AR Reading

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Home : 2002 : February : 1

AR Reading
By Leigh

I, too, am in a district in which AR reading is part of the student's grades (10% of ELA grade). It took me awhile to figure out how to work around this, too. First of all, you didn't mention what grade you teach, but I
teach third. I always thought third grade level books were chapter books. They aren't. There are even Clifford books that are on a third grade level. Once I figured that out, I went to our school library and checked out all kinds of easy books that are third grade level. I have them in a basket in my reading center. My class is divided up into AR groups. Each group only gets to test

once a week (I had to do this to discourage testing before a book was actually read--it really hurts their score). For example, today the blue group was able to test. All day today, any blue group member could visit the reading center once finished with work. I have it pretty cool back there with inflatable furniture and the works. While there, they read the "easy" AR books. This is actually a retreat for them because ordinarily when they finish work early, they have to do early bird work (they hate this). Then, in our ELA block, we read a trade book on Fridays. Right now, we are reading the Trumpet of the Swan. We read a chapter, then we discuss story elements and place them into a graphic organizer and write three sentences describing the chapter. The Trumpet of the Swan is on a reading level of 4.6 and is worth 6 points. Once we are through, they will all test on this, and the trade book usually pushes them over their individual goals. As an added incentive, once a child reaches their goal, I give them $.50 to get a snack from the teacher's lounge. I have also found that once a child realizes he can do it, they love it. I have one kid that absolutely hated to read. AR for him was about to send me to an asylum. Once he made a few 100's on the "easy" books, he was set to go. We have also read a few Beverly Cleary books and the Junie B. Jones series. I also like to incorporate books into my science lessons and other subjects. We read Magic School Bus books a with science. These books, too, are a help with AR. Usually, if I read the book, then do some kind of activity relating to the book afterwards, they will score pretty high on AR.

I know these are pretty generic suggestions, but maybe they will help. AR is not for everyone, despite what administrators say, but we have to do the best we can. Leigh