Homeschool Resources: McCall Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading

I first heard about the McCall Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading in the Spell to Write and Read program.  I use this book for reading comprehension exercises.  This book is actually a five-volume set containing books A through E.  Each book contains 78 short reading passages as well as around 8 - 12 multiple choice questions.  What you're supposed to do is allow the child to have three minutes to read the passage and answer the questions.  At the bottom of each lesson there is a G score, which translates the number of correct answers into a reading level by grade.  (You can also purchase a manual and answer key.)

Here is how I use this book: I assign Mary a lesson in this book once a week, on Fridays, but I do not time her.  I ask her to read the passage to herself, answer the questions that follow, and then check to see how many she answered correctly.  If she misses any, we discuss the question and why another answer would have been better.  This simple exercise has really helped to improve her comprehension!  I do think that it's important for the parent to pre-read the passages prior to assigning them to your child to ensure you approve of the content.