Learning to Read

One of the best things about being a principal is regularly having proud primary students come to my office to read to me.  I witness joy on their faces when they connect letters to sounds and to words and words into sentences that go with the pictures on the page.  For some children it happens sooner than for others.  And that is okay.  Too often we fret when a student is not "at benchmark" at a certain time in the school year, but why is learning to read any different than any other skill?  It takes time and practice.

Any you have to want to do it! Nothing could be worse than being made to practice something that doesn't feel good over and over, all day long!  For me, it would be like someone was forcing me to play video games all day:  I don't care about them, they do not interest me, I find them boring and pointless.  Flip that around and imagine the child who is addicted to video games, and does not want to read.  Yet we know that reading is an important life skill that improves one's chances of success in other areas of the curriculum and in later in employment opportunities. (Video games - not so much, in my opinion)

One of my earliest memories is being three or four years old.  My mum and little brother and I had been to the public library and come home with a stack of picture books. Harry the Dirty Dog, Curious George, Millions of Cats and The Funny Thing were some of our favourites.  The sun shone in on our backs as we sat on either side of my mum while she read book after book.  There was and atmosphere of love, peace, and curiosity as each story unfolded, some familiar, some new. We loved listening to her read, and did not even realize that we were learning to read, too.

At school, there are many times that we can create similar warm and caring reading experiences with students.  We can help them make predictions, ask questions about what they have read, make connections with characters, and finish a book wanting more.  If this can happen at home, too, it is a recipe for success.  We want children to learn to read, then read to learn, and read for pleaseure, too.  If we model this for them in our own daily habits, we will create a community of readers.

By the way, many of our parents are reading the same novels as our students, finding them just as enjoyable and addictive as any adult literature.  If you love reading and want to join our lunchtime book club, please know that parents are most welcome.  We started off with The Hunger Games series, but are now discussing all kinds of novels, and are ready to choose a new book to all read together.  The Book Club meets Wednesdays at 12:15 in Room 149.