Reading project at Jamaica house basic school

Students at the Jamaica House Basic School are benefiting from a reading initiative being undertaken by the Kiwanis Club of Papine at the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica.

The signature project of the Club, titled ‘Reading for the Stars Reading Competition’, involves partnership with web-based program, Lalilo by Renaissance application.

It will run from January 2022 to April 2022 and is geared towards enhancing the students’ reading skills.

Speaking at a launch ceremony at the institution’s West King’s House location in St Andrew recently, Vice President of the Kiwanis Club, Melva Armstrong, said that the project and competition will provide hybrid instructional resources for teachers to assist students.

“The Kiwanis Club of Papine at UTech hopes that when the effectiveness of the project is evaluated two or three years from inception, the results will bear fruits of effectiveness. It is hoped that the program will propel Jamaica House Basic School to be the model early-childhood basic school in Jamaica and the Caribbean,” she said.

Miss Armstrong said that the Lalilo by Renaissance app, which was first launched in 2016 to support early literacy in English and French, is especially suited for children at the early-childhood level.  

She noted that the application is designed to help develop phonics, word recognition and reading comprehension skills through online exercises and stories. 

Miss Armstrong said that not only will it be used as a tool to improve literacy, but it will also allow teachers to assign homework virtually. 

“The application will identify the needs of students who are below the acceptable level.   Lalilo also provides progress reports on the students’ reading ability. We are using Lalilo to complement the reading competition,” she pointed out.

Miss Armstrong said that the competition will involve K2 to K3 students, who will be reading books from the Unite for Literacy Virtual Library, the Jamaica Library Service virtual books, and other virtual or hard-copy books for a period of 10 weeks. 

She said that the children will read at home with their parents and submit a reading log via Google Docs at the end of the competition.

Principal of Jamaica House Basic School, Veronica Burnett, said that she is excited about the project.

“We are delighted that the Kiwanis Club of Papine at UTech decided to partner with us. I know you won’t regret it because it is a school that aims to be in the number-one position in everything,” she said.

Ms Burnett said that it is important for children to learn how to read.

“There’s a phrase which says reading maketh a full man. Yes, we need our children to read, not just calling words but reading,” she stressed.

-JIS NEWS-

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