From our last “coming together” as a staff in April, these questions came from the team:

• What information are students retaining?

• How can we engage students more?

From our WONDERS, it made us curious to see how our students felt about reading. In considering the Spirals of Inquiry, our hunch was that we have learners who are not seeing reading as a practice of JOY and rather a chore they only have to complete when asked to by a teacher or parent. If our hunch is accurate, we wonder if this may be a reason why students are not appearing engaged and/or retaining what they are learning when reading. 

So, we did a school-wide check-in:

      I  LOVE TO READ:                    I LIKE TO READ:

   See attached document with photos

Primary = 38%                          Primary = 33%

Intermediate = 62%                 Intermediate = 67%

    I READ SOMETIMES:        I DO NOT LIKE TO READ:

   See attached document with photos

Primary = 51%                             Primary = 48%

Intermediate = 48%                    Intermediate = 46%

The above data helps us as educators see where our students are at with their joy for reading. The data suggests that we have learners who need the opportunity to find a love and/or joy for what stories can bring.

As a staff, we will consider a plan to foster the love of reading. Planning will occur in September. Some preliminary school-wide event ideas include: bingo reading, reading in our PJs with flashlights, dress up as your favorite book character, picnic reading outside with a family member, trading gently used books. Already, the PAC has confirmed $500/classroom to buy quality books that students can read in their classrooms. In our late September planning, it will be crucial to align building joy in reading with appropriate teaching and thinking strategies that will further develop our reading inquiry.