Lena Shaw Elementary 24-25

OUR FOCUS:

Exploring the relationship between students' self-perception as readers and growth in their reading achievement.

At Lena Shaw, our commitment to Social Emotional Learning (SEL) forms the foundation of our teaching approach. Our educators are dedicated to nurturing a learning environment that inspires a genuine love of reading. We aim for our students to form deep and meaningful connections with the First Peoples’ Principle of Learning—that learning is grounded in story. Through stories, students discover links to their own lives, families, and communities.

Our team is particularly interested in examining how students' confidence in identifying as readers influences their reading development. By investigating this connection, we hope to better understand how fostering positive reading identities can lead to measurable growth in reading skills.

As part of our school’s focus on increasing student engagement in reading, we conducted a survey in a Grade 2, 3, and 4 class to better understand students’ attitudes toward reading, their confidence in their reading ability, and their reading habits outside of school. While the results show some promising trends, they also highlight significant areas for growth. In Grade 2, only 56 percent of students reported enjoying reading, and just 39 percent believed they were good readers. Furthermore, only 22 percent said they read outside of school. In Grade 3, results improved slightly, with 58 percent enjoying reading, 63 percent feeling confident in their reading abilities, and 58 percent reading at home. By Grade 4, the majority of students—93 percent—reported both enjoying reading and believing they were good readers, with 64 percent reading outside of school.

Some of the activities our students at Lena Shaw took part in were "Reading a Marathon", Buddy Reading programs, mentor readers and for the first time a Spring Reading challenge (116 students participated and read for a combined 18, 560 minutes).  The majority of participants in the Spring Reading Challenge were in the primary grades, and this highlights an area of focus for next year which is increasing reading engagement with our intermediate students. In the summer some of our students will take part in the Summer Reading Program organized by the Surrey Public Library.

These results suggest that while attitudes toward reading improve as students advance through the grades, a considerable number of our younger students are still struggling with confidence, motivation, and independent reading habits. The data indicates that more than half of Grade 2 students do not see themselves as capable readers, and the vast majority are not reading outside of school. Although it is encouraging to see growth by Grade 4, the overall findings point to a clear need for continued focus and support—particularly in the early grades—to foster reading enjoyment, build confidence, and promote regular reading beyond the classroom. Moving forward, we aim to implement targeted strategies such as more frequent classroom read-alouds, student book clubs, peer reading programs, and increased access to high-interest texts to help boost reading engagement at all levels.

Our steps for next year:

Deepen Analysis of Self-Perception and Achievement

• Conduct beginning-, mid-, and end-of-year reading self-perception surveys.

• Track individual students’ self-perception alongside their reading assessment scores over the course of the year.

Targeted Support for Identified Needs

• Identify students with low reading self-perception and provide personalized reading plans.

• Pair students with reading mentors based on need and interest.

• Increase visibility and access to high-interest and culturally responsive reading materials.

Expand School-Wide Reading Culture

• Formalize weekly School-Wide Reading Time as a celebrated, consistent event.

• Introduce Reading Ambassadors – student leaders who promote reading within the school.

• Extend Resident Reader/Mystery Reader programs to include community members (e.g., firefighters (they deliver snacks to the school and have a connection with the school already, elders (if they are willing).

Strengthen Home and Community Partnerships

• Develop take-home reading kits with guided questions for family discussion.

• Host quarterly Family Literacy Nights
  
  Enhance Teacher Capacity

• Focus on culturally responsive literacy practices and trauma-informed approaches to literacy.

• Share effective strategies for supporting students with low confidence during staff meetings.

• Highlight successful case studies and stories from within the school.

6. Refine Data Collection and Use

• Introduce simple self-assessment rubrics for students to regularly reflect on their reading habits.

• Analyze survey data with student voice in mind—what they say about reading, and how it aligns with what they do.

Celebrate Progress and Success

• Hold monthly or term-based celebrations that recognize not just high achievement but improvement, effort, and enthusiasm for reading.

• Publicly display reading growth data in student-friendly ways (e.g., “Pages Read,” “Reading Challenges,” “Classroom Book Walls”).