Does your school have the Renaissance AR program? I have taught with and without the program and have to say I really like having it as an extra tool to measure my kids independent reading comprehension. The year I didn't have it, I found myself struggling to assess and hold my student accountable for the just right books I was asking them to read each day. Plus the goal setting option is a big motivator for even struggling students because it usually means there's a prize involved.
If you are unfamiliar with AR, it begins with a reading test which is adaptive to the student responses. The test for my primary age students is about 36 questions, however, if the student gets three of the practice problems wrong at the beginning they are prompted to end the test. So your early readers may not score until they can read a bit. It typically takes about 30+ minutes, depending on the kiddo to take the test. If they are getting the answers correct, the passages and vocabulary sentences keep getting longer. If they simply click d as their answer 36 times they will finish in about 4 minutes-it happens I promise!
I love the reports Renaissance allows teachers to then print after the test. First, I will always print the summary of my class ZPD levels-their independent reading level. I have leveled bookmarks which I add their names and passwords onto. They also have reading levels where I can then highlight their ZPD. No, this first ZPD range is not always correct but that's what's great about AR tests. I let a student move up (or make them move down on occasion) if they pass 3 tests with a 100% with a reading level at the top of their ZPD. So a student who has a ZPD of 1.4-2.4 can test on a three different 2.4 books (or fewer if they are long chapter books) and I will highlight the next level or two on their bookmark.
I created the bookmarks below as a quick way for students to remember their levels and assist them when checking our books from our classroom or school libraries. For early readers there is a bookmark which goes form 0.1-3.2. For higher readers there are 0.1-5.0 or 2.1-7.0 options. I like to edit the back with my name and class number too so that way they can be returned when lost.
If you are unfamiliar with AR, it begins with a reading test which is adaptive to the student responses. The test for my primary age students is about 36 questions, however, if the student gets three of the practice problems wrong at the beginning they are prompted to end the test. So your early readers may not score until they can read a bit. It typically takes about 30+ minutes, depending on the kiddo to take the test. If they are getting the answers correct, the passages and vocabulary sentences keep getting longer. If they simply click d as their answer 36 times they will finish in about 4 minutes-it happens I promise!
I love the reports Renaissance allows teachers to then print after the test. First, I will always print the summary of my class ZPD levels-their independent reading level. I have leveled bookmarks which I add their names and passwords onto. They also have reading levels where I can then highlight their ZPD. No, this first ZPD range is not always correct but that's what's great about AR tests. I let a student move up (or make them move down on occasion) if they pass 3 tests with a 100% with a reading level at the top of their ZPD. So a student who has a ZPD of 1.4-2.4 can test on a three different 2.4 books (or fewer if they are long chapter books) and I will highlight the next level or two on their bookmark.
I created the bookmarks below as a quick way for students to remember their levels and assist them when checking our books from our classroom or school libraries. For early readers there is a bookmark which goes form 0.1-3.2. For higher readers there are 0.1-5.0 or 2.1-7.0 options. I like to edit the back with my name and class number too so that way they can be returned when lost.
I try not to print much if any in color so I print these on colored card stock but I don't laminate them. If you don't want to adjust their reading levels, you could laminate them though. After I have typed their username and passwords onto them and saved a copy, I typically print about 6 per student. I know that seems like a lot, but we retake the test every 6-8 weeks so I like to give them a new bookmark if their level sky rockets up or they are looking tattered. I ask the kids to keep one in their classroom book box, one goes in the library box for checkout days and the rest go in my filing cabinet since I know it will be lost at one point. You could also send one home, but our kids aren't allowed to take AR tests outside of the school server and I feel like they jsut get lost so I will only send a parent information letter regarding their scores with the ZPD highlighted they can refer to instead.
You can grab a set of the bookmarks for your classroom at my Teachers Notebook or Teachers Pay Teachers Stores by clicking the links.
Keep it Up Buttercup!
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