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How to Find your Student's High Noon Reading Level
• Introduction
• High Noon Reading Level Finder
• Reading Passages
• Choose the Right High Noon Chapter Book
• What are High Noon Readability Levels?
Introduction
Young people are more likely to read if they have access to books they can understand and enjoy. That's where High Noon Books fit in. For over a quarter century, we've been publishing books that appeal to boys and girls who are struggling readers. These books have engaging subjects but are written in simple and understandable language.
Take our Hawk Davidson – Extreme Athlete series, for example. Hawk tests cutting-edge sports equipment like surfboards and mountain bikes. The tester for a competing company is his friend Samantha, who is Hawk's equal in almost everything. Hawk and Sam solve mysteries while competing with each other and keeping their friendship going. The series appeals to teens and can be enjoyed by students with minimal reading skills.
Check out this sample from the Hawk Davidson series. (see sample chapters)
To find the right reading level for struggling or reluctant readers, many schools give reading assessments. The results of the assessments can help you match a student with the right books. You don't need to do a formal assessment of your student to find the right High Noon reading level, however. We have a simple process that will help you make this choice.
There are two ways you can do this. The first is to print the High Noon Reading Level Finder linked below this paragraph. The second is to have the student read the text on screen as it appears below. Although your software configuration may change this, we have posted these passages in formats similar to the books in which they appear, because font size and spacing are elements of readability.
High Noon Reading Level Finder:
Instructions:
Listen as the student reads out loud. When the student has finished a passage, ask the student to explain what it was about. If the student reads a passage comfortably and can understand it, move on to the next passage. If the student seems to struggle with the words or doesn ’t understand the passage, then stop the process.
The highest passage that the student can read out loud with understanding helps you know what kinds of books the student will enjoy. Choose books at this level or easier. The guidelines below will help you choose the right books.
 You can also Download and Print the passages
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Choose the Right High Noon Chapter Book
If your student is comfortable reading Passage 1,
choose Sound Out books.
Check out more samples of Sound Out Book Series, and see what's different about the six levels of Sound Out, to find the best match in the series.
For teachers:
If your student struggles with Passage 1, you should focus on phonics instruction. Phonics Reading Lessons is a 100-lesson program of direct, one-on-one instruction (reproducible for teachers), with reading practice. It's a sure way to prepare your student for reading this level of reading material.
If your student is comfortable reading Passage 2, choose books like the
Tom and Ricky Mysteries.
If your student struggles with Passage 2, consider some phonics instruction. You can find a complete phonics course in Phonic Reading Lessons, and support for emergent reading skills in High Noon Reading Intervention – Level 1
Find out more about helping your developing reader with the Teaching Reading Sourcebook, extensively revised in 2008 to reflect the most current reading research, and with practical help for the reading instructor throughout.
If your student is comfortable reading Passage 3, choose books like the What on Earth or the new Scoop Doogan Mysteries.
If your student struggles with Passage 3, you might consider using High Noon Reading Intervention – Level 2, which supports a broad range of beginning reader skills, from vocabulary and comprehension to spelling and fluency.
See our other reading intervention products here for more specialized and focused materials, including High Noon's Vocabulary, Fluency, Comprehension, and Spelling workbooks series. Learn More
If your student is comfortable reading Passage 4, choose books like the Cornerstone Classics or Adventure Athletes Series.
If your student struggles with Passage 4, consider using workbooks like High Noon Reading Comprehension, levels B and C. They can help your student develop grades 2-3 reading level skills.
Your student may also benefit from vocabulary building with High Noon Vocabulary,Try level B for second grade reading level vocabulary, and level C for third grade reading level vocabulary.
If your student is comfortable reading Passage 5 choose books like the Perspectives series and perhaps Streamlined Shakespeare, an accessible and rewarding read.
If your student struggles with Passage 5, consider using workbooks like High Noon Reading Comprehension, levels C and D. They can help your student develop grades 3-4 reading level skills.
Your student may also benefit from vocabulary building with High Noon Vocabulary, Try level C for third grade reading level vocabulary, and level D for fourth grade reading level vocabulary.
What are High Noon Readability Levels?
A book's reading level is an approximation of the skill level a reader will need to understand its contents, or in the case of students learning to decode or sound out a book phonetically, the level of phonics decoding ability.
Each set of High Noon Books has a "readability level." This indicates that a student reading within the skill level for that grade should be able to read books in that series independently and successfully. For classroom reference, the High Noon readability level is indicated by the number of stars on the back cover of each High Noon book.
First Grade Readability 
Close to half of the books with a single star on the back cover are part of the Sound Out series (They are clearly labeled as such.) Sound Out books are phonics-based and decodable to students following the six-level scope and sequence for the series. Students who have progressed through the basic phonetic patterns for each level can successfully read one of the 28-page narrative or informational books. Sound Out books are printed in generous 20 point (or a bit bigger for the lowest levels) type, with 12 lines to a five by seven inch page.
The rest of the single-star books are for students who can decode with automaticity. While about three-fourths of the words in a book at High Noon's first grade readability level come from the basic word lists, such as Fry 200, Dolch 220, or Kucera-Francis 200, or are the main characters' names, the short sentences and careful composition give readers the structure and repetition they need to understand unfamiliar words through context, or even outright definition worked into the story line.
Dialogue beginning with High Noon's first grade readability books is natural, including the use of contractions. These are excluded from most basic word lists, but the older students for whom these books are written will have the life experience to infer their meaning. The books themselves are 48 pages long, with 15 well-spaced lines per 5 by 7 inch page, and are printed in 12-point type.
Second Grade Readability
About three-fourths of the words in a typical book at High Noon's second grade reading level are from the Fry 300 or Fry 400 list. With an average sentence length of 7-10 words and a straightforward writing style, the expanded vocabulary remains within reach of many struggling readers. For classroom reference, the High Noon readability level is indicated by the number of stars on the back cover of each High Noon book.
The books have 48 pages of well-spaced, 12-point type, 15 lines per page in the same five by seven inch format as the first grade readability books. Continuing the layout of the earlier level makes graduating to second grade readability an exercise in increased vocabulary and comprehension ability. Students with visual deficits will have no greater visual difficulty reading our two-star books than our one-star books.
Third Grade and Higher Readability ,
Most of the words in a typical third or third/fourth grade readability book from High Noon Books are on the Spache 1040 and Fry 1000 lists. As with all High Noon chapter books, those at the third and third-fourth grade readability level are five by seven inches, and at this level, most are 48 pages long, while a few are 60 pages. With 27 lines to a page of 12-point type, this makes for a considerably longer book, requiring greater attention and endurance on part of the reader. The sentence length, however, remains about the same as at earlier levels, helping students with various reading deficits to understand and enjoy the stories at these levels. For classroom reference, the High Noon readability level is indicated by the number of stars on the back cover of each High Noon book.
Other readability measures
There are many other measures of readability, many designed to correspond to a grade level. Of course, each school and teacher has different expectations, but the academic content standards for each state impose some consistency on the levels. Other reading levels have scales that overlap grade levels, though one (Degree of Reading Power, or DRP) specifically avoids grade level correspondence.
Common readability measures used today include the Lexile score, the Degree of Reading Power, and the Guided Reading Level, all of which are available for many High Noon series. You may also be familiar with the Flesch-Kincaid grade equivalency, the ATOS score from Renaissance Learning, or the grade level equivalency of a specific publisher.
Reading levels take into account different factors, but many consider the number of words per page, the length of words, the familiarity of words, the length of sentences and paragraphs, the text size and layout, and the way students are expected to use the book. Even where these are quantifiable, the results of any one system are often not enough to predict student success.
One rule of thumb is that a student who can read and understand at least 95% of the words in a book will probably be able to understand what he or she reads. Even with that level of comprehension, a book that is too long, or improperly formatted for a particular student, will in the end not be especially readable by that student. High Noon Books use context clues, in-text definitions, and simple sentence structures to help readers bridge whatever gap exists between their preexisting vocabulary and the words used in the books.
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