Guidelines for Creating Original Texts to Match Student Reading Behaviors

Creating original texts for students allows teachers to match text with student reading behaviors and interests. You can also create texts to support other content areas. When creating your own texts, keep in mind the Characteristics of Leveled Texts, the 37 Primary Chunks, and High Frequency Words.

Kid Pix is an easy program to use to create your books. You can illustrate your text by drawing pictures, using digital images, or copying and pasting images from the Web or another application.

Early Emergent Readers	Suggested Topics for Early Emergent Readers
Upper Emergent Readers	Suggested Topics for Upper Emergent Readers
Early Fluent Readers	Suggested Topics for Early Fluent Readers

Levels A-B (Fountas and Pinnell), 1-2 (Reading Recovery), Readiness-PP1 (Basal)

• single idea or simple story line
• topics relate to students personal experiences
• direct correspondence between text and pictures
• consistent format
• repetition of 1 or 2 sentence patterns (1-2 word changes)
• language may not duplicate oral language, but does include naturally occurring syntactic structures
• several high frequency words repeated often
• print appears in same place on each page
• print is regular, clear and easy to read
• ample space is between words so children can point and read
• one to two sentences per page (1-4 lines per page)

Level C (Fountas and Pinnell), 3-4 (Reading Recovery), PP2 (Basal)

• simple story lines
• topics familiar to students
• pictures support meaning of text and correspond directly to text
• oral language structures are used and repeated
• phrasing is often supported by print placement
• high frequency words are used often
• use patterns and repetition or
• support prediction through natural language and meaning
• more variation in language patterns
• longer sentences with simple syntax
• print appears on both the left and right pages
• 2 to 5 lines of text per page

I Like	Color Books	Animals
The Zoo	My House	My Family
Our Class	Our School	The Neighborhood
Homes (Shelters)	Living Things	Clothing

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Characteristics of Text
Upper Emergent Readers

Level D (Fountas and Pinnell), 5-6 (Reading Recovery), PP3 (Basal)

• concepts within children's experience
• illustrations are supportive, but more attention to print is required
• varied simple sentences
• print is clear
• spacing is obvious
• 2-6 lines of text per page
• vocabulary includes more inflectional endings -ing, -ed, -s
  

Level E (Fountas and Pinnell), 7-8 (Reading Recovery), Primer (Basal)

• 3-8 lines of text per page
• text placement on page varies
• if repeated language patterns are used, they vary within the text
• illustrations strongly support the text, but contain several ideas
• the ideas are more subtle and require more interpretation
• some concepts may not be familiar to children
• vocabulary requires skill in word analysis
• longer words are used and have inflectional endings
• a blend of oral and written language is used

ABC Books	Number Books	Animals
The Zoo	The Playground	The Birthday Party
A Visit to .......	Rhyming Stories	Nusery Rhyme Spin-offs
Butterflies	The Magic Liquid	Community Helpers

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Characteristics of Text
Early Fluent Readers

Level F (Fountas and Pinnell), 9-10 (Reading Recovery), Primer (Basal)

• print becomes smaller
• 3-8 lines of text per page
• literary language is mixed with oral language structures, but syntax reflects patterns of written language
• story lines are more involved with more events (episodes)
• chronological story lines
• stories usually have distinct a beginning, middle and end
• characters are more fully developed
• punctuation supports phrasing and meaning
• many more opportunities for word analysis
• dialog appears in different formats

Levels G and H (Fountas and Pinnell), 11-14 (Reading Recovery), 1-2 (Basal)

• 4-8 lines of text per page
• longer, varied sentences
• literary language, structures and concepts blended with natural language
• greater range of context to extend student experiences
• some repetition in the episodic structure of the story

A Letter for	Circle Stories	Wiggly Worms
The Loose Tooth	Jobs	The Carnival

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37 Primary Chunks
from Phonics That Work, Janiel Wagstaff

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High Frequency Words