[LIT] Core novel help!

[Lori Jackson]

I think there is more to leveling books than numbers or letters or syllables.  The issues raised in The Giver are profoundly provocative and involve some very deep thinking. It is not just about words,but about how they are woven together so that yes, the words themselves may be simpler but the content,the issues and the kind of keep thinking
this book deserves may not match the reading level as determined . My recent classroom experiences are with first and second graders.  I have had amazingly advanced readers and were I lured into the dangerous and exclusive world of mathcing books to readers based on reading leves dteremined without consideration of maturity  of topic or  the
reader, I could have made potentially dangerous reading choices.  In The Art of Teaching Reading, Lucy Calkins cautions that simply because a child CAN read a book doesn not mean a child SHOULD read a book.  Try to picture a seven year old  child, a jump roping child who giggles over the Arthor books but reads them with ease and abandon.  Should
this child read a book like Touching Spirit Bear simply because she can?  I don't know The Midwife's Apprentice but perhaps these books were selected with these sort of considerations in mind.

Lori

amanda patrick wrote:

> I love the Giver as well!! We have a problem, because we are changing our books to Lexile systems.  We have the midwife's apprentice at 6th, A Christmas Carol at 7th, and The Giver at 8th.  When you loook at the lexile numbers though, this doesn't make sense..given that the Giver is the lowest lexile of the 3.  What are your thoughts on this??
>   I think Freak the Mighty is a GREAT core novel for 6th grade!! Good values for m.s.ers!!
>
>   I usually teach Among the Hidden and 1984 as supplements for lower/higher students when teaching The Giver...or I through in The Ear the Eye and The Arm and The Last Book in the Universe and do a literature circle or Book Club..sci-fi unit.
>
>   Core novels are taught at whole class levels?? Then do you have a separate list of lit circle books for your m.s. as well?? Just curious, we also are revamping our novel list and literature circle list and are having some trouble!
>
> TLP <tlinsb71 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   I am part of ELA Committee that will be changing our
> core novels. What are your core novels? Ours are Tuck
> Everlasting for 6th, Witch of Blackbird Pond for 7th
> and The Giver for 8th. I love the Giver and will vote
> to retain it as a core novel. We are also looking for
> additional titles to offer as an alternative for
> readers of different abilities...My list is so long
> that I feel overwhelmed right now.
>
> Could you help?
> What are your core novels?
> What would you suggest as a good core novel for each
> middle grade level?
>
> TLP
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org
>
> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org.
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
>  Get on board. You're invited to try the new Yahoo! Mail Beta.
> _______________________________________________
> The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org
>
> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org.

--

Lori Jackson
District Literacy Coach & Mentor
Todd County School District
Mission, South Dakota

2006 Literacies for All Summer Institute
Redefining Literacies: Expanding Our Vision of What is Possible
July 13-16, 2006
Charlotte, North Carolina