From Sounding Out Words to the Joy of Reading: The Progress of a Third-Grade Student in the Glittery Schools Programme

For a third-grade student, reading is not just a skill practised during Romanian language classes. It is the key to understanding a maths problem, a science assignment, a story, an explanation or an entire world contained within the pages of a book.

But when reading is difficult, with words being sounded out syllable by syllable, hesitations and frequent pauses, every text can become a challenge. The child loses track of the ideas, struggles to understand the message and may even begin to believe that reading simply isn’t for them.

The story of H.M.S., a third-grade student at Telciu Technological High School in Bistrița-Năsăud County, shows us that progress is possible when a child receives consistent support, appropriate texts, guided practice and encouragement from a teacher who does not give up.

Primary school teacher Ioana Lavinia Mititel told us how, over the course of one school year, the student progressed from slow, hesitant reading to fluent reading with appropriate intonation and comprehension — and discovered the joy of taking part in classroom discussions.

Things Were Not Easy at the Beginning of the School Year

At the beginning of the school year, H.M.S. had difficulty reading texts. She read very slowly, with frequent hesitations, and needed support to understand what she was reading. She was also somewhat reluctant when asked to read in front of her classmates.

Through consistent participation in reading activities and classroom exercises, she gradually gained confidence and improved her reading skills.

At the beginning of the year, she knew all the letters of the alphabet, but reading was still very difficult. She frequently sounded out words syllable by syllable and lost track of the text. Her slow reading pace also affected her comprehension of the message.

How Things Changed by the End of the School Year

Today, her progress is remarkable. She reads fluently, with appropriate intonation, and is able to understand and discuss the content of the texts she reads. She actively participates in discussions about books and shows genuine interest in reading and reading-related activities.

Her teacher explains:

“I believe what helped her most was regular contact with engaging, age-appropriate and accessible texts, interactive reading activities, discussions based on the texts and the positive atmosphere we created around books. These experiences contributed both to the development of her reading fluency and to increasing her confidence in her own abilities.

Guided reading, reading comprehension activities, literary discussions and expressive reading exercises were extremely helpful to me. The materials provided through the programme were engaging and succeeded in maintaining the students’ interest in reading. The main challenge was adapting the activities to the students’ different learning paces, but the programme resources made this process easier.”

Favourite Books

So far, the class has read Apolodor pe crestele Carpaților, Pluta by Jim LaMarche, and Vrăjitorița Jazzmina.

The children enjoyed all of the books, but one of their favourites was Pluta, thanks to its beautiful illustrations and sensitive message about friendship, nature and imagination.

H.M.S.’s story is not an isolated one.

It is one of more than 90 stories of progress we have recently received from primary school teachers involved in the Glittery Schools programme — stories we want to share with others.

Every child who begins to read more easily, understand more clearly and feel more confident when opening a book gains much more than an academic skill. They gain confidence, independence and a better chance of keeping up with what happens both in the classroom and in everyday life.

These results are possible thanks to the teachers who work patiently with children day after day, as well as those who support the Glittery Schools and Glittery Summer Schools programmes.

With their support, we can provide resources, materials and learning opportunities for children who need more time, more practice and more encouragement to discover the joy of reading and writing.