How to make reading an adventure rather than an experience?

Data from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment “PISA” show that our students lag behind their Lithuanian and Estonian peers in reading skills. The average reading score of Latvian students is 475 points, which is at the average level of OECD countries. On the other hand, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which studies young groups, shows that 6% of fourth-grade students do not reach the minimum level of reading. This confirms that the roots of the problem can be traced back to the early stages of pre-school and primary education.

In the past, reading skills for children and teenagers were addressed with summer reading lists, which many still associate with toothache. Currently, schools no longer practice the practice of determining compulsory literature, but teachers provide lists of recommended literature based on the interests and abilities of different age groups. This not only helps students choose from a wide range of books, but also to a certain extent helps to continue the self-education process during the summer vacation, which is especially important for the first grade. However, having a list alone is not enough, and sitting a child at a table and making it conditional on reading a certain number of pages is not the most successful method. The child will then see reading as a punishment. Instead, it is more useful to have teaching aids that are suitable for each age group and stimulate a general interest in reading.

Visual elements are important for children, so an expressive design of tools with creative images or characters will encourage children to open the book as they learn the course material and read for fun. The possibility of imagination and discussion also stimulates children’s interest in reading, so after reading, suggest everyone to discuss how the story developed and what might have happened before? This can be done with teachers and parents, and this approach will also encourage creative thinking and students’ contribution to the lesson. The inclusion of a variety of pictures in a book not only adds interest, but also helps you understand the story and analyze what you have read.

It is also important that characters in textbooks and other children’s and teenagers’ books are modern and relevant to children’s interests. If children are not interested in Reina’s work, it does not mean that they are not interested in reading in general. For example, educators particularly appreciate learning tools that take into account the interests of each age group and contain excerpts from modern and current works. For example, the poem “Richis Rū ar gais balonu” by Rūta Reinikas-Preisa is included in the first-grade Latvian textbook of the “Skolas Vārds” publishing house, which was prepared according to the sample curriculum of the improved “Skola2030” curriculum. For a large part of primary school students, this is a very familiar and favorite image that stimulates interest. Not only the image is important, but also the language – it should be simple and understandable for children to understand. If the literary works in the textbook contain more complex words or concepts, supplementary explanations in the form of text or pictures can help. The more misunderstood words or concepts in the text, the easier it is for children to get bored with reading and the more difficult it is to understand what they read.

In order to develop your child’s reading skills and knowledge of the Latvian language, you first need to arouse your child’s interest in the story or topic that you are going to read. For example, after watching a cartoon, you can have your child read a book about the same character to compare the differences in the movie. It is also important to read with your parents, because then you can discuss what you have read together, or, for example, stop at the most interesting part and think about what will happen next? Such conversations not only promote interest in reading, but also the ability to form opinions and train memory. When children read with mom and dad, they feel the interest of their parents. It is positive if children see that their parents are also active readers.

After reading at home or studying the topic at school, students must reflect on their knowledge and skills and highlight the most important things they have gained from the learning process so that parents and educators have the opportunity to evaluate their knowledge and skills. The situation and choose the most appropriate method, the child has the opportunity to understand what he is good at or what he needs to work on. At home, this can take the form of a conversation, but also through learning tools to help teachers understand the situation. Students can evaluate their knowledge and skills by marking one of the assessment levels in STAP (start learning; continue learning; deepen mastery;

Summer vacation is coming to an end and when you return to school, it is also important to brush up on your reading. In order for educators to be able to diagnose the skills of each student as successfully as possible, appropriate teaching aids are very important. The goals of “Skola2030” regarding modern education also include various cross-cutting skills that are popular and desired by students, but currently educators face various challenges in order to achieve the set goals. The lack of appropriate teaching aids can have a significant impact on children’s performance, but it puts an additional burden on educators and takes up time that could be used for students.

Preschool and primary school are the most important stages to develop a child’s reading ability and interest in books, which will promote language acquisition and creativity, and help to fully understand other subjects. Lack of reading skills makes it difficult for students to engage in other thinking exercises, thereby hindering the learning and understanding of STEM subjects, which is also reflected in test scores. Although there are different ways to encourage a child’s interest in books and reading, children of every age are different, including with different levels of reading ability, so the contribution of educators, quality teaching tools that do not make learning monotonous, and the time allocated by parents are important for the development of children.