Accelerated Reader

Content on this page updated: July 19, 2020

Dear Parents and Students,

We are excited to continue access to Accelerated Reader (A.R.) testing for the 2020-21 school year which will allow students to test from home. Following this letter, there are links to the A.R. homepage, the resource page to search A.R. approved books, as well as various websites to find free online books to read.

The date for testing to open will be announced soon. The hours of testing will be anytime between 8 – 4, Monday – Friday. No testing will be allowed on the weekends. Once we return to school, the testing will no longer be available to test at home. This is a stipulation from Renaissance Place, the parent company of A.R.

Guidelines to follow:

• A.R. is only open to 1^st – 5^th graders.

• A.R. testing is not an “open book” option meaning they cannot look for answers to the test questions while testing. The program is designed to help with comprehension reading skills; therefore, it tests the student’s knowledge on material read.

• Students must read the book they desire to test on in its entirety. Occasionally, students will try to scan through a book and then test on it. This results in a failed test and students are not allowed to retake a test in which they have already attempted.

• If you have a struggling reader(s), you may read the test to them, as well as, the answer choices. You are not permitted to answer the questions for them or give them hints.

• Not all books are A.R. books. In order to determine if your student can take a test on a particular book, you can go to www.arbookfinder.com and search for the book. If it is an A.R. approved book, it will show up with the book level and number of points it is worth.

We typically set a goal of 3 books read and tests taken and passed or 3 points. Most picture books (those books that do not have chapters) are worth 0.5 points while chapter books are usually worth at least 1.0 point. The larger the chapter book, the more points it is worth. At this time, during distance learning, you won’t need to be concerned with how many points your student(s) have, only that they are reading and passing tests on the materials they’ve read.

Please contact Debbie Sherwood with any questions or issues accessing the websites provided at dsherwood@charterdayschool.org

Free, online books:

Included below are websites with free online books, but you can read any that you have at home as well. If your student is wanting to test on the book, we encourage you to make sure it is A.R. approved by going to the website mentioned above.

Added Tip: Google search “free children’s books” by grade level and YouTube – search “free children’s books” by grade level.