“Reading changes your life. Reading unlocks worlds unknown or forgotten, taking travelers around the world and through time. Reading helps you escape the confines of school and pursue your own education. Through characters – the saints and the sinners, real or imagined – reading shows you how to be a better human being.”
― Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child
September 15, 2014
Dear Parents,
Your 5th grade students will be expected to do independent reading at home this year as part of their homework. Strong reading skills are crucial to our students being successful. Research has proven that the best way to improve and increase reading skill and vocabulary is by voracious reading. Beginning this week; your child will be involved in a very important reading program aimed at increasing his or her reading ability by increasing amount of books read.
The program is called “Reading Counts” and is a program in which children select a book to read, read the book, and then answer questions on a computer about that book. The book they choose is assigned a particular point level depending on its difficulty and the children earn points depending on how well they do on the computer test they take. There are over 50,000 books children can choose from, and the list of books, along with the point levels, can be found by going to a link on our class website. The amount of points expected may vary between classrooms and possibly even between students in the same classroom according to student need. Please be sure to check your child’s class website or planner for their specific point goals. Reaching their goal will count as a summative grade for independent reading each quarter.
Sincerely,
The Fifth Grade Teachers
Directions to get to the Reading Counts Website:
1) Go the Aurora home page (www.aurora-schools.org)
2) Go to the Leighton homepage
3) Click on Links which is on the left side.
Or
4) Find your class website under 5th Grade.
5) Find the Reading Counts Link on the left side.
Students can take quizzes both at home and at school on any material read during this fifth grade year. See their planners for their passwords.