Accelerated Reader - Weekly Diagnostic Report

Accelerated Reader has quite a few helpful reports for checking on the status of your class. One of my favorites is the Diagnostic Report.
You can find this report under:

• Accelerated Reader
• Reports
• Reading Practice
• Diagnostic - Reading Practice
• Reporting Period - Change Predefined Date Range to the current Six Weeks
• Click View Report

In the sample report, you see that there are 5 points that you should look at for all students.

1. RP quizzes - tells how many quizzes a student has taken in the current marking period. You can quickly see which students have not taken a test.
2. % Correct - Scan the list for students that have lower than an 85% Average. These students need to conference to determine if the books they are reading are too hard or if there is another reason why they are not passing tests. You might need to sit with these students through 1 or 2 tests and help them with the test taking procedures.
3. Points - If you have set point goals for your students, you will see the percentage of their personal goal that each student has met. How to set a Goal in AR, AR Goal Calculator, & AR Goal Setting Chart, AR Goal Setting Chart AR 2000 (appears to be more lexile friendly)
4. Book Level - You can also set book level goals for each student. Here you will see the average book level that they have been reading. You can check to make sure they are reading in their ZPD range.
5. Diagnostic Codes - These codes will help you identify areas of weakness and conferencing topics for struggling students. A key will print on the second page of the report. Here you will also find the % of students at-risk for this class. At-risk means that a student has one or more diagnostic codes for the report period. The goal for the teacher is to have as few students with Diagnostic Codes as possible. For now, our goal is 15% or less. 

The Lemonade War

Hop over to our One School, One Book blog and join in on the fun. Our fall family book selection is The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies. I think your entire family will enjoy this one.

Divide and conquer

In our library lessons we have been learning about tackling a chapter book. Some of the kids have said that the book they checked out is too long and they can't read it. We talked about a few key tips when choosing an appropriate book.

• Look at the cover
• Read the blurb
• Flip through some pages and make sure it doesn't look too intimidating or too easy
• Read a page and use the 5 finger rule to make sure it is just right.

You can get some information about the level of the book and how long it should take to read the book by looking at the AR label on the spine.

RL stands for reading level. It is an approximation of a grade level that the book would be appropriate for if the student is reading on grade level. 4.2 means 4th grade, 2nd month. It is pretty accurate, but not perfect. The student still needs to open the book and give it the 5-finger test to make sure it is a just right book.

PTS stands for points. This is the number of points the book is worth after taking an AR test. The points can also tell us how long it should take to read the book. A good rule of thumb is to double the points to determine the number of days you should read a book. This 8 point book should take no more than 16 days to read.

Divide and Conquer is a strategy meant to break a long chapter book into smaller, more manageable pieces. To find the number of pages you should read every day, use the following formula:

Total pages in book / number of days to read the book (points doubled) = pages per day

For this example, the book has 289 pages and it should take 16 days to read.

289 / 16 = 18 pages per day

Then we break the book into 18 page sections and mark them with sticky notes. Sometimes the 18th page will fall in the middle of a chapter. You may have to go forward or backward a few pages to find the beginning of a chapter or you may be able to find a natural break in the middle of a chapter (extra space between two paragraphs, or a dividing line or symbol between two paragraphs). Do this until you reach the end of the book and you have divided your book into daily reading assignments. Now you can conquer the reading.