AR Goal Setting

 

Does your school use Accelerated Reader?  Have you learned how to set goals for your students? It's so easy! First, students need to take the STAR test on AR.  Then, simply go into "Goals", click on a few boxes, and voila...goals set!  Each student will have a different point goal based on their STAR reading level and the number of minutes per day you want them to be reading.

 

Here comes the fun part.  Once you set your students' goals you can begin tracking their progress.  For the first nine weeks of school I gave students a popcorn kernel (cut out of yellow construction paper) to glue on their card each time they reached 25%, 50%, 75%, etc... of their goal.  Students with 75% or more at the end of the nine weeks got a popcorn party.  I decorated the pocket chart with little popcorn holders that I found at Smart and Final. 

 

For the next nine weeks of school, students will earn a "marshmallow guy" for each increment of 20% of their goal that they achieve.  Can you see the "marshmallow guy"?  He's in "whipped cream".  Students that reach 80% or more of their goal get a hot cocoa party.  Yum!

 

What the Teacher Learned:  Food is a good motivator!

Study Island Competition

 

I'm not a very competitive person myself, but many of my students are.   I wanted to find a cute, visual way to monitor students' progress on Study Island.  It also needed to be easy. 

 

I found this serene island poster at Target for a few dollars.  Each student was asked to color in a clip art sailboat.  As students pass topics on Study Island, they get to move their sailboat closer and closer to the island. 

 

The students were very excited to work hard, pass topics, and move that sailboat along.  Why?  Anyone who made it to the island got to come to a pizza party.  Yum!

 

What the Teacher Learned:  Tracking student progress is helpful to both the teacher and the student!