Read Aloud Month

It's Read Aloud month, and JVLR has been celebrating. Reading is an important part of every child's education, and we have been trying to support this at OISJVLR. We have guided reading in place in the primary school and are focusing on reading comprehension and fluency.

This month, we've initiated DEAR time or Drop Everything and Read. Students are encouraged to bring in books from home of their choice to read, and everyone in the entire school (teachers too), Drop Everything and Read at 2:15 each day.

We had a character parade and day on Friday, February 14th, to celebrate the love of books with some creative characters. Wednesday and Thursday this week, Feb. 19 and 20, we have authors coming to visit to read their books, talk about their books and share the love of reading. 

Parent workshops for Early Years and Primary focused on reading. If you missed the workshops, please see the Parent Workshops on this blog. We had a lot of eager parents ready to learn more about reading to their children and getting some book tips on selection and reading. Did you know that while many parents read to their young children, the percentage drops as they get older, even when children still benefit from listening to a read aloud?

A child's reading level doesn't catch up to his listening level until 8th grade, so we need to continue our reading with our children.

Finally, this Friday, February 21st, it's International Family Language Day. Support your family language by joining us to read to your child's class. We want to celebrate your family language and its importance to your children. India is such a wonderful place with a multitude of languages, and we want to tap into that.

On a parting note, I leave you these words about reading from Debbie Milman, a designer, artist and educator from the book: A Velocity of Being, Letters to a Young Reader:
I want to tell you that everything will be okay.
I want to tell you that it will get better.
I want to tell you that it all works out in the end.
But sometimes it doesn't. 
Most times it is hard and we usually end up getting used to it. But there is something you can do in response: read.
Read until your heart breaks and you can't stand it anymore...
Books--like dogs--are among a handful of things on this planet that just want to be loved. And they will love you back, generously and selflessly, requiring very little in return--until they are complete, their light and their wisdom and their hearts sputtering to an inevitable, lonely end. 

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