
Accelerated Reading has now been launched here in Church Hill NS.
What is Accelerated Reading?
Accelerated Reader gives children and teachers concrete feedback of their child’s reading based on the quiz results, which the teacher then uses to help your child set goals and direct on-going reading practice. Children using Accelerated Reader choose their own books to read, rather than having one assigned to them.
Accelerated Reader is a computer-based program that we will be using to monitor reading practice and progress. It will help teachers guide the children to books at their individual reading level. After reading a book, the children will take short quizzes to check their understanding.
Your child picks a book at his/her own level and reads it at their own pace. Their level has been determined by a standard Accelerated Reading assessment that they have done at school and this gives them their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is the range of books that will challenge a child without causing frustration or loss of motivation. Your child has received their ZPD range and this is written on the inside cover of their diaries. This will then indicate to your child which books they should select from the library. Each book in the school library is labelled and colour coded to included the ZPD.
When finished, your child take will a short quiz on the computer. (Passing the quiz is an indication that your child understood what was read.)
Accelerated Reader gives children, teachers, and parents feedback based on the quiz results, which the teacher then uses to help each pupil set goals and direct ongoing reading practice.
How can your child login?
Children have been given a username and password that is unique to them. I have asked the children to stick this on the inside cover of their diaries. Below is the URL that is specifically needed to sign into the children’s profile:
https://global-zone61.renaissance-go.com/welcomeportal
Once you click on this link, I would recommend that you bookmark this URL so that is easy for the children to find when they want to take an assessment at home on their novels.
When a child is ready to sit an assessment:
1. they must click on the link above;
2. click “I’m a student”
3. if you are asked for a Renaissance ID please refer back to the email that was sent out
4. type in their username and password that has been created for them
5. click on the orange icon “accelerated reader”
6. search for their book using the search bar
7. once they’ve found the correct book, they must click “take test”
Books
Each book that has an associated AR quiz, has a specific ‘Book Level’. These levels begin at 0.0 and go up to 6.0+. Teachers will write the level that your child is to begin at on the front cover of their diary. This is only a starting point. This will help you if you are going to the library to get books for your child, or if you are purchasing books. These levels are based on their Star Reading Assessment. For the exact level and amount of points the book is worth, open the book to the first page and check the sticker in the top right corner (books in our school library). If you are purchasing books for your child and want to check the specific AR levels you can do so online by searching titles, topics, and authors at Accelerated Reader Bookfinder (the link is: https://www.arbookfind.com/ .)
How parents can stay informed
You can see your child's Star scores on the “My Goals” tab (this can be found under the “progress” tab). To look up books that have Accelerated Reader quizzes associated with them, go to https://www.arbookfind.com/
Our goal:
We aim to improve students' reading and comprehension skills through reading practice.
Accelerated Reader is a fantastic tool that is measurable and holds children accountable for their own reading. As a school, we plan on encouraging full engagement with this programme and we will be incentivising the progress that the children make.
For each child to get the most out of the Accelerated Reading programme, we would encourage them all to read books that are within their ZPD range and to complete all of their work independently.