South Amherst Middle School Library152 West Main Street Amherst, Ohio 44001 |
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ACCELERATED READER
Accelerated
Reader is a very popular reading program at the Middle School. The students
test themselves on their reading comprehension by taking a brief AR
quiz in their classroom or in the library. |
How Does It Work? |
AR Quizzes |
The student chooses an AR book, marked with the "AR" symbol, from the library. We have over 4,000 AR books in the middle school library. After reading the book, the student takes a 5, 10, or 15 question quiz. The computer keeps track of what quizzes have been taken, and what score was achieved. A number of classroom and school-wide incentives are offered throughout the year, offering rewards for the AR points earned. |
You may find that some of the books you have at home, or which you have borrowed from the Public Library, are AR books. Click on the links below to see the list of AR quizzes that we have. You can search the list by choosing find and typing in either the author, title, reading level or points level. The lists are updated as we acquire new tests. We currently have 5,114 tests. To help students find books that are right for them, three pieces of information are provided about every book for which we have an AR quiz: |
Interest Level |
Reading Level(Book Level) & Points |
Interest Level is based on content - a book's content including theme, characterization, and plot. In many cases a book's interest level coordinates with its book level. "Hank the Cowdog", for example,which is suitable for fourth-graders, has a book level of 4.5. Many books, however, have a low book level but are appropriate for higher grades and vice versa. For example, Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" has a book level of 4.4 because the sentences are short and the vocabulary is simple. The interest level, however, is UG or Upper Grades. "Arthur Throws a Tantrum", on the other hand, with an interest level of LG or Lower Grades, has a book level of 4.9 because it contains fairly long words and sentences. The interest level attached to the book indicates age group appropriateness. Interest level designations reflect the judgment of the book's publisher and the professionals at Renaissance Learning. Renaissance Learning groups content appropriateness into four categories: LG = Lower Grades (K-3) MG = Middle Grades (4-8) MG+ = Middle Grades Plus (6 and up) UG = Upper Grades (9-12) |
Reading Level or Book Level represents the difficulty of the text. It is determined by a readability formula called ATOS, which analyzes the average length of words, and the average grade level of the words. ATOS reports the overall book level in terms of grade. For example, a book level of 4.5 means that the text could likely be read by a student whose reading skills are at the level of grade four, fifth month of the school year. It does not, however, mean that the content is appropriate for a fourth grader.
Points are assigned to each book based on its length and difficulty. For example, the Berenstain Bears books, which are about 8,000 words long, are 1-point books. Hank the Cowdog, which is about 23,000 words long, is a 3-point book. The Sun Also Rises, about 70,000 words long, is a 10-point book. The formula for calculating points is: AR points = (10+book level)/10]x(words in book/10,000) AR Combines All 3 That's why using all three levels - and considering the maturity level of each student is important when choosing an AR book. |
Updated:January 26, 2012