The Read@School Experience: from reluctant readers to advocates, from dormant to avid readers!

Abstract

Our nation-wide Read@School Programme from the National Library Board (NLB) Singapore has successfully partnered schools to grow a whole-school reading culture. Our public librarians go beyond selecting books, storytelling and booktalking to weave together reading for enjoyment and interactive learning activities that lead to reading experiences that encourage students to make personal connections with books. This changes students' perception of reading from a mundane task to a stimulating activity. Anchored by three key goals—engagement (Heart), interactivity (Hands) and reflection (Head), we set out to motivate our students to read, create meaningful hands-on learning opportunities, and foster critical thinking in reading, as we challenge and inspire our students to instil long-term attitudes and habits that will result in lifelong readers and learners.

This poster aims to share the strategies taken by Read@School to generate a great enthusiasm for reading among students, and the best practices that have emerged. It will illustrate our Heart, Hands and Head approach that drives the successful implementation of the programme.