If your kids school uses AR testing

[textbookcase]

particularly middle-upper grades, how do you find appropriate books for them to read? I know about ArBookFind.com. K is 10 and in 5th grade and she is supposed to be reading books with an ATOS level of 6th - 9th grade. C is 12 and in 7th grade and her ATOS level is 7th - 12th grade. It seems like all of the fiction books they read on their own/are interested in are in the upper 4th - lower 5th level but those books seem to be the most age-appropriate subject matter for them to be reading. The books with the higher ATOS levels seem to be a bit too mature. They aren't allowed to take AR tests with a lower ATOS level than they have tested for.

[1confused1]

Can you ask their teacher?

[themysteriouswife]

Sept 2, 2016 12:50:44 GMT -5 1confused1 said:

Can you ask their teacher?

I think she home schools

[themysteriouswife]

We are running into this with Allie. She's 4th grade with a Lexile 1350. She likes books geared to her age, but blows through them. Books with higher Lexile are not appropriate for her.

[1confused1]

Sept 2, 2016 12:51:56 GMT -5 themysteriouswife said:

Sept 2, 2016 12:50:44 GMT -5 1confused1 said:

Can you ask their teacher?

I think she home schools

Oops, my bad.

[textbookcase]

Sept 2, 2016 12:51:56 GMT -5 themysteriouswife said:

Sept 2, 2016 12:50:44 GMT -5 1confused1 said:

Can you ask their teacher?

I think she home schools

They go to a homeschool charter school, so they do have a teacher and go to workshops 1-2 days per week. I asked her and she said to use AR Book Find, which I have been searching all morning and it's getting frustrating!

[heman]

Lurker checking in.

I have the same issues with my girls. What I do is find books that were published a long time ago but at their reading level. They tend to be topically less mature. So basically classics. I also look for books that have won awards

Also there is a series of books called Dear America. They are historical novels written in the perspective of a girl writing in a diary during a historically important time in US history. There is a gold rush one that is great. Anyhow, these are mostly at a 7th grade-ish level so it might be good for your younger one. These books are written by different authors so some are better than others.

Lastly, my 3rd grader just read Lions of Little Rock which is on the summer reading list for rising seventh graders. It takes place the year after the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock. It was a great read and sparked some amazing conversations, especially in today's political climate

[1confused1]

Here is a list I found:

www.sjusd.org/simonds/docs/Top100FictionK12.pdf

[imojoebunny]

Sept 2, 2016 12:53:32 GMT -5 themysteriouswife said:

We are running into this with Allie. She's 4th grade with a Lexile 1350. She likes books geared to her age, but blows through them. Books with higher Lexile are not appropriate for her.

What about books like Cozy Mysteries?   My 10 year old loves the mysteries about cats and knitting, like The Cat Who and Goldy Shultz's series.  There is no sex or words.  She also enjoys the American Girl books, and there are load to choose from.  Also, books by Bill Bryson.  

[textbookcase]

Sept 2, 2016 13:07:49 GMT -5 heman said:

Lurker checking in.

I have the same issues with my girls. What I do is find books that were published a long time ago but at their reading level. They tend to be topically less mature. So basically classics. I also look for books that have won awards

Also there is a series of books called Dear America. They are historical novels written in the perspective of a girl writing in a diary during a historically important time in US history. There is a gold rush one that is great. Anyhow, these are mostly at a 7th grade-ish level so it might be good for your younger one. These books are written by different authors so some are better than others.

Lastly, my 3rd grader just read Lions of Little Rock which is on the summer reading list for rising seventh graders. It takes place the year after the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock. It was a great read and sparked some amazing conversations, especially in today's political climate

Thanks! I think my 5th grader will especially like the Dear America series.

Sept 2, 2016 13:08:01 GMT -5 1confused1 said:

Here is a list I found:

www.sjusd.org/simonds/docs/Top100FictionK12.pdf

Thank you, I'll check it out!

[themysteriouswife]

Sept 2, 2016 13:07:49 GMT -5 heman said:

Lurker checking in.

I have the same issues with my girls. What I do is find books that were published a long time ago but at their reading level. They tend to be topically less mature. So basically classics. I also look for books that have won awards

Also there is a series of books called Dear America. They are historical novels written in the perspective of a girl writing in a diary during a historically important time in US history. There is a gold rush one that is great. Anyhow, these are mostly at a 7th grade-ish level so it might be good for your younger one. These books are written by different authors so some are better than others.

Lastly, my 3rd grader just read Lions of Little Rock which is on the summer reading list for rising seventh graders. It takes place the year after the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock. It was a great read and sparked some amazing conversations, especially in today's political climate

I loved Dear America as a kid! Thanks for reminding me

[hammerfist]

I like Scholastic Book Wizard.  You can search by reading level or book title.  You can also type in the title of a book your child liked to read and it will pull up similar books.


www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/

[gretchenindisguise]

We are just starting the AR system this year. I'm already annoyed by it and we haven't even really started yet.

[janetplanet20]

Sept 2, 2016 18:20:30 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

We are just starting the AR system this year. I'm already annoyed by it and we haven't even really started yet.

My school uses AR and I am not a fan. But I've pushed back on a lot of other things recently, so I feel like I can't really say no to this one. :/

[Doggy Mommy]

Gilda Joyce and Series of Unfortunate Events are some that are high level and appropriate. Classics like Treasure Island (unabridged) are good too. I taught gt for 9 years and it's really hard to find high level but appropriate books that kids are interested in.

[Dumbledork]

Our local library has a link on their homepage to look up books. I've only used it a couple times but it worked fine.

I've done AR since I was in high school, done really well at it, and still hate it. I hate that DD has to do it. It was optional in kindy, but I pushed back in first and was basically told tough shit.

[textbookcase]

Yeah I hate it too. It's optional at their school but they give incentives and my kids are all about the incentives so they want to take the tests.

[kaycee]

arbookfind.com