What Is A Benchmark Test and How Does It work.

When your students logged into myON for the first time, they completed an initial Lexile placement test. That test helped set a baseline Lexile score for them. As your students continue to read on myON, once they have read 5 books or completed 3 hours of total reading time in a 14 day period, a Benchmark test will appear. Students may also notice a purple envelope in the upper left-hand corner of their dashboard. This indicates that a Benchmark assessment is available. The student can click on the envelope to start the assessment.

Once a student starts a Benchmark test, they will need to complete it in one setting. Benchmarks can not be exited and returned to later. Benchmarks show how students are progressing in reading and comprehension skills. The system continues to track student performance through each Benchmark test.

As a student's Lexile level changes, the Recommended Library will grow with them. The books in the Recommended tab will always stay 100 Lexiles below to 50 Lexiles above their current Lexile score.

The myON App

We are a little over one week into the Read to the Final Four Literacy Challenge and Arizona students have read over 10,000 hours! That is incredible!  Keep encouraging your students to read and don't forgot that with myON, kids have access to great books 24/7. They can read at home or at school and with the myON app, they can even read offline.

The myON app is available FREE in the app store for most devices. With the app you can download 20 books onto your device that you can access even when wifi is not available. Books can be swapped in and out and kids get credit for their offline reading minutes.  The myON app is another great tool that will help foster reading growth.

Click HERE to download our mobile app tip sheet.

Contest Information

Quick Facts

Read to the Final Four Literacy Challenge

·         The school-level competition is based upon average time spent reading among third grade students. 

·         The NCAA Final Four Local Organizing Committee divided all registered schools into 4 regions for the competition.

·         Schools participate in elimination rounds, with standings updated every two weeks.  

·         Scores will be calculated based upon average minutes read by students in each school 

·         Scores are cumulative throughout the contest period as schools advance through the elimination rounds. 

·         One school from each region will advance to the Final Four and one statewide “champion” school will be named at the end of the contest.   

In addition, individual third grade students who are top readers as determined by their cumulative time spent reading on the myON platform during the contest period also will be recognized.  

Students are encouraged to keep reading even if their school is eliminated in one of the rounds leading to the school-level championship.  Five (5) Top Individual Readers in each Region (total of 20 statewide) will be recognized/announced on March 31

You’ll find current standings for each round and the timeline for the contest on our web page at http://about.myon.com/final-four/read-final-four-arizona .

Professional Development Sessions

Hi Teachers! We are day 2 into the contest and there is a lot of great reading going on with 3rd graders across the state of Arizona. I know that some of you are still on break but no worries! Your kids will have plenty of time to read when they come back on Monday.

If you have not taken advantage of our free professional development sessions there is still time. I would love to work with you to help you get the most out of your myON experience. There are many ways we can do professional development from live on site sessions to webinars. During an onsite session I would come to your school at your convenience and work with your teachers and or students. I will show you all the ins and outs of myON and answer any questions that you might have. A live webinar works very similar to an onsite session except that I will be meeting with you remotely.  All you need is a computer and a projector and we can walk through myON together. More options for training are available as well.

If you'd like to schedule a professional development session please contact me.  I am here to support you any way I can so please don't hesitate to reach out with any thoughts or questions you might have. I am available by email and phone.  I look forward to working with you.

Stacy Goebel
sgoebel@myon.com
602-435-1443

Game Time

Hooray!  Today is the day!  The Read to the Final Four Literacy Challenge has officially begun! 

Starting today, when your students log in to myON, they will see a short message and a contest button at the top of their home page. When they click that button, it will take them to the contest page which will show real time data including how they are doing personally and how their school is doing.  Remember that there are actually two contests going at the same time. There is the school contest where your school is competing against schools all across Arizona. Then there is the individual contest where each student is competing against other 3rd graders across the state. Two contests means two chances to win, but when kids are reading it's really a WIN WIN for all!

All of the schools have been broken down into 4 regions. Your students will be able to see their region when they go to the contest page. These first two weeks is the tip off phase. Students should read as much as they can because at the end of the first 2 weeks only the top 68 schools will move on to the first round of bracketing. Then every two weeks there will be a new round and schools will be eliminated until we get down to our Final Four schools and ultimately our winning school.

If your school gets eliminated it's ok, because your students can still read on myON until August 31! Teachers, this is going to be a great resources for you and your kids will love the great library of over 5,000 books they can find on myON.

Keep checking this blog for more information, tips and ideas as the contest goes on!

GAME ON!

It's Almost Time

I'm so excited that I can't sleep!  In just one hour Read to the Final Four starts!  I can't wait to see how many minutes Arizona 3rd graders are going to read over the next few months! I just know that it's going to be a crazy amount! I am pumped to hear your stories about kids reading! Are you ready Arizona? Let's do this! 

New Year's Reading Resolutions

It's the start of a new year and the perfect time for kids to make some reading resolutions for 2017. Spend a few minutes with kids talking about the resolutions below.

My 2017 Reading Resolutions

1.  This year I would like to read __________ books a week.

2.  I plan to read at least _________________ minutes per day.

3.  A new genre that I would like to read is __________________________.

4.  I will share what I am reading with _________________ and __________________.

5. I will make sure to ask questions about things I don't understand when I am reading.

Having kids set reading goals helps create confidence and allows kids to take responsibility for their own reading.  

Happy New Year!