Level M

Level M readers most often read silently and use meaning, structure, and visual cues to understand the story and figure out new words. Level M readers can quickly and automatically recognize a large number of high-frequency words, and use word-solving strategies for complex spelling patterns, multisyllable words, compound words, and many words with inflectional endings, plurals, contractions, and possessives. After silent reading, Level M readers are able to demonstrate an understanding of the text.

At Level M, readers read with high accuracy and process texts with compound sentences, multiple episodes, more elaborate story lines, several chapters, and unusual formats such as letters or questions followed by answers. Level M readers understand dimensional characters, identify with them, and feel empathy. They can talk about a character’s motivations and feelings, and can sometimes predict what may happen next based on knowledge of the characters or the type of story they’re reading. Readers at this level think about the problem and solution in the story, analyze the lesson within the story, notice how characters change throughout the text, and make connections to themselves, to other texts, and to the world.