Reading A-Z
What
materials are available on Reading A-Z?
Are
your materials research based?
Is
there a white paper available for your materials?
Has
an efficacy study been performed for your materials?
How
do your materials align with No Child Left Behind?
Do
your materials align with state and national standards?
How
are the Guided Readers leveled?
How
do your materials correlate with other leveling systems?
Are
the Decodable Books leveled?
How
do your materials differ from Raz-Kids or Reading-Tutors?
Are
your materials available in any language other than English?
Why
do the level aa books have periods without full sentences?
How
do I assemble the books?
Do
you offer full-color books?
Do
you offer assessment materials?
What
is a Running Record form?
How often
are new materials made available?
Do
you have a search feature that allows me to locate books with a similar
genre or skill type?
What
if I just want to sample the materials before purchasing?
What
materials are available on Reading A-Z?
Reading A-Z offers thousands of professionally developed downloadable
books (including English, Spanish, and French versions) and quality
teaching and learning materials. Reading A-Z is designed to provide
supplementary materials from early emergent through fluency. In
addition to the K-6 market, Reading A-Z materials have found widespread
use at a range of grade levels in special education and special needs,
remedial reading, ESL and ELL, and foreign language.
Categories of materials available by Reading A-Z include: Guided
Reading, Phonics,
Vocabulary,
Fluency,
Poetry,
Alphabet,
Assessments
and more.
Are your materials
research based?
Reading A-Z materials incorporate the best practices based on current
education research. For more information, please visit the research
section of Reading A-Z.
Is
there a white paper available for your materials?
Is there a white paper available for your materials?
Yes. Please visit the research
section of Reading A-Z for a copy.
Has
an efficacy study been performed for your materials?
Efficacy studies on Reading A-Z materials are currently running in
classrooms from the East Coast, Midwest, Southeast, and Southwest.
Details of the studies and final results will be available in Fall
2007.
How
do your materials align with No Child Left Behind?
Reading A-Z materials are designed to meet and assess varying student
needs and abilities, as well as to support the No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) initiative. Reading A-Z materials that support NCLB are listed
below:
- Leveled readers, lessons plans, and
worksheets: Comprehension and Vocabulary
- High-frequency word books (English,
Spanish, and French versions): Vocabulary and Fluency
- Read-aloud books: Phonemic Awareness
- Serial books, such as The Monsters and
Tommy Tales: Comprehension (serial books also support across-text
comprehension, which is a critical-thinking skill)
- Decodable and Sound/Symbol books: Phonics
- Wordless books (used with leveled
readers): Comprehension and Vocabulary
- Vocabulary books and materials: Vocabulary
- Fluency passages: Fluency
- Reader's theater: Fluency
- Poetry books, lessons, and materials:
Fluency and Comprehension
- Poetry books, lessons, and materials:
Fluency and Comprehension
- Graphic organizers: Comprehension and
Vocabulary
- Word sorts: Vocabulary
- Assessments:
- Comprehension Quick Checks
- High-Frequency Word Assessments
- Fluency Assessments
- Phonics Assessments
- Phonological Awareness Assessments
- Retelling Rubrics
Do
your materials align with state and national standards?
Our materials are designed for use with best practices as prescribed by
the National Reading Panel. Please visit our research
section for further information.
Our materials also align with some state
standards. Visit our Leveled Reader
Skills Chart to find out which books match your state's
language arts standards.
How are the Guided
Readers leveled?
Each book is written with research-based guidelines and put through a
rigorous process to ensure that it is leveled correctly. The text is
then run through a computer program that scores it based on many
factors, including word count, number of high-frequency words, and word
difficulty. In addition, picture support, the amount of text per page,
and the difficulty of the concepts are analyzed. Finally, LearningPage
editors as well as a group of experienced reading specialists,
researchers, and teachers review each book. Reading A-Z's leveling
system is proprietary.
How
do your materials correlate with other leveling systems?
For your convenience, we have developed a chart
that correlates Reading A-Z levels with other popular leveled reading
programs, including Reading Recovery, Fountas & Pinnell, and
DRA.
Are the Decodable
Books leveled?
Given that reading abilities vary considerably within a grade level,
decodable books are not assigned to a particular age or grade. They are
structured to introduce and review previously taught phonic elements
and are appropriate for anyone learning the English language (including
adults who are learning English as a second language). They can be used
in conjunction with the sequential phonics lessons. As a guide, the
first 33 books generally correspond to kindergarten, and the remaining
books to first and second grades.
How
do your materials differ from Raz-Kids or Reading-Tutors?
Some Reading A-Z materials have been adapted for Raz-Kids and
Reading-Tutors.
Are
your materials available in any language other than English?
Yes. Based on customer feedback, Reading A-Z Leveled Readers are
available in English, Spanish, French, and UK. For a complete listing,
please visit the
All
Books tab.
Why
do the level aa books have periods without full sentences?
Reading A-Z provides concept books at Level aa. Each page contains
simple 2-4 word lines that use high-frequency words and nouns in a 1:1
correspondence with the picture. These phrases or sentence fragments
are usually predictable and consist of a one-word change from page to
page, helping to build vocabulary and introduce initial capitalization,
ending punctuation, and book handling skills in early readers.
How do I assemble the
books?
Book assembly instructions for each book are located on the left side
of the book’s landing page. Look for the Assemble Your Book button.
Instructions for both horizontal
and vertical
formats will appear in the same PDF document, so be sure to locate the
appropriate instructions for your book format. Additional instructions
for how to assemble double-sided
books, comic books, and pocketbooks are available in a separate PDF document also located on the
book’s landing page.
Do you offer full-color
books?
Reading A-Z offers color covers for leveled readers and books in black
and white with a few full color books. The majority of feedback from
our customers suggests that the students enjoy coloring the books as a
way to personalize their reading experience. That being said, we are
gradually offering full color books until we have at least one per
level. If they are received well, we will continue to add more.
Do you offer
assessment materials?
Reading A-Z provides a collection of easy-to-use assessment tools in
several key areas of reading--alphabet, phonological awareness,
phonics, high-frequency words, fluency, and comprehension. These tools
are designed to help diagnose a student's instructional needs and the
effectiveness of the instruction delivered.
Visit the Assessment
section for further details and access to the assessments.
What is a Running
Record form?
A running record allows you a quick and efficient assessment of a
student's reading performance as she/he reads from a benchmark book.
Only the first 100—150 words of the longer benchmark books are used
for the upper-level running records.
Visit the Assessment
section for further details, instructions on using a running
record form, and access to the forms.
How often
are new materials made available?
New materials will be posted on a regularly scheduled basis. We
encourage you to visit often and watch for updates in our future
newsletters.
Do
you have a search feature that allows me to locate books with a similar
genre or skill type?
Yes. Reading A-Z offers an advanced search
feature that will allow you to search by Level Type, Theme, Book Topic,
Genre, Skill Type, and more.
What
if I just want to sample the materials before purchasing?
To preview the materials before purchasing, visit our Sample
section.
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