Characteristics of Readers

    Information on this page was obtained from the MCPS first grade curriculum guide. (Quarter 1 - Pages 26-28) 

    Levels 1-3

    Students reading at these levels are learning and practicing the following concepts and skills: 

    • Learning about books
      • Front and back of a book, title and title page
      • Where to begin reading
      • Concept of a word
      • Awareness of punctuation
       
    • Controlling early behaviors
      • Left to right progression and directionality
      • Word by word matching with precise pointing
      • Beginning to build a bank of high frequency words (Level 3)
       
    • Developing letter knowledge
    • Beginning to use strategies
      • Relying on picture detail and interpretation
      • Locating and using known words in print (Level 3)
      • Using meaning and syntax
       
    • Developing awareness of making reading sound like talking
    • Expressing comprehension
      • Stating what the picture is about
      • Retelling in a simple way, relating to personal experience
       

    Characteristics of text which support these readers include: 

    • Print appears on same place on each page
    • Patterns of 1-2 sentence repeated
    • Word changes limited
    • Oral language structures used
    • Familiar objects and experiences are the content
    • Illustrations provide high degree of support
    • High frequency words introduced and repeated

    Levels 4-9

    Students reading at these levels are learning and practicing the following concepts and skills: 

    • Controlling early strategies on longer amounts of text
    • Increasing competence in reading fluently through text
    • Rereading closer to point of difficulty to gain meaning, problem solve, or confirm meaning
    • Using known words to read words not yet known (upper levels)
    • Using knowledge of letter-sound relationships, words, and parts of words (Levels 6-9) to check on reading
    • Self-correcting and cross-checking one source of information against another
    • Identifying most or all letters
    • Predicting what will happen next
    • Expressing comprehension
      • Telling the main idea with some supporting ideas
      • Retelling including details
      • Relating to personal experience and literature
       

    Characteristics of text which support these readers include: 

    • Opening and closing sentences may be different from repeated 2-3 sentence pattern
    • Format is predictable
    • Oral language structures predominate
    • Familiar objects and experiences are the content
    • Illustrations provide support for main ideas
    • Use of high frequency words increases
    • Range of punctuation is included

    Levels 10-16

    Students reading at these levels are learning and practicing the following concepts and skills: 

    • Controlling early strategies even on unfamiliar text
    • Reading with fluent phrasing, giving attention to meaning
    • Rereading at point of difficult to gain meaning, problem solve, or confirm meaning
    • Analyze new words and cross-checking them against meaning and structure
    • Self-monitoring (knowing there is an error)
    • Reading silently, sub-vocalizing only in times of difficulty
    • Expressing comprehension
      • Telling the main idea with adequate supporting details
      • Discussing story line in a way that indicates an understanding of what is happening
      • Inferring more from text
       
    • Beginning to understand and choose variety of genre

    Characteristics of text which support these readers include: 

    • Less support is provided by illustration
    • Several lines of text appear per page
    • Increased sentence length with more complex language usage and phrasing is used
    • Oral and book language is blended
    • Stories, information, and procedure are the content

    Levels I-J

    Students reading at these levels are learning and practicing the following concepts and skills:  

    • Automatically reading with phrased fluency
    • Reading text independently and silently while reading for meaning
    • Successfully integrating reading strategies and using flexibility in checking one's reading
    • Approaching a variety of genres with confidence
    • Expressing comprehension
      • Indicating an understanding of what is read, stating the gist
      • Summarizing the text
      • Understanding clearly the basic literary elements and devices
      • Developing the capacity for more difficult vocabulary, ideas, and language structure
      • Understanding the text structure as a way of interacting with the text meaning fully
       

    Characteristics of text which support these readers include: 

    • Minimal illustration support
    • Increased text amount with extended descriptions
    • Longer and more complex sentence patterns
    • Elaborated episodes and events
    • Challenging and sophisticated vocabulary
    • Introduction of literary language
    • Development of characters through actions and events that can be retold
    • Wide range of punctuation and use of dialogue