Reading Schemes

Source:Ekaterina Trukhan

Each child learns to read at their own pace. Finland is considered to have the best education system in the world. Here, children would only be formally taught to read at age 6. 

Things around the world are quite different. In India, for instance, children learn to recognize sounds and letters as young as two and a half years. I don’t think there is any right or wrong, but I definitely do believe it must be a child initiated curiosity. Forced teaching can lead to undue pressure on the child and more importantly, a dread for reading.

Many schools invest in reading schemes that help children reach certain reading goals. A reading scheme is a series of books that have been written to support the process of learning to read. All reading schemes are designed to support the teaching in class and to ensure that when a child takes a book home they can read it successfully, build confidence and make progress. In most schools, the teacher and parent having a reading log that goes back and forth from school and home. Both make comments on the child's reading so the child can be assisted as needed.

Schools may be following one or more of these programs. I am putting this list together as my daughter is now recognizing most sounds and is developing an excitement towards reading. Moreover, I am currently working with an English school in a small rural town  in Gujarat where the children do not have any exposure to English at home. I would like to gauge if any of these programs could be beneficial to them. 
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I have also learned is that no Indian publisher has a step-by-step reading scheme (at least in English). Many multiple factors could play a role- investment of money, the myriad of regional languages, the fact that are already good ones abroad. But it does make me wonder, what about the schools that cannot afford to invest in an international reading scheme? How do their children learn to read in a progressive and effective manner? Perhaps, they have another system that works well? I need to investigate this further!

THE OXFORD READING TREE - 
millions of children around the world learn to read with the guidance of this program. They have more than 800 books at their disposal. 

RIGBY STAR program
Foundation Stage up to Grade 2 (3-7 year olds), multi-layered, rich fiction and non-fiction titles, learning guides and assessment trackers are also provided

Collins Big Cat- whole-school reading programme that provides complete support for primary reading. Teaching resources to support developing and assessing key reading skills at all stages from early reading through to phonics, to guided, whole-class and independent reading for more confident readers.

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