When No One at Home Knows How to Read, but at School You Learn to Fly

What happens when there is no one at home who can read a story to a child?

Today, we travel symbolically to Secondary School No. 1 in Valea Seacă, Bacău County, to discover an inspiring story of determination, shared by primary school teacher Elena Roxana Moisă.

It is the story of a first-grade student who began the school year facing major difficulties in decoding words, but went on to make remarkable progress. Guided by her teacher’s dedication and supported step by step by the All Children Read methodological resources, she demonstrated that barriers can be overcome when a child is given the right tools.

A Difficult Start: Struggling with the Alphabet and Fragmented Reading

At the beginning of Grade 1, the student faced significant difficulties with reading. She tended to break words apart and repeatedly pronounce only their final syllable, without being able to decode the entire word.

She gradually overcame this barrier through the systematic use of the All Children Read educational resource package.

With daily exercises focusing on phoneme-grapheme correspondence and phonetic analysis, and with step-by-step guidance based on the methodology, she gradually became more confident. Over time, she moved from hesitant, fragmented reading to decoding entire words.

The Student’s Progress Throughout Grade 1

At the beginning of the school year

She knew only around 20 letters. Reading was extremely difficult and fragmented, and she tended to repeat only the final syllable of a word without decoding it completely.

At the end of Grade 1

She recognises all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet. She has completely overcome fragmented reading and can now read entire words independently.

The Foundations of Success: A Logical Structure and Methods That Worked

What helped her most was the logical structure of the resources and their step-by-step approach.

Having access to learning tools adapted to her level provided the visual support and predictability she needed to build confidence in her own abilities.

The Grade 1 literacy package and its accompanying worksheets were the main resources used throughout the process. Methods designed to gradually develop sound recognition, together with practical exercises, effectively guided her towards reading complete words.

Some of the most helpful activities included:

• Mini-books: Creating and folding worksheets into mini-books proved highly motivating. The short, repetitive texts encouraged her to actively practise reading fluency.
• Choral reading and repeated reading: These methods were essential in helping her regulate her reading pace and develop greater fluency.
• The Word Bank and the “Syllables” / “Rhymes” worksheets: These directly supported her in overcoming the habit of reading words in fragments.
• Elkonin Boxes: These helped develop her phonological and phonemic awareness.

What Helped Me as a Teacher?

The Methodological Guide for Primary School Teachers.

It was not simply a theoretical resource, but an essential practical tool because it provided clear differentiation strategies. Thanks to the guide, I was able to adapt the methods to the student’s slower learning pace, transforming an initially difficult decoding process into successful whole-word reading.

The greatest challenge was correcting her initial habit of pronouncing only the final syllable of each word and helping her develop greater fluency. This process required considerable time, patience and repetition.

But an even greater challenge was the fact that I could not send homework or reading activities home, knowing that her family environment could not provide the necessary support, as her mother does not know how to read.

As a result, correcting her habit of pronouncing only the final syllable and developing reading fluency required twice as much work at school. Her progress depended entirely on the effort made in the classroom.

The Joy of Reading: A Workshop Where Books Come to Life

To bring texts closer to the children’s hearts, the learning process was combined with the magic of stories through a reading workshop held regularly once a week.

In this safe and creative environment, the class explored several wonderful books from the literacy package: Planul Furnicuței, O casă pentru Șoricel and Păsărel și Uma.

The children’s favourite book was Șosețică și micile creaturi, thanks to its humorous story. The activities and interactive worksheets accompanying the book generated particular enthusiasm throughout the class.

A Literacy Victory

By the end of Grade 1, the monitoring results clearly illustrate the student’s progress:

1. Complete phonological awareness: She correctly identifies and uses all sounds.
2. Mastery of the alphabet: She now recognises all uppercase and lowercase letters.
3. Whole-word reading: Although decoding still requires time and patience, she has made major progress and can now read complete words, having fully overcome her initial tendency to fragment them.

This success story from Valea Seacă shows us that social or family barriers can be overcome when high-quality educational resources are combined with the unwavering dedication of a teacher.

Through Glittery Schools, we are working together to rewrite children’s futures, one letter at a time.

Reading Progress Shouldn’t Take a Summer Break

Summer is an important period for these children. Without practice and support, the progress they worked so hard to achieve during the school year can be lost.

This is why the Glittery Summer School helps them continue reading, writing and learning in a welcoming environment, alongside their classmates and dedicated teachers.