's a wonderful story.

I also found that the people in the Children's dept at B&N were sometimes helpful. Not all the time but occasionally we'd come across someone who was enthusiastic about children's books 
*


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

chynared21 said:


> *LOL...sarcasm used to go over DD's head up until the beginning of 2nd grade. She used to ask me questions about things she didn't understand and now she "gets" it ;-p
> 
> DD also mentioned Meg Cabot...she hasn't read some of her books yet but the main character is 9, so I don't think it would be too bad for her. Also, has she read The Tales of Desperaux? If not, it's a wonderful story.
> 
> ...


Meg Cabot, and Tales of Desperaux. Taking notes.... And my local B&N doesn't have a very big children's section. The Borders does, but the staff there doesn't know anything about that field.

The irony is that I used to be co-owner of a children's bookstore. But that was long before I had DD, and I was the business person rather than the books person anyway. (We closed down when the second superstore within five miles opened....)


----------



## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> (We closed down when the second superstore within five miles opened....)


*Aw...reminds me of You've Got Mail *


----------



## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

My daughter and I read The American Girl series.  I don't recall what age she was, but I'm thinking about 3rd grade.  It was when they first came out.  They were very good.  Had great lessons.
deb


----------



## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

All Beverly Cleary's books would be appropriate for a first grader, I think. Besides Ramona, there is also a series about a boy named Henry (it's Beezus's friend Henry), plus some onesies, I think. _Ellen Tebbits_ is a good one about a little girl. Another author you might look for is Carolyn Haywood, the Eddie series. Her books are also pretty old and about a grade school kid and wouldn't have anything inappropriate. I also second the recommendations for Judy Blume's Fudge books (as well as _Sheila the Great_, which is about a minor character from _Fudge_). Some of her other books are for teens, though, so don't get everything of hers. The American Girls books might be good, too. I think the girls in the stories are 9-10, so no boy problems or anything, just friendships and parents and things, plus they're educational, too.


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Oh, this is great!  I have a nice long list now.  Thanks, all!

I did check the current Scholastic catalogs for O's but there are only two or three in there.  We got them through her school which has only two pre-K levels and kindergarten, so they probably don't send out all the available catalogs, just the early-reader ones.  The ones they have are a couple of mysteries, which I'll probably order, and a Captain Underpants book.

If only there were a Kid Kindle available...  nice hard-plastic cover (preferably in purple of course!), and a shatterproof screen....  I could stock it with everything on the list right now and we'd be all set for summer!


----------



## Aravis60 (Feb 18, 2009)

Scholastic uses Lexile measures to level reading books for their Reading Counts program. Lexiles are very widely used now. You can go to www.lexile.com to read more about Lexile measures. They also have a really neat "find a book" feature on the site. You can put in your student's Lexile and the type of books that she likes to read and they will give you a customized book list. There is even a "book bag" feature that you can use to buy the book or locate it at your local library.


----------



## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> Oh, this is great! I have a nice long list now. Thanks, all!
> 
> I did check the current Scholastic catalogs for O's but there are only two or three in there. We got them through her school which has only two pre-K levels and kindergarten, so they probably don't send out all the available catalogs, just the early-reader ones. The ones they have are a couple of mysteries, which I'll probably order, and a Captain Underpants book.
> 
> If only there were a Kid Kindle available... nice hard-plastic cover (preferably in purple of course!), and a shatterproof screen.... I could stock it with everything on the list right now and we'd be all set for summer!


*Maybe you could ask her teacher to grab an order form from the next grade up. DD's teacher gives her the 4/5th grade order form even though she's in 3rd. I research the books that she wants to make sure that the content is appropriate for her.

LOL...the Captain Underpants books are fun but revolting. But hey, my kid was reading them at your daughter's age and had fun with them.

I really wish they had a Kid Kindle. DD would love one. She handles mine with care when passing it to me but I still won't let her read on it just yet...she's a bit clumsy like her mom *


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Aravis60 said:


> Scholastic uses Lexile measures to level reading books for their Reading Counts program. Lexiles are very widely used now. You can go to www.lexile.com to read more about Lexile measures. They also have a really neat "find a book" feature on the site. You can put in your student's Lexile and the type of books that she likes to read and they will give you a customized book list. There is even a "book bag" feature that you can use to buy the book or locate it at your local library.


That looks really neat. I never knew measures like that existed. Now I just need to figure out how to determine HER lexile level, instead of a given book's!


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

chynared21 said:


> *Maybe you could ask her teacher to grab an order form from the next grade up. DD's teacher gives her the 4/5th grade order form even though she's in 3rd. I research the books that she wants to make sure that the content is appropriate for her.
> *


*

I haven't even let her see my Kindle yet. I just know she'd want to read on it. It wouldn't last a day. So I'm keeping it hidden.... another nice feature of the Oberon cover is its ability to camouflage what would otherwise look like a toy to explore!

Her school just has two years of pre-K and kindergarten, so I doubt they have the other levels available -- and I think one of the moms organizes the orders, not a teacher. Next year...*


----------



## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> I haven't even let her see my Kindle yet. I just know she'd want to read on it. It wouldn't last a day. So I'm keeping it hidden.... another nice feature of the Oberon cover is its ability to camouflage what would otherwise look like a toy to explore!
> 
> Her school just has two years of pre-K and kindergarten, so I doubt they have the other levels available -- and I think one of the moms organizes the orders, not a teacher. Next year...


*Ah....gotcha! Hopefully before the end of the year her teacher will test her reading level so you have something to go on for next year )*


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

chynared21 said:


> *Ah....gotcha! Hopefully before the end of the year her teacher will test her reading level so you have something to go on for next year )*


They just did some kind of standardized tests a week ago. I think they're going to discuss the results with me in a few weeks. With luck something like that will be in there!

Someone told me that in VA they used to have these tests for KG, but that public schools stopped that and now do them starting in first grade. Her school kept on doing them because it's a Montessori, meaning no grades or other easily documented measures of progress, so they figured it was a good way to have records to send along with the kids when they go to another school for first grade.


----------



## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> They just did some kind of standardized tests a week ago. I think they're going to discuss the results with me in a few weeks. With luck something like that will be in there!
> 
> Someone told me that in VA they used to have these tests for KG, but that public schools stopped that and now do them starting in first grade. Her school kept on doing them because it's a Montessori, meaning no grades or other easily documented measures of progress, so they figured it was a good way to have records to send along with the kids when they go to another school for first grade.


*DD's school just had benchmarks that had to be met in order to move up to 1st grade but being that she was already ahead in her reading, I never had to worry about that and I don't think you'll have a problem either. It's just a matter of finding appropriate reading material for her that is stimulating and fun for her.*


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

chynared21 said:


> *DD's school just had benchmarks that had to be met in order to move up to 1st grade but being that she was already ahead in her reading, I never had to worry about that and I don't think you'll have a problem either. It's just a matter of finding appropriate reading material for her that is stimulating and fun for her.*


No, I don't think I'll have a problem... 

... except that I did have to explain to her very gently that maybe she shouldn't make the other kids in her class aware of the fact that she reads better than they do (which doesn't necessarily mean much, there are only five kindergartners in the class this year), because it might hurt their feelings.

She got that right away, since she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Then a month or so later she asks her dad about a mathematical symbol she saw on a puzzle he was working, and he explained the basic concept of a square root to her, nothing complex, just for whole numbers from 1-10. And she goes to school the next day and announces to her classmates, _hey I learned something really cool from my dad, do you all know about square roots? no?? then let me show you how they work_.... <wince>... we had to have that same little talk again. She's a nice gentle kid, I'd hate to think that her classmates are going to think of her as an obnoxious show-off just because she asks about stuff like that.


----------



## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

*LOL...I completely understand what you're talking about. There is a handful or so of kids who are advanced readers. I sat DD down very early on to explain to her that while it's great she can read harder books than some of her friends, she shouldn't go about making it a point to announce to anyone who will listen that she does. It's exciting for them so it's understandable but I keep reminding her to keep the other kids' feelings in mind *


----------



## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

Susan in VA said:


> And she goes to school the next day and announces to her classmates, _hey I learned something really cool from my dad, do you all know about square roots? no?? then let me show you how they work_....


I remember my daughter grasping multiplication before she entered KG & then getting a KG teacher who told me "well I just don't know what to do with her!
We were blessed with 3 kids who were advanced readers & advanced math/science junkies. It took a lot to keep up with them, when they were unfortunate to get teachers who could not manage a classroom of children at many different learning levels.

But it was lots of fun along the way. Enjoy your daughter's gifts - as you work towards getting her to understand that sharing some of her enthusiasm may not endear her to others. LOL & good luck!


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

CegAbq said:


> But it was lots of fun along the way. Enjoy your daughter's gifts - as you work towards getting her to understand that sharing some of her enthusiasm may not endear her to others. LOL & good luck!


Thanks! 
It _is_ fun -- and a little scary too.


----------



## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

Sorry it took me so long to get back.  My computer (pc) died sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning, and I had to go buy another one (I got a MacBook).  The only thing I had to get online with until this morning was my iphone and I couldn't get the stuff on here with that. The link they gave you on the 1st page (the leveled list) was what I use in class and what I was going to post.  Glad it all worked out for you and your DD.


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Red, sorry to hear of the computer troubles!  Hope you're happy with the one you bought.  As you saw, everyone here has been most helpful, and I added a sizable pile of books to our reading list yesterday.


----------

