Year 7 students at Swan have the privilege of being able to access a reading program in the College’s library. The aim of the program is to help students develop a lifelong love of reading.
These students participate in one of the world’s most popular reading programs, Accelerated Reader, often abbreviated to ‘AR’ or ‘ACR’; which allows them to choose among thousands of books. Students can pick a book to read, then complete a fun comprehension quiz. Since the program is hosted online, students can complete quizzes at home or away, after hours or even on weekends. There’s also an app for mobile devices which makes it even easier.
Throughout the year, students study texts with Mr Grisham, where they look at examples of different genres and learn the basics of analysing texts, often accompanied by interesting videos and music.
There are rewards for students and classes that have worked hard to improve their reading skills through this opportunity to practise, and it’s always exciting for the various classes to compete against each other. At the end of the year, some students are rewarded by being invited to a special celebratory pizza party, which is a lot of fun.
If you would like to learn more about Accelerated Reader please contact Mr Mark Grisham at mark.grisham@scea.wa.edu.au.
You can also access the program’s introductory video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDSOfKeTfCk or find out more at https://www.renaissance.com/resources/product-sheets/accelerated-reader-360/.