Students Select Books
Allowing students to select their own books is exciting and helps build self-confidence and self-esteem.  Sometimes, however, a student might select a book that is too difficult.  The following strategy, using the hand pattern, is one way of helping students select books at their independent reading level.

The procedure for implementing the hand pattern is:

1. The student chooses a book and reads the first page silently or orally.
2. As the student reads the page and a decoding error is made, the student holds up a finger, beginning with the "little" finger.  One finger is held up for each decoding error. The following guideline can be used when choosing books:
 
0-1 finger  = Breeze Book
2-3 fingers = Just Right
4-5 fingers = Challenging Book