Dear Parents,
We are fortunate enough to have a program called Accelerated Reader where students can read books at their appropriate reading level and then take comprehension tests at school once they have finished the book. Thanks to the wonderful help of some of our parents, many of our library books are labeled and ready for students to read.
Your child is not limited to the books in our classroom library. There is a website www.arbookfind.com that you can look up titles of books that your child seems interested in. You can take this list to the public library and check books out for your children to read. Once they finish their book, they just have to tell me they are ready to take a test. It is fun, easy, and exciting! Students earn points for each test they pass and will earn rewards when they get to 5 points, 10 points, 15 points, 20 points, and so on.
I encourage you to look for books that are at your child’s reading level by using the website mentioned above. The code “BL” stands for “book level” and is the reading level of that book. As long as that number falls between the two numbers of your child’s “zone of proximal development” that is highlighted at the bottom of this letter, that book is just right for your child. He or she will be able to read that book comfortably and comprehend what they are reading.
Please do not hesitate to ask any questions you may have. Go to the website: https://hosted256.renlearn.com/280535/HomeConnect/ to access your child’s reading progress. You can also have the program email you every time your child takes a quiz at school. It will email you their results of the quiz they took that day. This is a great way to keep track of your child's reading progress.
What does the AR information mean?
The AR level gives you the grade level your child scored on the reading placement test. It is read as grade level and the months at that grade level. So a grade level of 2.7 reads as 2nd grade, seventh month of second grade, 1.7 reads as a 1st grade, seventh month of first grade, etc.
The tests passed and taken is fairly self explanatory. If your child has a 2/3 that means they have passed 2 out of 3 tests they have taken. We are looking for an 85% or higher (fewer than 1 out of every five not passed).
The point level is one way to indicate the amount of reading done. Picture books are worth 0.5 points. Beginning chapter books are usually worth 1.0 points, while more difficult books are worth more points. The reading goal for all students each week is 2 points. This would be 4 pictures a week, or 2 small chapter books a week. Students can earn prizes when they reach these preset goals. We want students to have read at least 10 points by the first grading period.
The word count is another way to measure how much reading a student is doing. The goal by 4th grade is for students to read 500,000 words per year to ensure a rich vocabulary and fluency of reading. While some vocabulary is learned through direct vocabulary instruction in school, most vocabulary is developed through wide reading of different types of reading material including fiction and non-fiction. 2nd graders are not expected to read 500,000 words a year, but many will. Our current word count goal for our students is to read 100,000 times their reading grade level. If a student is currently reading at the 2nd grade level, then their goal is 200,000 words. A student currently reading at the first grade level would have a goal of 100,000 words. We are trying to ensure that all students read a lot, but we do not overwhelm our beginning to read students. Likewise we hope to challenge our advanced reader. Last year, we had several students that read over 1 million words!
Remember that you can go online to check your child’s progress on AR at any time. You may also come into the classroom and check out your child’s progress when you are here on your center work day or after school.