What are your kids reading right now?...

Yes, we have AR at our school. Stephen is approaching 200 points, but I think the deadline is next week. He's trying hard to get there at this point. In past years, he's been close, but just quit reading AR books at the end of the year because he didn't care if he reached a certain level or not. The program can be good and bad. Fortunately I feel like my kids keep it in perspective and if they're interested in a particular book, but it isn't AR, they will still read it. The problem, IMO, comes in for some children who won't touch a book if it isn't AR. They miss out on a lot of good books that way. Plus they're reading just for points, not for the enjoyment of reading. I'm not really sure that the kids who are not as good of readers are really motivated by this program anyway. It seems like the good readers are the ones who really take off and get lots of points. Anyway, DS will be going for dessert with the principal (I think to Dairy Queen) for having reached 150 points. Also, I don't think that most of our teachers base their report card grades on anything having to do with AR, which I like. In 4th grade I think they only required passing 3 AR tests and reading 600 pages per quarter to go to a reading party. I like that approach because I think the kids should be able to read whatever they want, AR or not, and 3 tests per quarter is not much.

Janet