[MOSAIC] in support of AR

[Mholley112 at aol.com]

I was glad to see what Laura and Bill had to say about AR. Our district has  
had AR for about 10 years. My school gives the kids an hour a day for AR. They 
 are free to come and go to the library at will during that time. We do not 
give  rewards for points other than recognition that they reached their goals. 
We keep  a "point club" board in the hall so they can see their progress. I 
have to say  that we don't have that problem with not wanting to read. Our kids 
come back  from summer asking the first day when we are going to start AR. We 
have a well  stocked library full of fiction and lots of nonfiction. Other 
than trying to  help them choose books they can successfully read and understand 
(and yes, while  challenging them as well) our kids are free to choose what 
they want to read- at  their interest level. I don't take grades on any part of 
my AR. I use it as that  minimum of 60 minutes of self-selected reading 
recommended daily (Allington).  Teachers who have been there longer than me (7years) 
have told me that after  adopting AR for supplemental reading, they saw a 
huge difference in students'  reading abilities because of the extra reading they 
do. In fact, my plan is to  use this time to reinforce the strategies and 
conference with the kids.  Everything is already in place-the kids have that hour 
set aside already with a  ready supply of reading material.
 
Cheryle
3rd grade