Nurturing Struggling Readers With Raz-Plus

Supporting struggling readers can be quite complex, as it requires teachers to be in tune with each student’s unique needs, address them during instruction, and ensure that the reading material and resources that are given cater to each students’ academic needs, interests, and academic needs. Upon assessing student needs, teachers often struggle to find resources to support struggling readers that are of high interest while being at low readability. If you have found yourself in this scenario, the High/Low Text Sets available in Raz-Plus can help!

Honing in on Student Engagement

Whether you are creating effective lesson plans or planning purposeful activities for small group instruction, one thing is for sure- student engagement makes all the difference. Designed with struggling readers in mind, the High/Low Text Sets included in Raz-Plus are comprised of appropriate texts that build background knowledge and strengthen key vocabulary skills while making learning feel more like fun! Covering specific science or social studies topics, the High/Low Text Sets provide a wide range of exciting texts to keep students engaged in the learning process. In addition, the High/Low Text Sets within Raz-Plus allow students of all reading levels to engage in the same content, removing the stigma that is often present. Check out a few of the cool titles students from grades 3-8 have to choose from below!

Animal Adaptations in the Arctic

Interest Level: Grades 3-4
Readability Level: Grades 1-2

Key Question: How have adaptations helped animals survive? 
Key Vocabulary: adapt, Arctic, blubber, camouflage, melt, predator, prey, scientist, temperature

Earth and the Solar System

Interest Level: Grades 5-6
Readability Level: Grades 2-4

Key Question: What makes our solar system a system?
Key Vocabulary: asteroid, astronomers, atmosphere, comet, core, dwarf planet, gravity, orbit, solar system, spacecraft, surface, telescope

Women's Suffrage in the United States

Interest Level: Grades 7-8
Readability Level: Grades 4-6

Key Question: How and why have the rights of women changed in the United States over the last hundred years?
Key Vocabulary: activist, amendment, convention, discrimination, gender, march, movement, opportunity, picket, radical, suffrage, union

Aligning to the Science of Reading: Building Vocabulary & Background Knowledge

Science of Reading research shows that reading comprehension and language acquisition are directly correlated, making it imperative that the resources that educators use make it a priority to expand students’ vocabularies and background knowledge about new topics. To address this, the High/Low Text Sets within Raz-Plus support the development of new vocabulary by increasing student exposure to new words and concepts in context. As students make their way through new, exciting texts, they’ll be asked to demonstrate their understanding by answering text-dependent questions at three levels, making it easier to cater to varying learning needs. As a result, students will begin to develop more refined language comprehension skills that they can use in the future for new, more challenging texts.

The Text Sets You Need to Get Things Back on Track

Now that you have the texts you need to keep struggling readers engaged, we’d like to equip you with everything you need for instruction. Aligned with state and national standards, the High/Low Text Sets within Raz-Plus range in complexity, allowing teachers to scaffold instruction to give students the time and reinforcements to gain confidence as lifelong readers. Furthermore, the High/Low Text Sets within Raz-Plus also offer tips for differentiation, helping you meet each students’ unique needs even when you are short on time or bandwidth. Lastly, these text sets include a key question to guide instruction, helping your students remain focused on that particular concept throughout the text set.

Driving Results in Your Classroom

It is no secret that many students are reading below grade level, causing concern in classrooms across the country. If you have found yourself in this position, just know that you are not alone! In fact, we’d like to help. Check out Raz-Plus to see if it can help you support struggling readers by strengthening their vocabularies, building background knowledge about new concepts, and truly keeping them engaged and focused in the reading process.