Originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.One of the exciting things that I'm jumping for joy to participate in this year is the Carson-Dellosa Brand Ambassador program. For this fall, the first set of goodies to arrive included a book called Guided Reading: Connect for Grades 3-4. As you may recall, my oldest kiddo is working on a generally 3rd/4th grade level and the one place we are struggling the most is with reading comprehension. SO yes! Hello, this is right what we need!
I'm one of those people that doesn't like to take apart reproducible books. I'd rather just use it as is and keep it within the binding. While this isn't a reproducible book, it is similar in the way that I have had to remove things from the spine, gasp!, but I am learning to adapt. *grin* This Ready to Go Guided Reading book is pick up and go and go well. This book is part of a series that provides basic comprehension guided reading which is very much one of the skills we are working on in our school days at the moment.
There are six leveled readers (9 x 12") that cover fascinating topics such as money, landfills, food, land conservation, and other science and history topics. The level of reading is achievable and approachable for my daughter, but the discussion and comprehension is often where I get a blank stare from her. The passages vary in Lexile reading levels from 530-620, but there are yellow dots on the booklets so students do not necessarily have to know which level they are studying only in that they increase. The book itself is a glossy durable paperback with a glued spine, but it includes six copies of each of the six readers (great for a center or small group study). The booklets are easy to pull out and fold on the marked creased line. The pages of the book are a heavy duty glossy cardstock and will definitely last the time and multiple student use. I love the idea of something so durable! Especially with other students coming up the line later.
At the end of the book, after the 36 readers which make up the bulk, you will find the Discussion Guides for each of the sets of readers. These guides have about a dozen or some questions or prompts to promote discussion and quiz the comprehension. My student often has to re-read a segment or section of the reader. Even though she can read the text, she doesn't always retain it and I am finding these to be good practice. While yes, we can do comprehension from read literature working with these high-interest non-fiction short full-color readers inclusive of pictures, side vocabulary, charts and details really provides and interest factor that makes my student willing to linger more and dive a little bit deeper than the general words on the page.
There is also a related guided reading set of reproducibles in the very back including pages for making connections and a general rubric. While they are black and white and reproducible, they are also on the laminated durable cardstock and make for easy work with a wet erase marker. All of the pages within the book are made of the durable cardstock that has a write-on/wipe-away surface and I am very impressed with the vibrancy and durability.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaA0W4IW-ss
Also in the series there are available two other books in addition the Grades 3-4 that I own. There is also Grades 1-2 and Grades 5-6 and this is only in the Connect subtitle. There are even more in the rest of the series that I am not currently familiar with. My review is of the physical product, but it is my understanding that it is also available as a PDF download as well from the Carson-Dellosa web store.
I participate in the Brand Ambassador Program for Carson-Dellosa and have received this product for free to review. All opinions remain my own, and I'm not required to provide a favorable review, but with this company that is not difficult to do so! .
This review was originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.