AR Reader: An Overview of the Accelerated Reading Program

If you are the proud parent of a school-age kid, you surely heard about accelerated reader. In fact, your child might have even taken the accelerated reader test. Are you sure you know what is behind accelerated books? Well, you’ve come to the right place because we will give you all the tools you need to understand what it is all about and why it is the best tool available today to overcome apathy and getting students excited about literature.

Plus, you will get data about each stage of the AR book test and an accelerated book list for you to read with your children.

What is accelerated reading?

Before we get to the accelerated book list, let´s make clear what the accelerated reader program is all about. Let´s begin by saying that although it can seem new to you, the accelerated reading program has been helping children for the past 30+ years. It is a computer program introduced in schools back in 1986 that has proved time and again that through the right book selection, love for literature can be fostered at any age.

The accelerated reader test is what the system uses to position readers in a scale with a given punctuation based on many indicators. It has a counterpart, which is the AR book test that matches accelerated books with accelerated readers.

Given the fact that everything about accelerated reading is measurable, it is easy to set goals for your children. Recommending books from the curated collection is also relatively simple, since there are over 140,000 titles available to choose from.

Goals for reading comprehension can be tailor-made for every student. A quiz taken after reading each book gives them a score and depending on how well they do, they go forth to more complex reading material.

Installing in your children the healthy habit of reading is a gift that will grow with them their entire life.

The ATOS revolution

How does the system assign a score to books? Well, that is what the ATOS revolution is all about. The Automated Technical Order System takes a formula made with a plethora of characteristics from each book and determines a score. This score is for each book in particular and then matched with the accelerated reader test. The higher the ATOS level of the book combined with the number of pages, the higher the score a student gets upon correct completion of the AR book test.

We will get to the accelerated book list in a couple of paragraphs, but just to give you an idea:

 

• ATOS Level 3.5 (1,000 words) = 0.5 points
• ATOS Level 4.5 (23,000 words) = 3 points
• ATOS Level 4.4 (70,000 words) = 10 points

 

The points on the far right are for answering the quiz 100% correctly. So, taking the last example if the quiz has 5 questions and 4 correct answers the student gets an 8-point score. To earn these points, he or she will have to have to reach 60% of correct answers in the quiz; otherwise they get no points.

To find out more about the ATOS readability formula, you can check this site. To see a walkthrough of the quizzes with some examples and demonstrations you can also check this site.

What books can I find with AR Points?

So, now that you know exactly what AR books are, it is time to give a list of some of the most remarkable ones. The company made a search tool available to look for them here.

 

• The three little pigs (Sarah Prince) ATOS 2.1 - AR points = 0.5
• Write your own non-fiction (Natalie Rosinsky) ATOS 6.9 - AR points = 2
• Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) ATOS 5.2 - AR points = 7
• 20,000 leagues under the sea (Jules Verne) ATOS 4.6 - AR points = 10
• Twilight (Stephanie Meyer) ATOS 4.9 - AR points = 18
• Harry Potter and the goblet of fire (J.K. Rowling) ATOS 6.8 - AR points = 32

 

Why is accelerated reading good for your children?

In a world over flooded by screens, the importance of the book stimulus on imagination is uncanny. People born into the screen era are usually looking for the ON/OFF button in a book because it is obsolete technology to them.

 

Let´s see some of the benefits of the AR program.

 

• The accelerated book list and accelerated reader program itself works as a curator selecting exactly the book your child needs when he or she needs it.

 

• Encourages conscious reading habits by assigning points for well-answered quizzes.

 

• Allows for a wide variety of choices with a 140,000 rated books database.

 

• Involves parents and teachers in the same effort to install reading habits in children of all ages.

 

• Monitoring reading progress with quantifiable indicators makes it easier to track your children being in the correct path.

Once each child takes the accelerated reader test, accelerated books will show him or her the way to a reading adulthood.

Can I choose which books my children read?

The aim of the accelerated reader test is to locate your child in a scale that will make book selection easier. The amount of fiction and non-fiction AR-rated books is enormous, reaching 140,000 titles. There are always many choices for each stage your child is at.

Where to buy AR books?

Now that you have the tool to search books and the accelerated book list of remarkable titles, there´s only one more thing you might be wondering: which is the best place to buy them from?

Well, the best option is to buy accelerated reader titles divided in groups depending on their ATOS score so they can choose what to read from all possible books. This might sound quite expensive to you, but for example O3 Books is a company dedicated to selling used books in bundles at the best price in the market.

You can buy exactly the level of accelerated books you need for your children and help them walk the beautiful path of loving literature from an early age.

O3 Books, helping the world in more than one way

O3 Books not only offers killer prices on their AR books bundles; their mission is to help the environment by keeping books out of landfill and promoting literacy across the nation. They partnered with non-profit organizations that plant trees around the world to fight climate change. What does this mean? It means simply that for every purchase on the O3 Books website, you get a tree planted in your name somewhere in the world; thus, making an effort to make the world a cleaner, better place.

Teaching our children how to love literature is great; doing so and leaving them a green, lush and beautiful world is even better.

Conclusion

Introducing your children to the wonderful world of accelerated books can be the beginning of a life-long love relationship with literature. Having the chance of picking from an accelerated book list or buying a bundle of the right books for his or her level and taking them away from the screen will foster their imagination and prepare them better for their adulthood.

Don´t hesitate in visiting the O3 Books website and get their bundle today. They will be forever thankful of the world you are showing them. Planting the reading seed at an early age is crucial to foster their love for literature.

Happy reading!