Leveled Books

Most of you know that I think we've gone too far with leveled books in our classrooms. Don't get me wrong...I think they are a great resource, especially for beginning readers. (I was just reading a few with my first grader.) But, too often, the thing that was meant to be a tool for teachers, has become a competition for our kids. By encouraging kids to move from level to level to level, they lose the purpose for reading and the love of reading. Not much different from the SRA's of my childhood. (I was stuck in the blue box for a LONG time!) Lisa Koch has a great new article about her son's experience with leveled books on Choice Literacy's website. I wrote one about my daughter a while back too, that talks about the variety of books that kids need in their reading lives. I just worry that we've gone too far and taken out so many of the great, quality picture books that don't "fit" the level formula.