Reading Starts Early

J.K. Rowling, the famous author of the Harry Potter book series, once said,“I don't believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.”

Kells believes in the magic of reading; and, therefore, encourages good reading habits from the early years. While reading is one of the foundation blocks of a good education and reading comprehension was seen as the mastery of a student's ability to identify words, ideas and cause/effect relationships in a text, today we have a deeper and more complex understanding of how it benefits our children's brains as they grow.

Our school uses the two online instructional reading programs to build foundational reading skills and develop vocabulary. A third online program exposes students to a variety of book genres and allows students to read or listen at their individual, independent reading level. Classroom literacy centers provide the opportunity to work in small-guided reading groups thus individualizing instruction.

Apart from introducing students to literary genres including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, short stories and novels, we also host events and activities which challenge and motivate students to learn in and out of the classroom.

Some of these activities, like Book Club, Reading Buddies and Reading Challenge help to encourage students to get involved in good reading practices through which they can meaningfully explore the different themes and ideas that they read about. The goal is for students to build connections with others through the literature that they read. This is why we also include trips to the theatre, library, and participate in the Global Read Aloud, which promotes literary discussions with classes both locally and globally.

Outside of our classes, we offer additional intensive remediation and technological support for students who may face challenges with reading and writing. Often, our advanced students reading skills surpass the language proficiency levels for their grade.

Our unique approach to reading and learning is again based on our conviction that each person learns differently. We recognize that students are individuals with their own specialized skills and strengths and aim to enrich their education with reading comprehension strategies that they can rely on throughout their personal and professional development.