Leveled Literacy Intervention is a rigorous, small-group, supplementary literacy intervention for students who find reading and writing difficult and need intensive teaching to achieve grade-level competency. It serves as an important prevention for literacy difficulties in subsequent years of schooling.
LLI gives students the boost they need to become proficient readers and achieve literacy success.
They are designed to:
Advance the literacy learning of students not meeting grade-level expectations in reading
Deepen and expand comprehension with close reading
Elevate the expertise of teachers
Increase reading volume by engaging students in large amounts of successful daily reading
Increase student engagement with books that build knowledge
Intervene with small groups of struggling readers to maximize growth
Meet the needs of struggling readers
Monitor student progress.
The LLI systems are designed to be used with small groups of students who need intensive support to achieve grade-level competencies in grades K through 5+.
They also provide strong support for students who are acquiring English as an additional language and are receiving classroom reading instruction in English. You may also decide to include students who are identified as having special needs if the content of LLI meets the educational program specifications for the student
LLI systems all feature a wide selection of engaging, carefully written, and leveled student books and fast-paced lessons designed for students who are falling below grade-level expectations in reading. Each system also includes tools to facilitate successful implementation.
Leveled Books
Original books were created exclusively by a team of talented authors and illustrators under the direction of Fountas and Pinnell. Each book is carefully sequenced and calibrated to match the text characteristics underlying the F&P Text Level Gradient™.
System Guide
This essential guide provides a comprehensive overview of the components and implementation of the LLI system.
Lesson Guides
The LLI Lesson Guides provide high-quality, fast-paced lessons that support reading, writing, and language development.
Prompting Guides 1 and 2
Ready-reference flip charts that contain precise language that can be used to teach for, prompt, and reinforce effective strategic actions during reading and writing.
When Readers Struggle
(LLI Orange, Green, Blue)
A comprehensive resource on struggling readers filled with specific teaching ideas for helping children in kindergarten through grade 3 who are experiencing difficulty with reading and writing.
Ready Resources
Preprinted, preassembled resources to speed preparation for every lesson.
Take-Home Books
(LLI Orange, Green, Blue)
High-quality black-and-white copies of each book are provided for children to keep and read over and over.
Take-Home Bags / Student Portfolios
(LLI Orange, Green, Blue) / (LLI Red, Gold, Purple, and Teal)
Sturdy fabric bags or portfolios for students to carry their take-home books and fold sheets.
My Writing Books / Literacy Notebooks
(LLI Orange, Green, Blue) / (LLI Red, Gold, Purple)
Consumable writing books support student writing development.
F&P Calculator/Stopwatch
Automates the calculation of reading rate, accuracy, and self-correction as well as doubling as a stopwatch.
Digital Components
Online Resources
Resources listed in the “You Will Need” section of each lesson can be downloaded and printed from this site. Save valuable prep time with Gamemaker— an online tool to create customized letter, word, and picture game boards.
Professional Learning and Tutorial Videos
Exemplary video created for each LLI System featuring model LLI lessons, instructional procedures, and a tutorial on coding, scoring, and analyzing reading records.
Online Community Support
Free membership at fountasandpinnell.com
provides teachers with downloadable resources, consultant-monitored discussion boards, insightful blog posts, teaching tips, and more.
When implementing LLI, the first goal is to identify the students that need intensive support to reach grade-level competencies and find the instructional reading level for each of them.
For entry into LLI, it will be necessary to assess the students’ instructional and independent reading levels. The more precise the initial assessment, the more effective teaching will be.
Schools can use the Benchmark Assessment System to determine the instructional reading level for each student. For schools that do not have access to the BAS, teachers can:
- Use other benchmark assessments you have in your school or district.
- Use the information from any alternative assessments used in the district.
In forming LLI groups, it is ideal to meet individual needs and provide the very specific instruction each reader needs to move forward. Once the instructional levels of the students are determined, small groups of readers who are similar enough that teachers can begin lessons at a particular level can be formed. The priority should be to group students efficiently and effectively so that you can teach them at the appropriate level.
Instill a love of reading with original LLI books.
At the heart of LLI are high-quality leveled books that captivate and engage even the most reluctant readers. The books are precisely sequenced and calibrated to provide gradually increasing text complexity to build proficiency. Student learning takes place with the foundational support of these engaging books.
Special features of the LLI books:
- Primary: 40% nonfiction, 60% fiction
- Intermediate: 60% nonfiction, 40% fiction, including graphic texts and two-way books
- Nonfiction text features such as sidebars, graphs, diagrams, maps, glossaries
- Highly visual with a mix of illustrated and photographic titles
- Developed around high-interest, contemporary topics
- Wide variety of genres, including biography, narrative nonfiction, expository nonfiction, realistic fiction, historical fiction, and fantasy
- Series books, including classic tales, in which students meet recurring characters and topics
View the LLI Books
(view online or print to 11x17 paper)
