roseburn primary school...accelerated reader: a guide for parents all p4 to p7 pupils take part in...

Roseburn Primary SchoolDream Believe Achieve

AcceleratedReadingAGuideforParents

AcceleratedReader:AGuideforParents

AllP4toP7pupilstakepartintheAcceleratedReaderprogramme,whichisdesignedtodothefollowingthings:• Basedontheprinciplethat”practisemakes

perfect”• Findbooksthataretherightabilityforyour

child• Encourageyourchildtoreadmore• Improveyourchild’sreadingability.

OurJourneytoImproveReading

• IntroducedPMbenchmarkinglevelstoallschoolreadingbooks

• StaffTraining• Upgradedlibrarysystem• Re-stockedourlibrary• Staffedourlibraryafterschool

Howitworks…• AtthestartoftheyeareverystudenttookaStarTest,whichisa

computer-basedtestthatmeasuresastudent’sreadingabilitythroughaseriesof34questions.

• Everytestforeverystudentisdifferent,andthecomputerselectsdifferentquestionsforeachstudentdependentonhowwelltheyanswerthepreviousquestions.Essentially,thecomputeradaptsthetesttosuityoursonordaughter.

• Oncethestudenthascompletedthetest,theyarethengivenaZPDscorebytheirteacher.

• TheStarTesthelpsustotrackreadinggrowthandiscarriedoutquarterly

HowSTARtestswork1) Thestudentmusttaketheirtime.Itisrecommendedthateach

childshouldspendatleast 20minutes ontheirtests.Studentsareusedtoworkingquicklyintimedconditions,butduringaSTARtestitisaboutconcentration,focusandcarefulreading.

2) Studentsshouldnotguessanswerstoquestions.Instead,theyshouldwaitforthequestiontotimeout.Thisistoensurethecomputerisnotgivenafalseimpressionofthestudent’sreadingability.

3) Testsaredoneinexamconditionswithoutanyhelpfromotherstudentsortheteacher.

AZPDscoreisgiventoyourchildaftercompletingthe

STARtestZPDistwonumbersthatthestudentusestochoosetheirnextreadingbook.

Thelowestnumberisthelowestlevelofbookthestudentshouldbechoosing.

Thehighestnumberisthehighestlevelofbookthestudentshouldbechoosing.

StudentskeeparecordofalltheirZPDsintheirplannersorexercisebooks.

AnewSTARtesttakesplacequarterly,sostudentscanseeimprovementsintheirreadingability,butalsochoosemorechallengingbooks.

3.2– 4.6Lowestnumber

Highestnumber

AlltheARbooksintheschoollibraryarecolour-codedtohelpthestudentfindtherightone.

0.0to1.9

2to2.9

3to3.9

4to4.9

5to5.9

6andabove

Studentsshouldonlychoosebookswithintheirnumbersandthecoloursmakeiteasierforthemtochoosetherightbook.

ARQuizzesAquizisdifferenttoaSTARtestbecausestudentsonlytakeaquizafter theyhavefinished abook.

Thereareusuallyabout10questionsonthebookthathasbeenread.Attheendofthequizthestudentsaregivenapercentagetoshowthemhowwelltheyhavedone.

Therearesomeimportantrulesfortakingquizzes:

1) Thebookthechildisquizzedonmustbeabooktheyhavereadinthelasttwoweeks.ARisnotamemorytestbutrathermeasuringreadingability.

2) Astudentcannottakeaquizuntiltheyhavereadtheentiretext.

3) Quizzesmustbedoneindividually,notwithanyone’shelp.

Feedback

• Theclassteacherwillgothroughhowwellyourchildisdoingandwhattheyneedtodotogetbetteratreading.

• Teachersensurestudentsarereadingtherightlevelandtypeofbooks.

• Thecomputercantellteachersveryspecificinformationaboutyourchild’sreadingdevelopment.Forinstance,itcanevenexplainhowmanyminutesadayyourchildisreading.

“Howmuchshouldmychildreadeachday?”

• AccordingtoRenaissanceLearning’sresearch,childrenwhoreadatleast 20minutesadaywitha90%comprehensionrateonARquizzesseethegreatestgains.

• Therefore,yourchildshouldhaveatleast20minutessetasideforreadingduringday.

• Classteacherssetasidededicatedreadingtimeinschool

• Readingshouldalsobedoneathome

• Aswithanything,performanceimproveswithpractice.

“HowcanIhelp?”

• Encourageyourchildtoreadathome.• Createacultureofreadinginyourhouseholdby

readingwithyourchild,startingahomelibrary,visitingyourlocallibrary,charityshoporbookshoponaregularbasisandbylettingyourchildseeyoureading.

• Whenreadingwithyourchildstopandaskquestionstobesureyourchildcomprehendswhattheyhavereadandingeneralmakeahabitofdiscussingbooksthateachofyouhasread.

HowwillIknowhowmychildisdoing?

• Youcanaccessyourchild’sARinformationinRenaissancePlaceHomeConnectfromanyweb-enabledcomputer.

• Onceintheprogramme,youcanviewyourchild’sprogresstowardstargets,pointsandbooksread.

• YoucanalsoaccessARBookFinder tosearchfortitlesofinterest.

• Youcanonlyaccessinformationaboutyourownchild.

Lastbookreadandquizzedon.Include%correctandpointsearnedfrombook.

Averagequizscore

Pointsearned

Averagebooklevel.

Yourchild’sbookshelf

ARBookFind.co.uk

It’snotjustbooksfromtheschoollibrarythatstudentscanread,theycanreadbooksfromhomeandtakequizzesonthem!

YoucanuseARBookFind.co.uktocheckwhetheryourchild’scurrentbookisonAcceleratedReader.

CanachildwhoisnotastrongreaderstilluseAcceleratedReader?

• AcceleratedReaderhelpsallchildrenbecomebetterreadersfrompupil,regardlessofinitialability.

• Whenchildrenreadbooksattheirappropriatelevel,theyexperiencesuccess.

• Furthermore,teachersworkwithchildrentosetappropriatetargetsbasedoneachchild’sreadinglevel.

AnyQuestions?