St Francis Primary School, Lockleys has trialed the Parent Assisted Immersive Reading program [PAIR] in their three Reception classes this year. The program invites parents of children in their first year of school to read to their child each night over an eight week period using the eight Immersive story books and encourages them to engage in conversation with their child using question prompts provided on each page. Each double page has questions as well as vocabulary extension challenges.
The aim of the program is to boost parents’ confidence in the process of reading to their children and through the interaction between the parent, child and text, enhance the child’s comprehension, vocabulary and enjoyment. Parents are encouraged to participate in a short training session prior to commencement of the program to outline the purpose, structure and implementation of Immersive Reading.
At the conclusion of this years program, the 60 parents involved were asked to complete a survey and there was a 38% response rate. The feedback from parents was positive and endorsed Immersive Reading as an exciting way to engage in the reading process with their child.
”There were lots of suggested questions to work through which was great. It was nice to not just read a book, but have increased engagement through questions and discussions. An excellent program,” one parents said.
100% respondents:
• found Immersive Reading simple to understand.
• found the program was simple to implement.
• would recommend Immersive Reading to other parents.
96% said that Immersive Reading helped them engage their child during read-aloud sessions.
Parents noted that the children enjoyed finding the objects on the page, identifying characters in the story and almost all enjoyed answering the questions and talking with their parents about the story. Parents liked the vocabulary extension questions and enjoyed discussing the ‘moral of the story’ themes with their child.
The feedback from the Reception parents at St Francis School was favourable and the school looks forward to developing the PAIR program further.
For more information on the Immersive Reading program please contact Mark Bowman at St Francis Primary School, Lockleys.
Catholic Education Week will be celebrated in South Australia from May 13-19 2024 (Week 3, Term 2).
Following on from the success of the ‘#LoveMyCatholicSchool’ activity last year, schools are once again being invited to celebrate the excellent teaching and learning that takes place in Catholic schools every day. This is an opportunity for families, students and staff to reflect on what makes our schools so special.
