January 30
In the News
The New First Grade: Too Much Too Soon?:
http://www.districtadministration.com/newssummary.aspx?news_date=2006-09-07&news_id=11757#top
Kids as young as 6 are tested, and tested again, to ensure they're making sufficient
progress.
Accelerated Reader
Accelerated Reader: http://www.renlearn.com/ar/default.htm
To view a practice quiz, go to quizzes, Reading Practice Quizzes.
Accelerated Reader: http://reading.indiana.edu/ieo/bibs/accl-rdr.html
Accelerated Reader: http://www.catawba.k12.nc.us/schoolpages/riverbend/AR/ARindex.html
From River Bend Middle School
Accelerated Reader Bulletin Board: http://www.gardenofpraise.com/bul42.htm
Accelerated Reader Cheat Sheet: http://tsc.k12.in.us/ci/workshop/AR/ARCheatSheet512.PDF
Accelerated Reader for Middle School Teachers listserv: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ar4middleschool/
This group is designed specifically for sharing original tests, strategies,
concerns, questions, successes, and other items relating to students in grades
6-8 who use the Accelerated Reading program.
Accelerated Reader - New Research: http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/whatsnu_ar.html
Accelerated Reader: http://mainst.monterey.k12.ca.us/library/libpg/ARpage.htm
From Soledad Unified School District
Advantage Learning Gives You a Break - Accelerated Reader: http://www.teachnet.com/how-to/manage/advantage.html
Certifications: http://www.wcs.edu/pes/ar/ar.htm
Accelerated Reader book list at one school.
The File Cabinet From Laura Candler-Accelerated Reader: http://home.att.net/~clnetwork/ar.htm
Greene County Tech School District-Accelerated Reader: http://www.gctsd.k12.ar.us/display/hs/MediaCentre/ar
NCTE-Reading Program-Accelerated Reader: http://www.ncte.org/elem/topics/reading/109879.htm
Readers are Leaders: http://www.highland.mccsc.edu/ar.htm
Valley Heights Mustang Library: http://library.valleyheights.org/acc.htm
What Is The Accelerated Reader?: http://www.readingonline.org/critical/topping/rolarD.html
Scholastic Reading Counts
Reading for Highest Student Achievement: http://www.cls.pcslearn.org/ideas/pdf/readBrochure.pdf
Explains Lexiles and Reading Counts
From the school board of Pinellas County, Florida
Scholastic Reading Counts: http://src.scholastic.com/ecatalog/readingcounts/index.htm
Battle of the Books
Battle of the Books and More: Reading Activities for Middle School Students
by Sybilla Cook, Fraces Corcoran & Beverley Fonnesbeck.
I like this book because it is very practical. It has alternate book report
ideas, ideas for classroom, and school wide reading related competitions, and
ideas for using the Internet to enhance reading. The majority of the book describes
in detail how to set up a Battle of the Books competition in a school. Battle
of the Books is a game show type competition that can be done between classes
or within a classroom. Students read books, form teams, and then answer questions
about the books they have read. They try to have their team answer the most
questions and thus win.
2006-2007 Battle of the Books: http://www.akla.org/akasl/bb/bbhome.html
Battle of the Books: http://www.battleofthebooks.org/
Other Reading Incentive Programs
Bookadventure.com: http://bookadventure.com/index.asp
Bookadventure is a free online reading motivation program for grades K-8. You
can view a sample quiz at this site.
Bookit: http://www.bookitprogram.com/
Sponsored by Pizza Hut
Read Across America: http://www.nea.org/readacross/
Sponsored by the National Education Association (NEA)
What are the negatives associated with the incentive programs?:
http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah_chpt5_p4.html
You can click on Chapters at the top of the page and read the rest of the book
online.
Additional Helpful Sites
Education Reform Network: http://www.edreform.net/
Study Guides and Strategies: http://www.studygs.net/
Joe Landsberger at St. Thomas Univ. (Minnesota, US) has for several years been
building this site. One of its interesting features is that the material is
available in several languages.
Creating an Attractive Classroom Library
An attractive classroom library is a first step in fostering
reading. Bissett (1969) found that reading increased 80 percent when the class
had a library. Attractive classroom libraries embody certain features. First
of all, the library should be the focal point of the classroom. It should beckon
students to come read. The library should be set off from the rest of the classroom
so that students can go there and be away from the hubbub of the classroom.
The library should hve five or more books for each students. Books should reflect
the interests and abilities, with plenty of books for the poorest readers. They
have the greatest need for extra reading, but gnerally have the fewest materials
available. In the library include both fictin and nonfiction, newspapers and
magazines, as well as books. Along with classics, include series books, how-to
books, and jokes an driddles. As much as possible, involve students in the selection
process. This will provide you with information about their reading intersts
and help you obtain books that are appealing to them.
Display books in as attractive a fashion as possible. Covers are designed to
attract readrs, so display some of the books with the covers facing outward.
Arrange for comfortable seating. Rocking chairs, overstuffed chairs, pillows
on the floor, and a rug invite readers to stay a while and read.
Organize the library in such a way that students can most readily find the books
they want. Books may be arranged in traditional ways, or they may be arranged
by genre, or even reading level. You might use color coding to indicate the
difficulty of the books. Appropriate level books might be placed in containers
known as browsing boxes. Students might then be assigned a browsing box from
which books can be selected.
Change the display of books periodically. Adding new books to the collection
sparks interst. Consider trading books with another teacher.
References:
Bissett, D. (1969). The amount and effect of recreational reading in fifth
grade classes. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Syracuse University, Syracuse,
NY.
Gunning, T.G. (2000). Best Books for Building Literacy
for Elemenatry School Children. Allyn and Bacon: Boston.
This site began in March 1998 by Janet Luch.
Email comments and questions to studyplans@yahoo.com