Finding Articles and Assignments by Article Topics and Keywords – Accelerated Reader

Follow the steps below to find articles and assignments by article topic and keyword. You can also schedule the assignments for specific days to choose when the assignments will first appear in students' My Assignments list.

You can find articles and assignments by skill and standard instead if you prefer that approach. You can also assign the Featured Articles.

Select Find Articles by Topic and Keyword on main Accelerated Reader 360 page.
The next page will list the plans that you have created so far (if any). Select New Plan.
On the next page, if the class that is selected by default is not the one that your new plan will be for, select Change Student(s) to begin selecting the classes or groups that you want to plan assignments for.
Choose the classes and groups that you want to assign work to. For most school personnel, the school is already selected in the first column. However, if you have access to more than one school, you can choose whether to include all schools or to select specific ones; if you decide to select schools, check the schools that you want to create assignments for.

In the second column, first choose whether to plan assignments for all classes or to select classes. If you choose to select classes, check the classes that you're planning assignments for. (You can search the items in a column by clicking within that column and then pressing Ctrl+F or control-F on the keyboard.)

In the third column, check the groups to include; check Whole Class to plan assignments for the class as a whole.

When you're done, select Apply.

If you already started creating assignments for this group previously, and you didn't finish, after you select the students, you will see a message like the one below. Choose whether to continue working on the plan you started (with the your previous selections) or to start over.

If you need to create groups, see Manage Groups Page.
Next, select the timeframe that you want to assign work for. You can choose one of the week-long time periods in the drop-down list, or you can choose custom dates.

Click the Select Week drop-down list and make a selection. If you choose Custom as shown below, in the calendars, select the first date, then the second one; then, select Apply. (You can use the arrows on each side of the months shown to see a previous or future month.)

It is helpful to schedule assignments just one week ahead so that you can make adjustments as needed based on how students do on the work.
Edit the plan name in the Name Your Plan field as needed. Note: It's helpful to give each plan a unique name so that you can identify the plans easily later.
Select Start Planning on the New Assignment Plan Setup page to continue.
Next, check the grades for which you want to find articles.

K-2 articles typically include Read Aloud article assignments that are not written at the K-2 level because they are intended to be read by the teacher.
Then, there are two ways to look for assignments:
- You can enter a keyword to search for.
  
  You can enter a keyword and select a topic as described below.
- To see the articles and assignments available by topic, check each topic that you are interested in.
After choosing the options you prefer on this page, select Next: Find Resources.

You will go on to a page where you can choose assignments; after that, you can choose the days when you plan to teach the skills and use the assignments.
On the next page, the topics that you selected are listed on the left, and the first topic is selected by default. (If you searched without choosing a topic, all topics are listed.) In the middle column, the assignments that are available for the topic are listed; for each assignment, you'll see the name, a brief description, and the Lexile® Measure and ATOS book level. To add one of the assignments to your plan, select + Add.

In the drop-down list that opens, select the day when you want students to start seeing the assignment in the Assignments List on their Home page.

The assignment will be added to the day you select in the Schedule list on the right. If you want to change the day for an assignment, select the check mark to see the days again and make a different selection. If you decide you want to remove an assignment that you have added, select X to the right of the assignment name.

Articles are usually listed more than once because each article typically has at least two assignments:
- Read and Take Quiz assignments simply require students to read the article and take an Accelerated Reader quiz that measures their comprehension.
- Skills Practice assignments require students to read the article, identify text that meets certain criteria (highlight and tag), answer a written Show You Know prompt, and take the quiz.

Some articles may also have the following assignments:

Read Aloud assignments are intended to be read to students in grades K-2. Read Aloud assignments include activities that help you discuss the articles with students and model skills.
Watch the Video to Learn More assignments have videos embedded to allow students to learn to use different mediums on a topic.

As you view and select assignments, you can do the following:

To preview an assignment, select Preview on the assignment card. The assignment will open, and you will see the assignment as a student would see it, starting with the assignment instructions, and then continuing with each assignment item. (The article text is included with each item for reference.) To go on from one step to the next, select Next > or select one of the item numbers at the bottom of the page. Any work you do on the assignment will not be saved since you are previewing. On the last item, select Finish; then, select Finish again in the confirmation message. If a quiz is included, you can select Take Quiz to take it. Select Close Preview to close the assignment when you are done. (You can also select + Add to Plan to add the assignment to the plan while previewing it.)
If you want to narrow the list of results, you can select the icon; then, search for a keyword in the search field.
You can also use the filters shown above to choose the source of the assignments that you want to see (Renaissance Learning or user-authored) or the assignment types that you want to see. Assignment types include Read Aloud, Read and Quiz, Skills Practice and Quiz, or Skills Practice (without a quiz). After you make selections, select Apply to see the matching results in the list.
To go back and choose other topics, select Change next to the Selected Topics heading on the left.
If you have more than one page of results, use the arrows at the bottom of the page to go to the next page of results (), the previous page (), the last page of results (), or back to the first page ().

After you finish adding assignments for one topic, you can select the next topic to find assignments for that topic.
When you have finished choosing the assignments for the group(s), select Review under the schedule.
On the next page, you can schedule the skills that are related to the assignments you chose and the assignments themselves. At the top of the page, you can choose when you will be teaching each skill. To move the skill, click the skill and drag it to the day(s) that you prefer.

To expand the skill over multiple days, select the arrow to the right of the skill name and drag it to expand the skill over the days that you prefer.

Any days off that your administrator has added for the school are marked so that you can avoid scheduling work for that day. Days off are not shown if you selected students from multiple schools.

Below the skills, you will see the selected assignments. To choose the day when students should start seeing each assignment in their Assignments list, click the assignment card and drag it to the day that you prefer. As you move the assignments, the skills at the top of the page will also move or expand to reflect when students are working on the skills' assignments.

If you want to delete an assignment or to preview it, select the assignment card. Then, click Delete in the Details window to delete the assignment from the plan, or select View to preview it in a new browser tab.

If you want to add more assignments, select Add Assignments to go back to the page where you choose assignments.
It is a good idea to print or save the schedule. To do this, select PDF at the bottom of the page.

Since you can't change the assignments after you create them, it can be helpful to print or save a PDF copy of this page as a record of the days you selected for skills and assignments. This is also helpful if you want to share the assignments with other teachers since only you can see the assignments that you have created.
When you have finished setting the schedule for skills and assignments, select Create Assignments at the top or bottom of the page.

If you need to go back, select < Back at the bottom of the page or one of the links at the top of the page.
The window that opens will confirm the students you are planning for and the date range.

The name that you entered for the plan when you started it is shown. You can change the name if necessary. It is helpful to make each plan's name unique so that you can identify plans easily.

You'll also be reminded that the assignments will be listed in the students' My Assignments list on the dates that you have chosen. You cannot change the schedule once you click Continue; be sure that you have the assignments and schedule that you want before you continue (click Cancel if necessary). When you are ready to finish and schedule the assignments, select Continue.
When the window confirms that work has been assigned, select OK.
Students will see the assignments that you selected in their Assignments list on the dates when you scheduled them.