A Look at Level Levels 7-8
In contrast to level 6, level 8 narratives move from a repeated series of episodes that repeat to text that has a definite beginning, middle and end. Sentence structure becomes more complex and may include clauses, prepositional phrases and adjectives, and language structure is less repititious. Dialogue becomes longer and a wider range of vocabulary is used in level 8 text.
Strategies Teachers are Looking for on a Level 8
-use meaning to solve new words
-self correct using illustrations, intial sounds, other words that look the same and personal experience
-makes predictions and reads to confirm predictions
-rereads to check, look at clues, and confirm
-makes connections to other text sources
Here are some prompts that may help you help your child practice reading:
"Check the picture"
"Does that make sense?"
"What do you think it might be?"
"Does that look right?"
"How did you know it was _____?"
"Does that match what is happening?"
"Look closer"
"Read it again and see if you are right"
Check with your child's teacher, she may use additional prompts or provide the same prompt with a variation in the language.
Moving from a level 8 to a level 10
We look for a variety of skills to be in place before moving students up in DRA Reading levels. We look for solid skills in Phonics, Vocabulary, Comprehension and Fluency. When ready to move from a level 8 to a level 10, students consistently read at 95% accuracy or higher and consistently read a variety of text while demonstrating the following skills:
Phonics-
longer word decoding
read compound words
read words with long vowel sounds, including vowel pairs (ay, ee, ea...)
Vocabulary-
use new vocabulary
increase reading of high frequency words
Comprehension-
predict and check
rely less on illustrations and more on words
reread to check for meaning
remember and retell
made connections between other text
Fluency-
begin to read in phrases
reading sounds more fluent
use finger pointing only on the more difficult words
Sometimes teachers will try students at a higher level to see how the student performs and determine readiness to move up. We are flexible and careful not to celebrate moving up a level because we want students to be okay with changing back down if they are not quite ready or if they come back from a break needing to relearn/solidify skills.
