Reading culture at school is essential not only for developing academic knowledge, but also for developing students’ critical thinking, creativity and emotional intelligence. Schools need various initiatives that not only motivate students to read, but also create a favorable reading environment at school in order to successfully promote reading and pleasure of the reading process. We already had clear traditions and regulations on how to promote the reading among the youngest (from preschoolers to fourth-grade students) at Queen Morta School, because this is the most important age in general – the formation of reading skills, but for a long time we did not have regular practices at older ages – it often depended on initiatives of Lithuanian or foreign languages teachers during their lessons.
The presentation will consist of two parts – activities in which we engage as an entire school (every teacher and student) and activities that are best implemented during language lessons.
The presentation will cover several activities carried out at the level of the entire school (students of 5-12th grades): Caught you reading, Teacher recommends, Book with cocoa, volunteering for reading, Advent calendar, writing book reviews that are not time consuming, but constantly broadcast the message to students that reading is an attractive and engaging process, brought together by readers community.
Methods of working with children living abroad and promoting reading during distance learning lessons will also be presented: challenge to read 10 books, guest writers and book launch parties. In addition, the presentation will share the methods of working with the oldest students of the school. How systematic reflection writing can bring a classical work closer to the student’s living world.
The aim is to convey the message that individual initiatives are welcome and inspiring, but in order to create a reading environment as an indisputable reality for a young person, systematicity is necessary.