An AR Q and A

Q. How can I help my child do well on AR quizzes?

A. A better question is how can you help your child do well with reading! Accelerated Reader is designed to help your child's teacher guide their reading practice. The quizzes simply determine how well and, more importantly, whether your child has read the book being quizzed. Coaching from parents won't help them pass the quiz, and won't help the teacher do her job. It could even get in the way of your child developing stronger reading and self-discipline skills! Students need to learn to "listen to their heart" and know when they've read a book and understood it well enough to pass a short, factual quiz on it. There are no trick questions, and it's not really possible to cheat! (Alright, you could cheat, but why?) AR quizzes are not used for grading at St. Joan of Arc! Again, AR is used to help your child's teacher guide their reading practice!

If you want to be helpful, ask what your child is reading! Ask why they picked it. I know some of them will say because it's in their range. I'm sorry! Ask them why they picked this particular title that was in their range out of all the other books in the library. Ask them what it reminded them of - another book, another story, something that they saw on TV, or something at home! Ask them to read you a page, or read them a page. Get into your kids' reading - show your interest, and watch their interest grow.

No Q, no A; just an observation:

I love working with your kids! I watched a group of middle school students in the library today recommending books to each other. They've had such good teachers and librarians and families in their lives! They weren't recommending easy books, or short books, they were recommending books they thought "everybody" should read - Bud Not Buddy, for example.