Staus of the Class

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Staus of the Class
By SM

Hi! Our school participates in Reading Renaissance. Accelerated Reading is a component. I had all "bubble" students (majority did not pass state test). During Silent Reading the kids were allowed to sit ANYWHERE they
wanted, lay on the floor, etc... They all have a reading log. They are to log in the book they are reading, date, what page they start on that day, and they are to log out by putting what page they stopped on when they are finished. I walk around the class and just spend about 2 minutes with each child. I sign the reading logs and ask them how they are liking the book, what is the setting,

who is their favorite character... When the student finishes the book, I have to sign the log so that I know they have read the book (plus I have checked in with them during the entire reading). When the AR TOPS report prints, I put the grade and a nice or encouraging comment in the log.
We also have reading teams. In the AR Managment file you can create teams. I make a big chart telling who is on what team (mixed ability so that it is fair for all). Every Friday I print out the bar graph that shows each teams progess (they seem to be able to tell more from the bar graph) and the team that has the highest percent of their goal met at the end of the 9-week period usually gets donuts. NOTE: The AR program does ALL of this for you. You simply have to set your student's goals and place them on a team. It keeps up with it all and configures everything for you.
P.S.- I only had 2 people not pass the state test and ALL my kids loved to read. If your whole grade does AR, you could have a AR party at the end of each 6/9-week period for those students reaching their goals. It doesn't have to be anything fancy- a parade through the school works wonders!