Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills 6th Edition DIBELS ...

Benchmark 1.2DIBELS Oral Reading FluencyGoing to Family CampMy favorite part of family camp is the campfire program atthe lake. We wait until the stars and moon are out. We walkdown to the edge of the water where a big bonfire is going. Weall snuggle together watching the flames because it’s cold afterdark.The camp director leads everyone in songs. He plays thebanjo. We sing “You are My Sunshine” and “She’ll be ComingAround the Mountain.” Then he divides the group in two and wesing rounds like “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and “Are YouSleeping?”Then we have stories and skits. The stories are usually talesabout campers at family camp in previous years and a funny orbrave thing that they did. One story was about my older brotherrescuing a cat. The skits are always silly.When the campfire burns down to coals, it’s time to toastmarshmallows. Some people like their marshmallows goldenbrown. Other people like theirs crispy. Some kids can’t wait totoast them and eat their marshmallows right out of the bag. Wetoast marshmallows to make ‘Some Mores.’ ‘Some Mores’ aregraham crackers with chocolate that is topped with a hotmarshmallow. They taste so good you want some more, but theyare really sticky! Everyone has to wash up before bed.Now we are all sleepy and ready to go back to our cabin. Westand together and sing a song called “Taps.” My mom and dadsay they have been singing “Taps” at campfires since they werelittle kids like me.Total words: _____ – errors: _____ = words correct: _____11243848495970829394105117129137148155166178187197208218232244255259Retell: ORF Total:_________1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25_26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48_49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71_72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94Retell Total:_________Benchmark 3.2DIBELS Oral Reading FluencyAnimal TracksI saw a show on TV last night about animal tracks. Animals 12and people leave their footprints, or tracks, wherever they go. 22Each track tells a story. A good tracker can tell what kind of 35animal made the tracks. For instance, members of the dog family 46have four toes on each foot. A tracker can see the toenail marks 59in the footprint of a dog. The dog family includes foxes, coyotes, 71and all pet dogs.75The cat family also has four toes on all four feet but their 88toenails don’t show. That is because cats pull their toenails in 99when they walk. Cats could be mountain lions, bobcats, or pet 110cats. Rabbits have four toes on all four feet also. A tracker can 123tell a rabbit from a cat or dog because a rabbit’s back feet are 137much larger than their front feet.143Animals with five toes on each foot are members of the 154weasel family. The weasel family includes skunks, otters, and 163raccoons. Most members of the rodent family have four toes in 174front and five in back. Rodents could be mice, rats, chipmunks or 186squirrels.187A person who learns how to read the story in the tracks can 200use their knowledge to help track people who are lost. A tracker 212who is really good can tell men from women and boys from 224girls. A good tracker also can tell the height and weight of a 237person just from the footprints.242Total words: _____ – errors: _____ = words correct: _____Retell: ORF Total:_________1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25_26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48_49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71_72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94Retell Total:_________Page 4 Page 13

Benchmark 3.1DIBELS Oral Reading FluencyBenchmark 1.3DIBELS Oral Reading FluencyPlanting a GardenPotsMy family makes pots out of clay at our pueblo. These aren’tjust any pots, though. They are pretty special. Our pots are ondisplay all over the world. People travel for miles to visit ourpueblo and collect our pots. We have shown many of our pots incompetitions, and we have won lots of awards. Someone evenwrote a book about my aunt and the pots that she makes.I am learning to make our pots from my family. From mygrandfather I am learning about the clay. We collect the clayfrom special areas of the river and process it just right. We haveto keep the clay moist and we have to work the clay to force anyair bubbles out. If there is an air bubble in the clay the pot willbreak when it is fired.We hand build our pots. That means we don’t use a wheel ora mold. Instead, we have a picture in our mind of how we wantthe pot to look. We build the pot layer by layer from the base.We are careful to make the pot match the shape in our mind ateach step.Our pots are decorated with designs that tell a story or have ameaning. If you know how to read the designs, you can learnmany important lessons about life. I can tell if a pot was made byone of my relatives from the designs. I can tell who made it, andsometimes I can tell you about when it was made.1224364959718394107122137142155169183197199212224238252262We eat lots of fresh vegetables at our house. Mom is anexcellent cook, and she has lots of recipes for making them tastedelicious. Sometimes they are expensive to buy at the store soDad suggested we grow our own.Dad asked all the members of my family what our favoritevegetables were. I said carrots, broccoli, and beans. My motherlikes tomatoes the best. Dad said he wanted to grow greenonions, spinach, potatoes, and corn.We went to the hardware store and bought seeds and littlebroccoli and tomato plants. We all helped prepare the garden inour backyard. We turned over the dirt with shovels. Then weused a hoe to make little ditches for planting the vegetable seeds.We dug deeper holes for the broccoli and tomatoes. We wateredeverything and sprinkled some fertilizer around.I checked the garden every day to see if any vegetables werecoming up. After about a week I saw tiny green leaves where thecarrots were planted. Then each day more seeds sprouted.In two months we could eat the spinach, onions, andbroccoli. It was almost the end of summer before we couldharvest the other vegetables. Everything we grew in our gardenwas delicious. It was worth the wait, especially for the freshgreen beans that my mother cooked with bacon and onion. Mydad said the corn was the best he ever tasted.122435415262737889100111123134140152165174184195205216227237Total words: _____ – errors: _____ = words correct: _____Retell:ORF Total:_________1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25_26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48_49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71_72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94Retell Total:_________Total words: _____ – errors: _____ = words correct: _____Retell:ORF Total:_________1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25_26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48_49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71_72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94Retell Total:_________Page 12 Page 5

DIBELS Word Use FluencyShort Form DirectionsMake sure you have reviewed the long form of the directions in theDIBELS Administration and Scoring Guide and have them available.Say these specific directions to the student:Listen to me use this word: “green.” (pause) “The grass isgreen.” Here is another word: “jump.” (pause) “I like tojump rope.” Your turn to use a word. (pause) “Rabbit.”CORRECT RESPONSE:_If student uses the wordcorrectly in a phrase, sayINCORRECT RESPONSE: _If student gives any other response, sayVery good. Listen to me use the word “rabbit.”(pause) “The rabbit is eating acarrot.” Your turn. “Rabbit.”OK. Here is your first word.Start your stopwatch after you give the student the first word.Benchmark 2DIBELS Word Use Fluencyant 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27written 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27drip 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27seeds 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27most 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27dare 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27hidden 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27buildings 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27land 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27felt 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27nothing 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27hungry 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27bear 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27proud 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27missing 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27wishing 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27aunt 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27skirt 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27_Total words in correct sentences:____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C IPage 6 Page 11

Benchmark 2.3DIBELS Oral Reading FluencyGetting EmailAt our house, the mail carrier isn’t the only one who bringsus messages. Our computer also brings mail. Our family has anemail address. All we have to do is turn on the computer and geton the Internet. Our computer tells us if we have new mail.Email is much faster than regular letters. If I send a regularletter to my cousin who lives in Japan it can take weeks to get ananswer. If I email my cousin, she usually emails back thesame day. She lives 4,000 miles away and across the PacificOcean, but our email messages come and go very quickly.My cousin is nine years old, just like me. We send email toeach other almost every day. We tell each other about ourschools, our friends, and our soccer teams. Sometimes we sendjokes back and forth. Sometimes we ask questions about whatwe hear in the news about our countries. Sometimes we playchess with each other using the computer. We think of ourmoves on separate chess sets and then use email to send ourmoves back and forth.My dad and mom send email messages back and forth toJapan as well as to Hawaii, where we have many relatives.Because our relatives live so far apart it is hard for us to gettogether. If it weren’t for email, we wouldn’t be able to stay intouch as easily. With email, we can communicate withouthaving to wait for a letter or buy expensive stamps.1223374961768798108121132142152163174186190201212226239248258Total words: _____ – errors: _____ = words correct: _____Retell:ORF Total:_________1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25_26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48_49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71_72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94Retell Total:_________Benchmark 1DIBELS Word Use Fluencykit 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27hint 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27bird 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27castle 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27downstairs 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27duck 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27shiny 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27takes 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27roots 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27dark 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27sails 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27porch 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27toad 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27crystal 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27mate 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27dream 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27advantage 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27pounded 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27_Total words in correct sentences:____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C I____ C IPage 10 Page 7

Benchmark 2.1DIBELS Oral Reading FluencyThe Field TripLast week our teacher said we were going on a field trip tothe fish hatchery. She gave us permission letters to take home tobe signed by our parents before we could go. She encouraged usto ask our parents if they would like to come along. We neededsome parents to help provide transportation. Everyone wassupposed to bring a snack and a sack lunch.My dad surprised me by volunteering to go. He said he couldtake a vacation day and that our car could hold a couple of myfriends. Three cars and two vans were needed to take the wholeclass. Two of my friends rode in our car.At the hatchery, we saw ponds full of fish. We learned thefish were rainbow trout. You could see the colors of the rainbowon their sides. The ranger let us take handfuls of pellets to feedthe trout. When we threw the pellets into the ponds the fish gotvery excited. Some leaped out of the water. The fish could seethe food coming from far away.When the trout grow to about six inches long they will bescooped up and put inside a tanker truck. The truck will take thefish to nearby rivers and release them. In the river, the fish willhave to learn to find their own food. When my dad goes fishing,maybe he will catch some of them and bring them home for ourdinner.Total words: _____ – errors: _____ = words correct: _____1325375058677993105114126138151164176182194207220233246247Retell: ORF Total:_________1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25_26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48_49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71_72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94Retell Total:_________Benchmark 2.2DIBELS Oral Reading FluencyKeiko the Killer WhaleKeiko the whale was captured near Iceland and brought toCalifornia. He became a famous performer who did tricks at atheme park. He even starred in a movie! Keiko is an Orcawhale. Orcas are called killer whales because they feed on seals.Keiko was not healthy at the theme park. He was thin and hisskin was covered with sores. His body was too big for the tankhe lived in. The water was not cold enough for him to becomfortable. He couldn’t get enough exercise to be healthy. Hewas not a happy whale.Keiko was taken to the Oregon Coast Aquarium to gethealthy and eventually be released back into the wild. At theaquarium, he ate the kind of fish he would have caught himselfin the ocean. He lived in a very large tank full of cool oceanwater. Trainers took care of him and helped him remember whatit was like to be wild again.Keiko ate well and exercised every day. He gained about twotons and got healthy again. When he was well he was movedback to his new home in the ocean. He was so big he had to beflown in a special plane with a pool that took up the entire insideof the plane.Keiko’s new home is in a pen in the ocean, not a tank.Trainers are helping him learn to catch his own fish. Somedaythey hope he will be released into the wild again. Maybe he willfind his original family of Orcas.102133445770839398108119131145156163174186202216219232243256262Total words: _____ – errors: _____ = words correct: _____Retell: ORF Total:_________1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25_26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48_49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71_72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94Retell Total:_________Page 8 Page 9

Dynamic Indicators of BasicEarly Literacy Skills 6 th EditionDIBELSThird Grade Student MaterialsDIBELS Benchmark AssessmentEdited By:Roland H. Good IIIRuth A. KaminskiUniversity of OregonAvailable:http://dibels.uoregon.edu/Instructions:These are reusable student stimulus materials. Make one copy for eachperson who is doing the benchmark testing. They can be laminated andcomb bound for reuse.Good, R. H., & Kaminski, R. A. (Eds.). (2007). Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early LiteracySkills (6th ed.). Eugene, OR: Institute for the Development of Educational Achievement.Available: http://dibels.uoregon.edu/Revised 06/11/07

My FriendI have a new friend at school. She can’t walk so she uses awheelchair to get around. She comes to school in a special vanthat can transport four people who use wheelchairs. The vanbrings my friend and another boy to school. My friend is in thirdgrade with me, and the boy is a fourth grader.I like to watch my friend get in and out of the van. The driverpushes a button and part of the van floor lowers to the drivewayto form a ramp. My friend just wheels up the ramp and goesinside. After she is inside, the driver pushes the button and theramp puts itself away. When it is time to get out of the van, theydo the same thing again. Sometimes I help open the door so shecan roll right inside.My friend and I do everything together. Our teacher lets ussit together in the front row, and we always go to lunch together.My friend moves so fast down the hall that she always gets thebest seats in the cafeteria. Sometimes we trade sandwiches. Atrecess, we always play on the same team. My friend sure hasstrong arms. She hardly ever misses a shot when we playbasketball, and she can throw the farthest of anyone in thirdgrade.DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Benchmark 1Page 2

Going to Family CampMy favorite part of family camp is the campfire program atthe lake. We wait until the stars and moon are out. We walkdown to the edge of the water where a big bonfire is going. Weall snuggle together watching the flames because it’s cold afterdark.The camp director leads everyone in songs. He plays thebanjo. We sing “You are My Sunshine” and “She’ll be ComingAround the Mountain.” Then he divides the group in two and wesing rounds like “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and “Are YouSleeping?”Then we have stories and skits. The stories are usually talesabout campers at family camp in previous years and a funny orbrave thing that they did. One story was about my older brotherrescuing a cat. The skits are always silly.When the campfire burns down to coals, it’s time to toastmarshmallows. Some people like their marshmallows goldenbrown. Other people like theirs crispy. Some kids can’t wait totoast them and eat their marshmallows right out of the bag. Wetoast marshmallows to make ‘Some Mores.’ ‘Some Mores’ aregraham crackers with chocolate that is topped with a hotmarshmallow. They taste so good you want some more, but theyare really sticky! Everyone has to wash up before bed.Now we are all sleepy and ready to go back to our cabin. Westand together and sing a song called “Taps.” My mom and dadsay they have been singing “Taps” at campfires since they werelittle kids like me.DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Benchmark 1Page 3

Planting a GardenWe eat lots of fresh vegetables at our house. Mom is anexcellent cook, and she has lots of recipes for making them tastedelicious. Sometimes they are expensive to buy at the store soDad suggested we grow our own.Dad asked all the members of my family what our favoritevegetables were. I said carrots, broccoli, and beans. My motherlikes tomatoes the best. Dad said he wanted to grow greenonions, spinach, potatoes, and corn.We went to the hardware store and bought seeds and littlebroccoli and tomato plants. We all helped prepare the garden inour backyard. We turned over the dirt with shovels. Then weused a hoe to make little ditches for planting the vegetable seeds.We dug deeper holes for the broccoli and tomatoes. We wateredeverything and sprinkled some fertilizer around.I checked the garden every day to see if any vegetables werecoming up. After about a week I saw tiny green leaves where thecarrots were planted. Then each day more seeds sprouted.In two months we could eat the spinach, onions, andbroccoli. It was almost the end of summer before we couldharvest the other vegetables. Everything we grew in our gardenwas delicious. It was worth the wait, especially for the freshgreen beans that my mother cooked with bacon and onion. Mydad said the corn was the best he ever tasted.DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Benchmark 1Page 4

The Field TripLast week our teacher said we were going on a field trip tothe fish hatchery. She gave us permission letters to take home tobe signed by our parents before we could go. She encouraged usto ask our parents if they would like to come along. We neededsome parents to help provide transportation. Everyone wassupposed to bring a snack and a sack lunch.My dad surprised me by volunteering to go. He said he couldtake a vacation day and that our car could hold a couple of myfriends. Three cars and two vans were needed to take the wholeclass. Two of my friends rode in our car.At the hatchery, we saw ponds full of fish. We learned thefish were rainbow trout. You could see the colors of the rainbowon their sides. The ranger let us take handfuls of pellets to feedthe trout. When we threw the pellets into the ponds the fish gotvery excited. Some leaped out of the water. The fish could seethe food coming from far away.When the trout grow to about six inches long they will bescooped up and put inside a tanker truck. The truck will take thefish to nearby rivers and release them. In the river, the fish willhave to learn to find their own food. When my dad goes fishing,maybe he will catch some of them and bring them home for ourdinner.DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Benchmark 2Page 5

Keiko the Killer WhaleKeiko the whale was captured near Iceland and brought toCalifornia. He became a famous performer who did tricks at atheme park. He even starred in a movie! Keiko is an Orcawhale. Orcas are called killer whales because they feed on seals.Keiko was not healthy at the theme park. He was thin and hisskin was covered with sores. His body was too big for the tankhe lived in. The water was not cold enough for him to becomfortable. He couldn’t get enough exercise to be healthy. Hewas not a happy whale.Keiko was taken to the Oregon Coast Aquarium to gethealthy and eventually be released back into the wild. At theaquarium, he ate the kind of fish he would have caught himselfin the ocean. He lived in a very large tank full of cool oceanwater. Trainers took care of him and helped him remember whatit was like to be wild again.Keiko ate well and exercised every day. He gained about twotons and got healthy again. When he was well he was movedback to his new home in the ocean. He was so big he had to beflown in a special plane with a pool that took up the entire insideof the plane.Keiko’s new home is in a pen in the ocean, not a tank.Trainers are helping him learn to catch his own fish. Somedaythey hope he will be released into the wild again. Maybe he willfind his original family of Orcas.DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Benchmark 2Page 6

Getting EmailAt our house, the mail carrier isn’t the only one who bringsus messages. Our computer also brings mail. Our family has anemail address. All we have to do is turn on the computer and geton the Internet. Our computer tells us if we have new mail.Email is much faster than regular letters. If I send a regularletter to my cousin who lives in Japan it can take weeks to get ananswer. If I email my cousin, she usually emails back thesame day. She lives 4,000 miles away and across the PacificOcean, but our email messages come and go very quickly.My cousin is nine years old, just like me. We send email toeach other almost every day. We tell each other about ourschools, our friends, and our soccer teams. Sometimes we sendjokes back and forth. Sometimes we ask questions about whatwe hear in the news about our countries. Sometimes we playchess with each other using the computer. We think of ourmoves on separate chess sets and then use email to send ourmoves back and forth.My dad and mom send email messages back and forth toJapan as well as to Hawaii, where we have many relatives.Because our relatives live so far apart it is hard for us to gettogether. If it weren’t for email, we wouldn’t be able to stay intouch as easily. With email, we can communicate without havingto wait for a letter or buy expensive stamps.DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Benchmark 2Page 7

PotsMy family makes pots out of clay at our pueblo. These aren’tjust any pots, though. They are pretty special. Our pots are ondisplay all over the world. People travel for miles to visit ourpueblo and collect our pots. We have shown many of our pots incompetitions, and we have won lots of awards. Someone evenwrote a book about my aunt and the pots that she makes.I am learning to make our pots from my family. From mygrandfather I am learning about the clay. We collect the clayfrom special areas of the river and process it just right. We haveto keep the clay moist and we have to work the clay to force anyair bubbles out. If there is an air bubble in the clay the pot willbreak when it is fired.We hand build our pots. That means we don’t use a wheel ora mold. Instead, we have a picture in our mind of how we wantthe pot to look. We build the pot layer by layer from the base.We are careful to make the pot match the shape in our mind ateach step.Our pots are decorated with designs that tell a story or have ameaning. If you know how to read the designs, you can learnmany important lessons about life. I can tell if a pot was made byone of my relatives from the designs. I can tell who made it, andsometimes I can tell you about when it was made.DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Benchmark 3Page 8

Animal TracksI saw a show on TV last night about animal tracks. Animalsand people leave their footprints, or tracks, wherever they go.Each track tells a story. A good tracker can tell what kind ofanimal made the tracks. For instance, members of the dog familyhave four toes on each foot. A tracker can see the toenail marksin the footprint of a dog. The dog family includes foxes, coyotes,and all pet dogs.The cat family also has four toes on all four feet but theirtoenails don’t show. That is because cats pull their toenails inwhen they walk. Cats could be mountain lions, bobcats, or petcats. Rabbits have four toes on all four feet also. A tracker cantell a rabbit from a cat or dog because a rabbit’s back feet aremuch larger than their front feet.Animals with five toes on each foot are members of theweasel family. The weasel family includes skunks, otters, andraccoons. Most members of the rodent family have four toes infront and five in back. Rodents could be mice, rats, chipmunks orsquirrels.A person who learns how to read the story in the tracks canuse their knowledge to help track people who are lost. A trackerwho is really good can tell men from women and boys fromgirls. A good tracker also can tell the height and weight of aperson just from the footprints.DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Benchmark 3Page 9

My ParentsI’m Mexican American because my parents were both bornin Mexico and I was born in America. My parents came to workin the United States before they even finished school. They werejust a little older than I am now when they moved here. They gotmarried in Texas, and then they moved to California becausetheir families lived there.My mother and father worked very hard to make our livesbetter. At first they worked on farms. They both worked sevendays a week when there was work and the weather was good.Sometimes the farms that needed workers were far away, andthey had to travel a long distance. Sometimes it would rain, andthey couldn’t work for days. At other times the crops weren’tready when they arrived. There could be too many people to dothe same work, and sometimes there was no work at all.My mother is bilingual because she speaks both English andSpanish. She can understand almost everyone. She was able toget another job because lots of places need employees who canspeak English and Spanish.My father speaks only Spanish, but not for long. He is takingEnglish classes at night so he can find another job. He saysEnglish is a difficult language to learn. I’m really proud of myparents.DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Benchmark 3Page 10