What is a Wt Reader?
Notice and Acquire Literary Vocabulary
Wt-level books include “literary” vocabulary, language not normally used in everyday speech (e.g., exclaimed, cautiously). For many students this is truly a foreign language. Students who arrive at the Wt level with a vast background of listening to higher-level books will already have much of this vocabulary. Students who have not been read to will not. Students acquire literary vocabulary through immersion in text, the same way they acquired their speaking vocabulary through immersion in oral language. Wt books have 1–2 literary words per chapter-book size page of text. Wt readers must spend enough time reading at the Wt level to acquire the 1,500 new “literary” vocabulary words expected of proficient 3rd-grade readers. This is entirely different and unrelated to decoding. At the Wt level, the major focus is on noticing these literary words and learning them through immersion in reading.
Finish 1 Chapter Book Each Week
Wt readers continue to develop silent reading fluency, the ability to sustain interest across sittings, and the chapter book reading habit. Students should not leave Wt unless they are successfully reading (and finishing) at least one Wt chapter book a week.what they mean from the context.
