Reading Program
Goal: Encourage students to appreciate the artistry of literature and to develop an ability to reflect critically on their reading.
Literacy has a significant relationship to people’s life chances. Reading for pleasure is more important than either wealth or social class as an indicator of success at school. Reading improves concentration – Children have to sit still and quietly so they can focus on the story when they’re reading. Reading also relaxes the body and calms the mind whilst also exercising the connections in the brain.
Reading teaches children about the world around them – Through reading, they learn about people, places and events outside their own experience. Reading improves a child’s vocabulary, leads to more highly-developed language skills and improves the child’s ability to write well.
Reading develops a child’s imagination – When we read we translate the descriptions of people, places and things into pictures. Reading helps children develop empathy – When we’re engaged in a story, we imagine how the characters are feeling and use our own experiences to imagine how we would feel in the same situation.
At Akal Academy Baru Sahib we provide physical or digital access to the variety of resources that a child requires to research and widen his/her intellectual sphere. Students have access to use online reading resources such as Kindle, Britannica and World Book. In PYP library contains 8500 books (approximately) including 362 books with Lexile measure labeling which helps the children to enhance their reading as per their ability. All the students have access to Golden Library also which is a hub of knowledge with nearly 20,000 books of different genres.
Effective and interesting reading strategies are practiced both in the library and classroom to develop a passion for reading and upgrade the reading age of children. Six periods in a week are exclusively kept for pleasure reading. Record of the number of books read by the child is maintained and displayed in every classroom to keep a track on the reading development of the child. Two periods in a week are for libraries where they read and reflect in any form of their choice like book reviews / character charts /role plays/ book talk, etc.
Reading to the younger children and the reluctant readers by the teachers gives them access to stories and vocabulary .They too start developing lust for reading slowly. We all the members of Akal Academy strive to be reading role models for children and help them to imbibe the reading habit.
