Accelerated Reader is a product Holy Cross School subscribes to through Renaissance Learning. It recognizes that reading is a skill and requires practice. Accelerated Reader (AR) promotes that practice and also has a component that helps manage and monitor the student’s progress. With AR, teachers can motivate the student for learning, receive reliable information, and keep all students challenged.
AR is all about practice. First the reading level is determined for the student. Then the practice goals are set and students choose their book. Students take an AR quiz and they receive instant feedback as do the parents and teacher.
AR has quizzes on over 150,000 titles both fiction and nonfiction which includes most of the books in our classroom and school libraries. Many of the books in the Holy Cross library are color coded by reading level to help students when they are choosing a book. The reading levels and corresponding colors are:
| Reading Level | Color Code |
| 1.0-1.4 | Gold Fan Sticker |
| 1.5-1.9 | Green |
| 2.0-2.4 | Yellow |
| 2.5-2.9 | Red |
| 3.0-3.4 | Tangerine |
| 3.5-3.9 | Lime |
| 4.0-4.9 | Light Blue |
| 5.0-5.9 | Bright Orange |
| 6.9-6.9 | Navy Blue |
| 7.0-7.9 | Apple Sticker |
| 8.0 + | Rainbow Sticker |
School to Home:
AR offers two great school to home resources. Students perform better when parents are actively involved in the learning process.
Renaissance Home Connect
By logging into Renaissance Home Connect, parents can stay up to date with their child’s AR progress. Parents are able to see their child’s progress toward reading goals, review AR Quiz results, view the number of books and words read, and strengthen vocabulary skills.
https://hosted112.renlearn.com/23615/homeconnect/
AR Book Finder
This website allows you to search for book titles based on authors, topics, or titles of books. You also are able to sort your search results, select book titles to add to your AR BookBag, print a list of your search results, or start a new search.
http://www.arbookfind.com/
Incentives:
Incorporated into AR are many positive incentives. Some are listed below.
AR LEVELS OF CERTIFICATION
INDEPENDENT READER
*READ 3 BOOKS & PASS TESTS AT 80% OR MORE
*EARN 10 POINTS
*RECEIVE A CERTIFICATE
*PUT YOUR SHEEP ON THE BULLETIN BOARD IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
SUPER READER
*READ 8 BOOKS & PASS TESTS AT 80% OR MORE
*EARN 20 POINTS
*RECEIVE A CERTIFICATE
*MOVE YOUR SHEEP AND GROW FLEECE.
ADVANCED READER
*READ 15 BOOKS & PASS TESTS AT 80% OR MORE
*READ AT LEAST 3 BOOKS AT 4.0 LEVEL
*EARN 40 POINTS
*GET AN ICE CREAM SUNDAE PARTY
*MOVE YOUR SHEEP AND GET SOME SPARKLING EYES.
STAR READER
*READ 20 BOOKS & PASS AT 80% OR MORE
*READ AT LEAST 3 BOOKS AT 5.0 LEVEL
*EARN 75 POINTS
*RECEIVE A T-SHIRT
*EARN A STAR FOR EVERY AR 100%
*MOVE YOUR SHEEP AND YOUR SHEEP EARNS A STAR.
CLASSIC READER
*READ 35 BOOKS & PASS AT 80% OR MORE
*READ AT LEAST 3 BOOKS AT 6.0 LEVEL
*EARN 100 POINTS
*GET FREE BOOK & CHOOSE A FREE DEDICATED BOOK
*MOVE YOUR CANDLE AND IT HAS A BIG HEART,
HONOR READER
*READ 50 BOOKS & PASS AT 80% OR MORE
*READ 20 NON-FICTION & 5 AWARD BOOKS
*EARN 150 POINTS
*WIN AN HONORED SEAT AT THE AR PARADE & LUNCH WITH THE PRINCIPAL
* MOVE YOUR SHEEP INTO THE ARMS OF THE SHEPHERD JESUS.
COLOSSAL READER
*READ 60 BOOKS & PASS AT 80% OR MORE
*PLAY THE GENRE GAME
*EARN 200 POINTS
*WIN A MINI–GOLF GAME
Bulletin Board for POINT CLUB FIREFLIES
There also is a bulletin Board for POINT CLUB where students earn points and join a Point Club. The levels for Point Clubs are 15 points, 30 points, 60 points, 90 points, 120 points and 200 points. When a student earns 15 points regardless of their reading level or average they earn a WHITE DOT to show their reading point club level. .
The AR Store
Several times a year, students have the opportunity to spend the points they earned at the AR store set up in the library. The AR store has a variety of items that can be purchased using varying amounts of points.
