May 8, 2013

Dear Parents,

Your child will now have the opportunity to participate in the Renaissance Place Real Time Accelerated Reader Program at Pinebrook Elementary School. The Renaissance Place Program is a web based program that allows your child to take a short reading quiz at school on a “just right” book he/she has read. Renaissance Place offers thousands of quizzes for your child to take.

A reading quiz consist of five to fifteen multiple choice questions that checks for the student’s understanding and reading comprehension. Once your child has finished the quiz, he/she will earn points based on the difficulty level of the book and the number of questions answered correctly. 

 As you know, Accelerated Reader (AR) is a reading program that is designed to motivate and encourage students to read books at their own pace and at their reading level.  The AR program maintains the student’s points throughout the entire school year.   Each child will conference with his/her teacher to set quarterly goals.  If the quarterly goal is met, your child will receive a back pack charm.  On May 23, 2013, the Accelerated Reader Carnival will be held for those students who went above and beyond earning their quarterly goal.  Points necessary to attend the carnival are as follows: 

Grade 2 = 60 points, grade 3=75 points, grade 4=85 points and grade 5=95 points.   

We would like you as a parent to become involved in our Accelerated Reader Program.  There are a couple simple ways you can do this:

1.      Read to your child.  Research has shown that an important factor in determining whether a child will become a proficient reader is whether they are read to by parents. 

2.      Set an example for your child by reading avidly yourself.  As a parent, you are your child’s best role model.  If your child sees you reading daily for pleasure, your child will in turn want to become a lifelong reader.

3.      As a parent you are now able to monitor your child’s Accelerated Reader progress through a program called Accelerated Reader Home Connect.  The directions to access the Accelerated Reader Home Connect feature are attached to this letter.  In addition, you may access the Accelerated Reader Home Connect by going to the Pinebrook Elementary School website; select the Library webpage, then select the Accelerated Reader link on the left side of the screen.

4.      Parents and students may locate Accelerated Reader titles by using the AR Bookfinder link that is available on the Pinebrook Elementary School website.  

I would like to thank you in advance for your support of the new Renaissance Place Accelerated Reader Program.  The students and teachers are very excited about the new program as it affords your child the opportunity to read and take a quiz on so many titles.  It also affords the parents the opportunity to monitor their child’s progress.  If you have any questions feel free to contact me at denise.higgins@lcps.org

Sincerely,

Denise M. Higgins

Library Media Specialist