{"id":284,"date":"2019-06-20T19:23:30","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T02:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/?p=284"},"modified":"2019-09-14T19:17:24","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T02:17:24","slug":"writing-early-readers-part-2-using-lexile-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/20\/writing-early-readers-part-2-using-lexile-levels\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Early Readers, Part 2: Using Lexile Levels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Once you understand how the Lexile system works (Writing Early Readers, Part 1: Understanding Lexile Levels)<\/a>, the next step is to use the Lexile system to write at the desired level. This matters most when you are writing books to be read by young readers. Suppose you want to write an early reader for grades K-2. Here\u2019s how I did it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, I found two early readers similar to the level I wanted to\nemulate. It is important to note that publishers can have very different\ndefinitions for, say, a Level 2 early reader. Penguin Young Readers\u2019 Level 2\nearly readers are at about 280L while DK Readers\u2019 Level 2 early readers\nfeaturing licensed movie characters are at about 680L. New readers can probably\nhandle the former, but will need major help with the latter. Children like the\nlicensed books because they like the pop culture, but as reading practice I\nthink these books are pretty ineffective. I examined some books to find ones at\nan appropriate level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I chose Little Bear<\/a><\/em> by Else Holmeland Minarik and Mr. Putter and Tabby Stir the Soup<\/a><\/em> by Cynthia Rylant. I checked their Lexile levels with an online tool. (Google \u201clook up Lexile level\u201d to find sites where you can find the levels of published books.) Little Bear <\/em>is 370L and Mr. Putter<\/em> is 480L. Mr. Putter<\/em> is shorter, but it uses more complicated words than Little Bear<\/em>. I wanted to write an early reader at a level that landed in between these two books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I typed the entire text of each book into a word processing program (it\u2019s\nnot that hard \u2013 early readers are rarely over 1500 words). As I typed the\nbooks, I paid attention to how repetition is used. Using lots of repetition is\na good way to help new readers develop confidence and skill. I used the\nsoftware program tools to analyze word length, sentence length and chapter\nlength in each manuscript. I not only checked the whole manuscript, but I also\nchecked each chapter individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word\nand sentence stats were very consistent. Both books had an average of four\nletters per word and seven words per sentence.\nMr. Putter <\/em>was about 800 words total while Little Bear was about\n1500 words. The average chapter length in Mr.\nPutter<\/em> was 170 words, while the average chapter in Little Bear<\/em> was 380 words. I also looked at the\nlongest sentence in each chapter. In Mr. Putter<\/em>\nthe longest sentences ranged from 14-26 words. The longest sentence in Little Bear<\/em> was 18 words. All the sentences\nwere broken up into short segments per line on the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote my first early reader following these guidelines and I ran it\nthrough a Lexile measurement tool as both a whole manuscript and also chapter\nby chapter. (Google \u201cLexile measuring tool\u201d and you will find sites where you\ncan input a passage of text and get an approximate Lexile measurement.) The\ntool said mine was 400L-500L. Perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then submitted my manuscript to an agent. She loved it, but told me some of my words were too advanced for the grade level. The agent introduced me to the Children\u2019s Writer\u2019s Word Book<\/a> (there are other similar resources) which lists reading vocabulary words associated with each grade level. For example, \u201cdeclare\u201d is a 5th grade word. From the Word Book, synonyms are: say (Kindergarten), state (1st grade), claim (2nd), announce (3rd) and proclaim (4th). You can use words at or below the desired grade level, but you\u2019re not supposed to use words above the desired grade level. Words appear to be chosen for readability, concept and vocabulary for the grade. I reluctantly changed some of my words. I now had an early reader manuscript that children in grades K-2 could actually read. And the first and second grade teachers at my son\u2019s school reported that the children in their classes loved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t\nhave to go through all this work… unless you want your book to function as an\nearly reader. In that case you really do need to get the reading level right.\nIt\u2019s worth it to spend time on the initial research to learn the\nspecifications. If the specs seem too restrictive, remember Dr. Seuss, who\nwrote The Cat in the Hat<\/em> (430L)\nwith a very short and simple vocabulary list. Creativity is possible no matter\nhow strict the requirements, so make your early reader easy to read, and make\nit a good one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally written for Readers’ Favorite by Donna Gielow McFarland.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once you understand how the Lexile system works (Writing Early Readers, Part 1: Understanding Lexile Levels), the next step is to use the Lexile system to write at the desired level. This matters most when you are writing books to be read by young readers. Suppose you want to write an early reader for grades K-2. Here\u2019s how I did…<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,22,45,43,42,33],"tags":[30,29,14],"yoast_head":"\nWriting Early Readers, Part 2: Using Lexile Levels - Spencer Meadow Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Writing Early Readers, Part 2: Using Lexile Levels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/20\/writing-early-readers-part-2-using-lexile-levels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Writing Early Readers, Part 2: Using Lexile Levels - Spencer Meadow Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Writing Early Readers, Part 2: Using Lexile Levels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/20\/writing-early-readers-part-2-using-lexile-levels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spencer Meadow Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pg\/Thepurpleelephantbydonnamcfarland\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-21T02:23:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-15T02:17:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/adorable-blur-bookcase-261895-lowres.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1232\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"816\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"DonnaMcFarland\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Spencer Meadow Press\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pg\/Thepurpleelephantbydonnamcfarland\/about\/\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SMP-New-Logo-side.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SMP-New-Logo-side.jpg\",\"width\":547,\"height\":107,\"caption\":\"Spencer Meadow Press\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/\",\"name\":\"Spencer Meadow Press\",\"description\":\"A La Carte Publishing Services\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/20\/writing-early-readers-part-2-using-lexile-levels\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/adorable-blur-bookcase-261895-lowres.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/adorable-blur-bookcase-261895-lowres.jpg\",\"width\":1232,\"height\":816},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/20\/writing-early-readers-part-2-using-lexile-levels\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spencermeadowpress.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/20\/writing-early-readers-part-2-using-lexile-levels\/\",\"name\":\"Writing Early Readers, Part 2: Using Lexile Levels - 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