Hello All,
We do AR in our Lower School up to 5th grade. We tried it for our Middle School
one year and it was a disaster because there just were not enough age
appropriate books for strong readers. Once you get to the 8th level there are
few fiction books available except classics although many non-fiction titles
are at the higher level. The AR is a great program for early readers, but does
not translate well at all at the higher levels. Since they determine the book
level by word and sentence length, Steinbeck, Hemingway and many others come in
at about 4th or 5th level even though they are not really suitable for younger
readers. Also, our middle school students felt they were being treated like
children (which of course they are!) when we extended the program for them and
this attitude did not help boost a love of reading. Another common criticism of
AR is that it gets students to read in order to get points or to fulfill an
assignment, but does not foster a lifetime habit of reading for pleasure. We
also have a large ESL population, but since most are not Spanish speaking, AR
didn’t work for them either. Hope this is helpful.
Alice Franco, Librarian
Quarry Lane School
From: baisl-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:baisl-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf ;
Of Joan Tracy
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2017 8:34 AM
To: baisl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [baisl] Re: Appropriately themed books for 10 year olds - Accelerated
Book Finder program
This situation is one of the reasons I find AR so so frustrating! If a 5th
grader is reading at a 9th grade level, she probably loves reading and does not
benefit from AR. Can you talk to her teacher? I have assumed the role of
"making sure a student has read the book" for teachers who feel that need .
Joan Tracy
Director of Academic Technology
925.686.5353 x 187
www.carondeleths.org<http://www.carondeleths.org>
[http://www.carondeleths.org/uploaded/images/Carondelet_Logo_for_email_sig.jpg]
On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 4:22 PM, Jessica Garman
<jgarman@xxxxxxxx<mailto:jgarman@xxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi All,
I had a teacher come with a question today and I wanted to reach out to the
group for help. Is anyone familiar with the "Accelerated Reader Book Finder"
program? I haven't encountered this program.
This teacher's daughter is having a hard time finding appropriately themed
books for 10 year olds that are in her "BL". Her teacher says that she needs to
be reading at least in the 9.0 range... but Heart of Darkness has a 9.0 BL
according to the website. She is required to read two books that meet this
standard per month, and her avid reader is turning into a stress case about
this. Even the books in the middle school English curriculum don't exceed the 6
BL range.
Wondering if anyone might have any insight or be able to help out with this?
Thanks so much for any insights you may have!
Jess
--
Jess Garman
Head Librarian
Crystal Springs Uplands School
Hillsborough, CA 94010
650-375-5425<tel:(650)%20375-5425>
