CONTEXT
Every child's journey towards a brighter future is built upon quality early education and a kaleidoscope of diverse learning experiences that shape their path.
Many children face unjust barriers to learning, hindered by financial struggles, discrimination, the lack of educational resources, or underqualified teachers.
Too often, they bid farewell to school prematurely, missing out on the knowledge and skills that pave the way to success. In Romania, 15,6% of children are at high risk of dropping out by age 18.
We firmly believe in the transformative power of education. We fight against functional illiteracy by nurturing the seeds of reading and writing in the first six years of life. Imagine a world where all young children, beginning in preschool, immerse themselves in captivating books and engage with other enthusiastic readers. As they embrace the joy of reading, their language abilities flourish, and their understanding of the world deepens.
Map of the reading islands
3290 educational units with Kindergarten-Library certification (including units involved in Every Child Deserves a Story) or with Eco-Library certification.
Unităţi de învățământ certificate
Unităţi de învățământ eligibile
Unităţi de învățământ eligibile plus pachet de cărți
The three main objectives
A
Vocabulary enrichment
B
Language development and communication
C
Development of the foundations for reading and writing
A national program to encourage reading in kindergartens, schools, and families.
Together with the local communities, we transform public kindergartens and schools in Romania into islands of reading, where children and adults unlock the secrets of books and the universe together. We have four key activities:
01
Online training
Online training sessions for teachers focusing on literacy.
Topics covered: fundamental literacy concepts, techniques for reading aloud to a child or group of children, and ideas for integrated activities based on books.
Participants become familiar with a great selection of illustrated children’s books, learn how and what to read aloud to young children, and discover ways to stimulate their curiosity for books and motivation for learning.
02
Reading Islands
Participating teachers create reading and storytelling spaces, indoors and outdoors, where kids interact with a wide array of books and readers.
03
Reading plan
The plan includes a minimum set of mandatory activities.
The principal and teachers collaboratively develop a reading plan that outlines a set of reading activities to implement in their school’s kindergarten.
Additionally, it provides several suggestions for optional activities.
04
Educational resources
The books offered in the program are carefully selected for their literary value and suitability for preschool-aged children.
Results
Since its launch in 2021, the program has been extremely popular among directors and teachers. The map shows all kindergartens with reading islands (in blue).
3200 educational units with a Kindergarten-Library certificate (including units involved in Every Child Deserves a Story) or an Eco-Library certificate.
3.2
educational units
240
children
11
teachers
205
books
The suggestions received in the training sessions are very insightful. Now my students read on the reading island every day. In the past, when I kept the books stored in the cupboard, they didn't show much interest in them.
A teacher from a rural school
Partners
Thank you!
We are grateful to all those who have chosen to get involved and support our programs for providing access to quality early education to children from vulnerable groups.
Institutions
- Ministry of Culture
- Ministry of Education
Partners
- Kaufland
- Dedeman
- Raiffeisen
- Catena
- Romstal
- Bitdefender
- Autoklass
- Braun
- The Alex Fund
- Oskar
