Caitlin Porterfield

Book Handling Skills checklist

Level 1: Concepts about books

Front cover: Show me the front of the book.

Back cover: Show me the back of the book.

Title: Show me the title of the book.

Title page: Show me the title page.

First page of the text: Show me the page we read first.

Level 2: Conventions of print

Print carries message: Show me where it tells the story.

Beginning of text: Show me where we start to read.

Left to right: Which way do we read the words?

Top to bottom: Which way do the words go from there?

Return sweep: Where do we go at the end of a line?

Level 3: Concepts about words and letters

One-to-one: Can you point to words as I read?

Word boundaries: Can you put your fingers around a word?

First word: Show me the first word on the page.

Measures to guide instruction. Newark, DE: International Reading Association

 Caitlin Porterfield

Last word: Show me the last word on the page.

Letter concept: Can you put your finger on a letter?

Capital letter: Can you show me a capital letter?

Lower case letter: Can you show me a lowercase letter?

Level 4: Concepts about punctuation marks

Period: What is this for?

Question mark: What is this for?

Quotation mark: What is this for?

Comma: What is this for?

Measures to guide instruction. Newark, DE: International Reading Association