WELCOME TO BACK-TO-SCHOOL NIGHT Advanced Plus Reading

STUDY SKILLS and TIME MANAGEMENT The students will integrate study skills and time management into their daily work by: o Using the daily planner to record homework. o Using the monthly calendar in the planner to record when assignments are due. o Using the calendar to record test dates. o Using the calendar to plan study sessions.

QUALITY WORK HABITS The students will incorporate high quality work, which includes neat handwriting, into their daily written work by: o Using the recommended pencil grip. o Asking for a handwriting packet if they have a handwriting problem. (I will help identify the specific practice needed to fix the problem.) o Routinely setting up papers as directed. o Responding in complete sentences.

First Last # Advanced + Reading Date Title Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2 Paragraph 3 Paragraph 4 Paragraph 5

BASIC READING SKILLS o Read all directions carefully. o Answer questions as directed and in sentences. o Copy words carefully. Avoid spelling errors. o Always use correct punctuation and capitalization. o Turn in completed work by Friday to be an ‘early bird’ and ‘get the (gummy) worm’ the following week. o Do high quality work to earn the reward: careless or untidy work does not qualify.

JUNIOR GREAT BOOKS The Five Guidelines for Shared Inquiry Discussion Read the story carefully before participating in the discussion. Discuss only the story everyone has read. Support ideas with evidence from the story. Listen to other participants and respond to them directly. Expect the leader to only ask questions. Written Work – Questions are interpretive. Give thoughtful answers. – Explain answer choices. – Neatness does count. – Work not finished in class becomes homework, due the following day.

Paul Barger’s PATTERN-BASED WRITING Quick and Easy Essay Writing

A SYSTEM OF PATTERNS Pattern Based Writing has two different forms of patterns: – Patterns that deal with essay structure – Patterns that deal with thought processes that organize information Pattern Based Writing teaches students to start with the end in mind.

PATTERN 1 The A, B, C Sentence – My best friends are Bobby, Sam, and Sandra. – My toys, my friends, and my family are what I treasure most. – Would you rather go to the beach, the park, or the movies?

PATTERN 1 The A, B, C Sentence – You can put your A, B, C at the end of a sentence. – You can put your A, B, C at the beginning of a sentence. – You can create an A, B, C question.

PATTERN 1 Each A, B, C can either be one word, two words, or a short phrase. – For dinner I had vegetables, rice, and steak. – For dinner I had some vegetables, some rice, and a steak. – For dinner I had some delicious vegetables, a mound of rice, and a great big, juicy steak.

PATTERN 2 The Secret A, B, C Sentence Instead of an A, B, C sentence : The treasure chest was full of gold, silver, and diamonds. We create a ‘secret A, B, C sentence’ such as: The treasure chest was full of wonderful treasures.

PATTERN 2 The Secret A, B, C Sentence Be Creative. My chores at home are doing the laundry, washing the dishes, and taking out the trash. Can become: My chores at home are numerous. My chores at home are terrible and disgusting. or My chores at home are fun to do when I have someone helping me.

PATTERN 3 Chunking Down Everything has parts that can be broken down into smaller parts. – Get more specific. – Give more detail. Fiction Books can be chunked down to: – Fantasy – Tales – Realistic Fiction – Mystery – Science Fiction

PATTERN 3 Chunking Down Everything has parts that can be broken down into smaller parts. – Get more specific. – Give more detail. Tales can be chunked down to: – Tall Tales – Fairy Tales – Folk Tales – Myth – Legend

PATTERN 3 Chunk Down With the 6 W’s I went skiing. – Who did you specifically go skiing with? – What kind of skiing was it exactly? – Where exactly did you go skiing? – Why exactly did you go skiing? – When exactly did you go skiing? – How exactly did you do at skiing?

PATTERN 3 Chunk Down With the 6 Ws So... I went skiing. could become: Bob and I decided to go snow skiing on Monday morning at Big Bear because the incredible snow storm created amazing conditions that made it easy for me to simply fly down the mountain.

PATTERN 4 Chunking Up Ask, “A, B, and C are all a part of what?” Use one word or a few words to express the ‘big picture’. This is the topic. T = A, B, and C are all... ASingmy favorite activities Bdanceperforming arts Cjugglefun things to do

PATTERN 5 The Perfect Paragraph has a beginning, middle, and ending talks about only one main idea does not contain any details that do not talk about the main idea

Finding Books in Accelerated Reader Log on to arbookfind.com Type in the book title or author in Quick Search to find Book Level and Points. Enter the information onto the Student Reading Log and begin reading.

ACCELERATED READER EXPECTATIONS o Read every night for minutes. o At a minimum, read the targeted number of AR points per trimester. o Complete the Student Reading Log daily. o Log in to Home Connect with your parents to share your progress.

How Point Values of Books Are Determined in Accelerated Reader In Accelerated Reader, point values of books are based on length (word count) and text difficulty (book level). Most picture books, such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, are half-point books. Most short chapter books are worth 5 to 10 points. Longer, complex novels are worth considerably more points —Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina has a point value of 69. The formula used to determine Accelerated Reader point values is: – [(10 + Book Level) ÷ 10] x [Word Count ÷ 10,000] – The raw value is rounded to the nearest whole number (except for the bottom of the scale, where the minimum number rounded to is 0.5). For example, Anna Karenina’s book level is 9.6 and the word count is 349,736. Thus the point value is calculated as [( ) ÷ 10] x [349,736 ÷ 10,000] = [1.96] x [ ] = , which is rounded to 69 points.

Points Earned Are a Measure of Reading Practice After a student takes a Reading Practice Quiz, s/he earns points based on the book’s point value and how well s/he did on the quiz. In this way, points are a measure of reading practice— a summary of quantity, quality, and difficulty. Reading Practice Quizzes have 5, 10, or 20 questions, depending on the length of the book. The cutoff for earning points on a 5- or 10-question quiz is 60 percent correct. The cutoff for a 20-question quiz is 70 percent. – For example, a student who takes a 5-question quiz on a book worth 1 point will earn: 1 point for 5 correct (100 percent) 0.8 point for 4 correct (80 percent) 0.6 point for 3 correct (60 percent) 0 points for 2 correct or fewer – A student who reads a longer book at a higher book level and takes a 10-question quiz on a book worth 5 points will earn: 5 points for 10 correct (100 percent) 4.5 points for 9 correct (90 percent) 4 points for 8 correct (80 percent) 3.5 points for 7 correct (70 percent) 3 points for 6 correct (60 percent) 0 points for 5 correct or fewer

Storybook Writing On the lab computers, each student will write and illustrate his/her own book during the year.