Thursday, March 25, 2010

Gunnar's First AR Test

At Gunnar's school they have a program called AR (Accelerated Reader). What you do is read a book then take a test to see how well you comprehended the book. This program is offered to students 1st through 5th grade. Because it is not offered to kindergartners Gunnar's teacher had never offered it to her students...until this year. Gunnar is such an amazing reader that she decided to let him start the program one year early. The books in the school library are all labeled with the the AR level on the spine. For example if you are in 5th grade you should be able to read a book that is a 5.0 or above. A 5.3 would mean you are reading a book that is perfect for a 5th grader in the 3 month of school. They test the kids reading ability and then decide what level they should be reading. Gunnar tested at a 3.0, which means he is able to read at at a third grade level. Gunnar feels so special because he gets to walk down to the library...all by himself...and pick out an AR book. (The kids in his class don't think it is fair that he gets two library books and everyone else only gets one.) The first AR book he chose was a 3.7 (3rd grade 7th month). I was sure he could read it but I was a little worried that he might not be able to comprehend what he was reading. He read the book a few times and then took the test the following day. There are 10 questions on the test and Gunnar got 9 right.
He passed!!
We were so proud of him. Way to go Gunnar!
(Romi...because you are such a pro please correct me if I wrote wrong information about AR. I think I explained it right but I don't know for sure. I can't thank you enough for being the reason Gunnar LOVES reading. It is truly because of you.)

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

Of course he passed, he's an excellent reader!!!

Auntie Romi said...

You are exactly right about the program Jaime...way to go Gunnar!!! And he loves reading because his mom and dad instilled a love of reading from very early on. You have cuddled up every night with each of your boys and read stories. It is no surprised that they all love to read!
It isn't teaching, it is great parenting.