Raz-Kids+at+Home+Program

Raz-Kids at home: A program for intermediate-level students

Raz-Kids can be an effective tool for students who need extra practice and may be motivated by the special features of the website. The following program was designed by a teacher/reading teacher team for a 6 week intervention for several computer-motivated boys in 5th grade. The program could be used in a very similar way within the classroom.

Before the program starts, you need to: 1) Determine the students’ independent reading levels 2) Set up the students in the program and assign them to their independent level as a **Self-Paced Assignment.** Do not allow access to the bookroom (yet). Enable Raz-Rockets. 3) Make a packet of paper copies of the books at each level your students are reading. Note: This can be VERY TIME CONSUMING. See if you can get some kind of support/help to do this. 4) Use ‘Messages’ in the teacher tools to write an encouraging message to await your readers when they first sign in. Give them some bonus points to start with! 5) Meet with students (and parents, if possible) to go over the protocol for using the program. Parent/teacher conferences are a good time to do this.

Students are to read each night on the Raz-Kids website. They are assigned a level, and must read and pass all of the quizzes at that level before moving up a level. The way in which this program differs from just having a student go to Raz-Kids with a self-paced assignment is as follows:

1) Students must listen (while reading along), then read (without listening) the book before taking the test. If unsuccessful, in the protocol, they must read the book online again before re-taking the quiz. If unsuccessful after taking the quiz twice, students should go on to a different book at the same level. The idea here is that students have a tendency to take and retake the quiz, using a guessing approach until they pass. If a student tries 3 books without passing at that level, the teacher can readjust the level down so that the student can be successful. The teacher report tool tells you exactly what your student is doing so you can make sure the protocol is being followed.

2) The Raz-Kids program does not allow students to go back to refer to the text when answering the questions. One of the key skills we try to teach our students is to go back and find evidence from the text when they have questions or are confused. This is why students are given a set of the printed books to use while they are taking the tests. We chose to send books home an entire level at a time for these students so their work could be private and involve less maintenance. When a level was finished, they would trade in the packet for a new set.

__Program Maintenance__ 1) Teachers must check the teacher tools nightly to check on the students work habits and progress. It is easy to send encouraging messages, reminders about the protocol and bonus points as you do so. If a paper record helps you see trends better, use a record sheet for each student.

2) Be sure to have the next set of books ready to send home. Students who “buy in” can be very motivated and move through the program.

Supporting documents: Protocol poster Home letter with protocol (ready to customize) in Microsoft Word Student record sheet