Fostering a love of reading

By Nick Martin – Assistant Head of Junior School, Learning 3–6

One of the highlights from last week was undoubtedly the Book Week celebrations.

It was a wonderful Junior School community celebration of books and a love of reading. It was pleasing to see the enormous number of students and staff who were swept up in the spirit of the celebration by dressing as a book character. Often in primary schools, the desire to dress up wanes as students get older. However, the Years 5 and 6 students were leading the way for us with significant effort put into their costumes. This is another example of the brilliant role modelling from our older students. [See Book Week article with photos]

Book Week is more than an excuse to dress up – it is also a symbol of our commitment to the importance of developing a strong foundation in literacy and fostering a love of reading. As we are an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, language is central to all that we do. The IB describes the importance of language learning in the following way:

“The development of language is fundamental to the instinctive human need to communicate. Language learning includes the development of the home and family languages, the languages of the school, additional languages and the development of literacy… Language has the power to bring the learning community closer together and overcome boundaries. It excites and invites communication in many ways, supporting and strengthening relationships and the building of international-mindedness… Students are able to flourish in an interconnected, mobile global community using technologies to communicate and sustain relationships.” (From Principles into Practice, IBO, 2019).

Book Week provides an authentic opportunity for teachers and families to instil a love of reading through exposure to high-quality literature. Mem Fox, in her book titled, Reading Magic: why reading aloud to our children will change their lives forever, discusses the benefits of reading with and to our children. Mem believes that “the more language a child experiences – through books and through conversations with others, not passively from television – the more advantaged socially, educationally, and in every way that child will be for the rest of his or her life.” (Reading Magic, p. 17). Mem describes the role that reading plays in the lives of our children, and it provides practical strategies for families to foster a literature-rich culture within the home. To purchase a copy of Mem’s book – click here.

These sentiments are supported by Dr Kaye Lowe, who has been a senior literacy academic at universities in Australia and the United States for more than 20 years. Dr Lowe believes there are many benefits for families of reading with and to our children. These benefits include:

• building a positive relationship between parents and children
• improving educational outcomes for our children – our children become better readers
• developing a love of reading – our children will want to read more
• enhanced self-esteem by providing undivided attention
• providing a springboard for further discussions.

Dr Lowe also provides some practical tips for families to support the development of a literature-rich home environment.

• Establish a home reading routine. Read aloud with your children every day. Ten minutes for each child around a book of his/her choice.
• The reader holds the book! There is a lot of power and control in the world of reading. The reader needs to have the power.
• During home reading time, turn off electronic devices and give each child ten minutes of your undivided attention.
• Before you read a book, set your child up for success. Reading is not a test! Reading time is only ten minutes so do some of the following: Keep the introduction short – one minute is enough. Talk about the illustrations and the title. Read the blurb and talk about the author, talk about any unusual words, read a page here and there as your child flicks through the book, discuss the characters. This is a short introduction, not an interrogation.
• If reading time is stressful, move the reading to a new location. Instead of sitting at the kitchen bench, move to the lounge room floor, or go outside and sit under a tree or take the books to the local coffee shop.
• Find a reading time that works for your family. Limit the time and set the timer if reading in the past has always been difficult. It is better to have an enjoyable 10 minutes than a laborious 30 minutes where everyone is left feeling frustrated.
• At the end of the 10 minutes, ask questions that encourage discussion, for example: What was your favourite part? Tell me about the characters. What do you think will happen next? What did you think about that setting? What do like/dislike about this book? There is no need to interrogate the reader. Make it a conversation as you would in a book club.
• Encourage your child to read independently. A bedside light is one of the best enticements for your child to read before going to sleep. After the 10 minutes of reading with you, the child can elect to continue reading independently.
• The less you interrupt the 10 minutes of reading, the more you are supporting the reader's independence, resilience and confidence. Zip your lips, monitor the miscues, and listen as your child reads.
• Avoid judging your child’s reading with words such as: ‘good’, ‘excellent’ or ‘getting better’. Instead say things about the strategies your child uses when reading such as: ‘I like how you read on when you came to that difficult word.’ ‘I like how you changed your voice to be the voice of the character in the story’. ‘I noticed that you reread the bit that did not make sense.’
• If your child is reading independently and has reached the level of chapter books, it is not necessary for you to read aloud together any more. Your job is done. That is not to say you cannot continue to share reading time because it is what you love to do as a family or that you sit and read silently together or that you talk about the books your child is reading because you are interested in his reading choices. Readers read differently in their heads as compared to reading aloud.
• Visit the local library — make it a family ritual on a set day every week. Let your children select their books while you select books you are interested in reading. Not every book has to be read cover to cover. Your child might select books based on illustrations or factual information about a topic of interest.
• Independent readers pick and choose what they read. They are entitled to read some and reject others. They are entitled to not complete books because they are boring. Readers make choices.
• Model what it means to be an enthusiastic reader. Create a home of readers where everyone reads – It is just what we do in this house! Talk about what you have read. Read aloud what makes you laugh and share it with your child.

To read more about Dr Lowe’s research, please access the Parents’ guide to helping children with reading and writing at home

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Radford College Library team for their hard work in promoting literature and reading within our school, and for the energy that was invested in the Book Week celebrations last week.

Farewell Mrs Hind

We are sorry to announce that Mrs Rachael Hind, one of our Junior School Teacher-Librarians, is leaving Radford.

Rachael is a very popular member of the Library team with students and parents alike. With the other Teacher-Librarians, she has been instrumental in developing the strong reading culture in our school and we will miss her valued contributions.

We wish Rachael all the very best for the next "chapter" in her journey as an educator. We know that she will continue to inspire the young readers of Canberra.