Teachers who plan small-group reading on the A to Z letters see an approximate band on each English book, such as "Guided-reading band: about E–F". It describes the book. It is our estimate from the book's own text, it is not an official level from any publisher's leveling system, and no publisher has leveled our books.
A band is only ever given to a book. No student is given one, and nothing a student sees shows one. Every page that shows bands says this in a line of its own.
Where you see it
- Your class's Library tab. Each book in "Books students offered", "Class library", "Books made in this class" and "Add from the TaleTykes library" shows "Guided-reading band:" and a range, such as "about E–F".
- The filter. Above the class library, and under the title search in "Add from the TaleTykes library", "Guided-reading band" narrows the list to books whose range includes one letter. A book "about E–F" is listed under both E and F. Choose "Any band" to see every book again.
- Choosing a book to set. The same band is shown beside each book on "New assignment".
- A family's own books. A parent sees the band on the page for a book in their account and beside each book in the lists of a reader's books, on the website and in the app, with the same line saying it describes the book, is approximate and is no publisher's official level. It is never on a child's shelf or in the reader.
A book with no band says nothing about one. That is every Spanish book, because the letters describe English text, and any book still being made.
How it is worked out
Books are leveled by trained people reading them against a list of characteristics, several of which (the genre, the themes, how the story is built) a count cannot see. We use the parts that can be counted on the finished book:
- how hard the words and sentences are, on a readability grade and on our own scale
- how many words there are on a page, which stands in for lines of print
- how long the sentences are
- how long the whole book is
- whether it is a picture book or a chapter book, and how many pages have a picture
- for a book written to a phonics phase, which sounds it was held to
Each places the book somewhere on the letters, and the middle of those places is the center of the range. The range is two letters wide, or three when the measures disagree. A chapter book starts at J, a picture book with pictures on most pages stops at M, and a book held to an early phonics phase stops where that phase does.
What to keep in mind
- Treat it as a starting point. If a book reads harder or easier than its band, trust your own reading of it.
- Our picture books are longer than the shortest leveled books, so very few books land at A or B.
- The band is worked out when you open the page, from what was measured on the finished book. If a parent changes the words on a page, the difficulty and length are measured again and the band can move with them.
If a band looks clearly wrong for a book, tell us from Help and name the book.