Your child will be able to participate in Rose Evans's Reading Rock Stars by reading Sunshine State Readers and Accelerated Reader books. This is not a requirement. It is solely for motivational and comprehension purposes. If your child reads a book and takes a quiz on a book he/she may be able to earn stickers for any quizzes that have a 90-100% score. Students that earn enough points at the end of the grading period (each child's points will be different...I will alert he/she of how many are needed) will be eligible to attend the A.R. party. Please read below for an explanation of both reading programs. There is also a list of the SSYRA books for this school year.
What are Sunshine State Young Readers?
The Sunshine State Young Reader's Award Program is a statewide reading motivation program for students in grades 3-8. The program, cosponsored by the School Library Media Services Office of the Department of Education and the Florida Association for Media in Education (FAME), began in 1983. The purpose of the SSYRA Program is to encourage students to read independently for personal satisfaction, based on interest rather than reading level.
Sunshine State books are selected for their wide appeal, literary value, varied genres, curriculum connections, and/or multicultural representation. Students are encouraged to read books that are above, on, and below their tested reading level in order to improve their reading fluency.
Here are the new Sunshine State Young Readers for 2022-2023
What is Accelerated Reader?
Accelerated Reader (AR) is a computer based, reading management and motivational system designed to complement existing classroom literacy programs for grades K-12. AR’s goal is to motivate students to read using an individualized goal/point system. Student’s individual goals are based on their reading grade equivalent (GE) score from a standardized test, such as STAR Reading, coupled with the amount of time the student is able to devote to reading. AR translates GE scores into a zone of proximal development (ZPD) range that is used to determine the level of books from which the student can select.
Students choose books or short stories to read from the school’s selected collection of books for which they have AR tests. AR provides extensive lists with tens of thousands of book titles and their corresponding grade levels and point values. Books are assigned a point value based on the number of words contained and its reading difficulty, as derived from a formula (ATOS: Advantage-TASA Open Standard readability formula) based on the Flesch-Kincaid readability index (Chall & Dale, 1995; Flesch, 1968, 1974). This formula takes into consideration the number of syllables in words and sentence complexity. Point values are calculated in the following manner: AR points = (10 + reading level) X (words in book/100,000). Students read at their own pace and document when and how much they read using the "Student Reading Log."
AR software provides comprehension tests featuring five to 20 multiple-choice questions. The technology presents test scores, points earned, and keeps records in order to help teachers and parents manage and track a student’s attempt to reach his or her goal. The test gives immediate feedback in terms of the number of points earned based on the point value assigned the book and the number of correct answers on the test. For example, for a book worth 10 AR points, the student would receive 10 points for a score of 100 percent, 9 points for 90 percent, and so on. However, the student must score at least 60 percent to earn any points.
The program automatically generates several types of reports: individual student, class, grade level, and school reports. Included in the individual student report is information concerning the quantity and GE level of the books read, testing dates, scores and total number of points earned. Another teacher-generated report is the "at risk report" which identifies students who are at risk of not reaching their individual goals. Students may be identified at risk for not taking quizzes or not achieving their goal in terms of percentages or points earned.
©Florida Center for Reading Research
Need to know if the book you are reading is an A.R. book? Check out A.R. Bookfinder.