Searching by Lexile in Safari...

Students Search for Books 
in Safari Using Lexile Range

Subtract 50 from the low number and add 100 to the high number. What does that mean? Well, that gives the leveled range for books in Lexile language for students who have tested on the Scholastic Reading Inventory.  (SRI is a research-based, adaptive assessment that measures reading skills and longitudinal progress from Kindergarten through college readiness. It can be administered in a group setting in around 30 minutes, up to three times per year.)
Today, Teacher Donna Smith and I are showing her students how to use the media center's website, Surpass Safari, and the Dewey Decimal System to search for books by Lexile Range. She created a "scavenger hunt" handout and I created a graphic guide to help students maneuver Surpass Safari. We used Plotagon avatars to talk to students on the Smart Board about the process, going over how to locate items in the media center. 
We also demonstrated the scanner on the Media 12 Station so students can scan ISBNs at Lexile.com on books they own -- or on books we own that do not have Lexile labels yet. Lexile is dynamic; new titles are added by Metametrics frequently. This information is updated automatically in Surpass and I scan to add labels to the top of book spines accordingly.
Students are using Mrs. Smith's handouts to get hands-on experience using the system. We hope this will help them the next time they visit the media center to search for books within a specific Lexile range. 
Walking around, I've taken note of a few titles they've written down. They don't know it yet, (shhhhhhhhh!) but I secretly placed a few prize notifications in some of the books they are about to search. They will get to choose from the Prize Box when they pull those books out and say, "I found it!"
Reading is so much fun!
Til next time... -- GSouth (with Donna Smith)