CLE Reading: Start with 3rd or 4th for rising 4th grader?

[lea1]

Could some of you experienced CLE moms give me some advice on this?  I have two recently turned 9YO sons and we have not used a reading curriculum before.  They do a lot of reading and we talk about some of it but I have not made them write any book reports or anything else about what they are reading.  I require them to read 45 minutes and they read from books that I have preselected. 

 

So I am wondering if we can go straight into CLE Reading for 4th grade or if we should do 3rd grade first.  Any advice?

 

 

[Jasperstone]

I found it a year level higher than it says. But that's just me.

[MotherGoose]

I have never used it, but I'd want to make sure they are at an appropriate instruction level. They may be well ahead of 4th grade reading. Is there a placement test?

[3girls4me]

My daughter had never done a reading "program" before, but she entered in level 4 for 4th grade and does fine! Not sure if there is a placement test.

[FriedClams]

I'd use grade level or lower. It's meaty in the workbook more so than the reading level of the readers. Grade 3 is a year course, and after that it's 5 LU. So, if you did back up, you could easily do 2 grade levels in one year later on by using it daily.

[lea1]

Thanks for the feedback.  I think I will go ahead with grade 3.  I have one son who might find grade 4 has too much writing for him at this point....not sure.  I already have the reader and first 3 LUs for grade 3 so I should probably just go ahead and start using them.  Thanks.

[lea1]

One more question for those of you who have used grades 3 and 4, did you find 4 to have more writing required than 3?

[abrightmom]

Lea,

 

We use and love CLE Reading and I begin using it with my kids in 4th grade. It is packed with wonderful skill work and NOT useless comprehension questions. 4th requires more writing than 3rd but asks a bit more in thinking skills. I like that 4th is only 5 light units compared to 3rd having 10. We do reading two days a week. We can also double up lessons one week by doing reading 4 times and then finish a LU early. My love and appreciation for CLE Reading hasn't waned. My oldest is using 6th and my 4th grader started with grade 4 this school year. :) My kids do need me to stay on top of corrections and give feedback. I don't ask them to memorize the story verses :). They just copy them if asked in the LU.

[Storygirl]

I don't know. My kids are doing CLE level three this year. Two are nine-year-old third graders, and one is a ten-year-old fourth grader. They are old for their grades and are fairly average students -- two of them have learning disabilities. The third grade level is very doable for them. So if you have advanced readers, I might choose the fourth grade level. Since fourth grade has fewer workbooks, you can spend more time on each lesson if you need to.

 

Look at the samples online to see which level you think corresponds with their abilities.

 

I will add that I started my older daughter in CLE 500 when she was in sixth grade. She did not do any of the lower CLE reading levels. She is a good independent reader, but she struggles with understanding inference, and she found it too hard. We set it aside for awhile, and she is now breezing through it in seventh grade in preparation for moving on to the 600 level. I plan for her to complete 700 and 800 in eighth grade to get her back up to level.

 

CLE definitely works on skills beyond what children use just in their silent independent reading, and it can be challenging as you move forward. We just haven't found the third grade level to be challenging yet. I think it must build slowly and get more difficult in level 400.

 

The third grade level so far has focused on looking up vocabulary words in the glossary, answering comprehension questions, scanning a page to find specific information, etc. They read each story twice. The first day silently, and the second day out loud as a group. That has been a good set up for us. My kids do not find the stories themselves too challenging to read or understand, so they are right on grade level for them.

[SnMomof7]

I have used it at grade level, with two children, and it has worked well.

[MeAndTheBoys]

It picks up in 5th grade on the comprehension level.  We have used it all along, and I have a strong student currently in 700 and a weaker student in 500.  Both are good readers, but the one in 500 has trouble pulling out inferences and doing analysis and such.  The 700 level book is a bear--sometimes it's even hard for me to pull the answers, but when I look at the answer key, I "get it" and can help direct my son.  But it's hard stuff!!!!

 

I would say, go down a level, and if it's too easy, you can catch up later.  Starting in 400, it's a half-time program--you can either do it 4 days a week for one semester and be done, or 2-3 days a week for a full year.  So if you felt like you wanted to catch up to grade level, you could complete 400 and 500 in a single year.

 

B