Taking Away Levels

    Look closely at the picture. (No, really look.) I was undoing some work that I thought I was pretty good at.  Today I peeled off several stickers that alerted my readers to the levels of some chapter books.
     I'd spent time looking up book titles and matching them to the reading level of the book. In the past, I'd look up the level and write it on a sticker.  Then I'd tape the sticker onto the book.
     I was going to be the guest reader in our second grade classes, and I wanted to buzz three books in each classroom.  My plan was to have the kids participate in a book lottery after I previewed the three books.  I didn't want book levels to play into the decisions the kids made. So I started peeling off those stickers.
     Book Buzz time came, and I read the first chapter or two from 3 books.  You know what? Nobody once asked what levels the books were. I saw some interesting things during the book lottery, and some book buzzes worked better than others. (Another blog about that will follow...)