Ascertaining that your child can read is a validation that things are moving in the right direction. But what if your preschooler struggles to reads even simple words, despite you as a parent trying to do everything right.

Many kids who find it difficult to read at an early age, can show improvement with time and even be voracious readers when they grow up. With guidance, practice, support, and some extra help, learning to read can become easier. However, the right approach is to identify why your child is struggling to read in the first place.

Identify Some Signs That Suggest Your Child is Unable to Cope with Reading

As a parent, look out for some cues, as your child grows out of toddlerhood and starts to get familiar with books.

Children between ages 3 years to 4 years

• Is your child able to identify phonetic sounds and associate them with the correct printed letters? Phonics is the base for language development and good vocabulary building depends on the ability of the child to practice correct ‘recognition of letter sounds’, ‘blending’ and ‘segmentation’ of words. If these basics are shaky, it is a red flag for the parent to understand.
• Try playing some nursery rhymes and ask your child to repeat a verse or two. If he is not able to sing to the tunes correctly, and finds himself lost, then it should probably raise an alarm.
• By the age of 4, children should be able to correctly identify names of animals, vehicles, fruits, vegetables, and days of the week. If the child can’t seem to get this right, it could be an indication of some learning disability which needs to be addressed immediately.

Children 5 years of age

• Children at 5 should be able to atleast repeat simple sentences read to him by an adult.
• Children enjoy listening to ‘read aloud’ stories and passive reading can add to the child’s knowledge. Highlights Library is a digital learning tool that gives readers access to 2,500 stories. The Highlights platform is a perfect catalyst in inculcating a love for reading amongst children. Highlights subscription is available globally, including the Middle East and GCC Regions.
• Reading is not only about being able to reproduce the words verbally with proper pronunciation, but more so to be able to understand and remember the facts of what has been read. To test the child’s comprehensive skills, ask him the right questions from the story and allow the child to re-tell the tale to you. If the child is not able to even share the basic outline of the story, then it is a matter of concern and probably something needs to be rectified.

Common Reading Issues

In the above paragraphs we have seen the reading readiness stages as per the child’s age. If you notice the reader is not on par as he should be, it could be due to any of these issues:

• The child may be suffering from Dyslexia where decoding the words read and associating them with the correct meaning becomes a task.
• Another sign to watch out for is Autism Spectrum Disorder. This may impact how the child socializes in school and may lead to speech problems & low confidence.
• Some children develop Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) where they are unable to focus and get easily distracted. If one doesn’t read with focus, the lessons from the story or text, won’t be correctly understood by the child, and thereby he may lose interest in the subject.

These developmental issues can indeed obstruct the child’s progress and can interfere in the child’s learning journey. Once the problem is identified, it is important to seek out for immediate help. Many IB schools around the world including, Dubai and UAE, foster an inclusive environment and make provisions for special educators and child counselors to give the right attention and extra support to the child, so that they can be as productive & successful as others in class.

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Did you know that an average adult human brain has the ability to store the equivalent of 2.5 million gigabytes of digital memory? Such is the power of this superior organ. Being the most complex element of our biology, this 3-pound organ is crucial for controlling many other parts of our body. The cerebral cortex is the largest section of the brain which has multiple functions and is majorly responsible for the memory of the human being.

We learn incredible things every single day but over a period of time we tend to forget them. That is a natural human tendency. However intelligently the brain may perform, we still need to exercise it frequently for it to function efficiently and recall the wonderful aspects learnt in many walks of life. As children and even as adults we have to stimulate our brain so that it not only boosts our memory but also keeps our overall health and well-being in-check. We have put down some tips below which would help children to enhance their retention and remember the numerous things that they learn.

The Connection Strategy

Whenever children are taught a lesson or anything new at home or in class, the parent or teacher must try and connect a strong memory with the learning, so that the child is more likely to remember it longer. By associating a specific component which is dear to the child and which probably makes them happy, they will definitely recall the knowledge better at a later stage.

Pivotal Pointers

Difficult topics are firstly tricky to comprehend and then to recollect them becomes tougher. Even a simple, but a brand-new concept learnt takes time to process. Children mug it up for a short while but in the long term it is not beneficial. For it to strongly establish in their minds, educators must denote effective pivotal pointers or keywords while teaching them. With the aid of those apt pointers, the purpose is largely achieved

Fun & Games

Education should never be stressful. However, the studies do get demanding as the children progress to higher standards in school and there is constant competition and the pressure to thrive and get brilliant grades but, in this race, to achieve excellence, the actual essence is mostly lost. When children learn in a non-demanding, relaxed environment with interesting quizzes and fun games without the necessity to score or get a top rating, the skills gained and the content grasped by them is sure to be retained for a longer time and they will reproduce such knowledge effortlessly when the time comes.

The Visual Impact

It is not an unknown fact that visuals are always etched in memories far more than text could possibly be remembered. Having attractive and eye-catching still images along with intriguing and entertaining videos, with meaningful content of course are undoubtedly the best ways for inclusive learning and the impact and the retention is positively greater than one can ever imagine.

Group Influence

The common notion is that peer pressure is not healthy and usually has a negative sentiment attached around it. The truth we would say is that peer influence is not all bad. Yes, the word is not pressure but influence. The group that children belong to or the friend circle they maintain in school and outside can be favourable to them in amazing ways. When students and great friends have positive, healthy group discussions, the other person’s opinion is always heard and taken into consideration. Even if they agree to disagree it will be done rightfully. Their minds will remember each other’s comments and they will retain what was discussed and one will genuinely inspire and be inspired by the other. So, it is an absolute win-win situation. Educators must encourage such activities.

The Repetition Act

The idea of repetition is to master the art that one is into or the subject that one is studying. When a student continuously keeps doing the same thing repeatedly at regular intervals, they are bound to excel at it. Children should be made to read and write the learnt content again and again. In fact, it should be done creatively in different ways so that they do not feel imposed to do so or to strive for perfection. They must be allowed to make innumerable mistakes and all their doubts must be cleared. This will help them discover new things every time with the same content and will make them curious to learn more and the topic will be well retained beautifully in their minds.

Revision is Key

As we mentioned that we are in a fast-paced environment where everyone is competing in a race to exceed, one constantly wants to keep learning and re-inventing themselves. When newer lessons are taught, the obvious is to keep moving ahead but the wise bit is to time and again pause and re-visit the earlier learnings. Just when it is nearing exam time students have the tension to remember all they have learnt in the academic year. So frequent revisions will definitely help them conquer as they would have concentrated on previous learnings as well as focus on the recent ones. This simple concept of falling back on older learnings is not only applicable to academia but to life at large. No learning will then ever be forgotten.

‘Markezy’ is an easy-to-use online grading and assessment platform made for educators with convenience in mind. They believe in the concept of grading anywhere and anytime and sharing the assessments with educators or reusing them. User friendliness is the key trait of this interface. ‘Markezy’ makes both paper and online assessments easy to grade and cuts down grading time for educators. It is an innovative system where students write assessments on paper and the teachers correct them digitally. This platform has a strong presence in Dubai, the Middle East/UAE, including the GCC countries.

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Often criticism is not taken in the right spirit and people get offended when they are corrected by someone. It is commonly seen at workplace that when a senior colleague tries to give advice to the subordinate, the employee may feel that he is being personally attacked and get angry or sad about it. Well If adults haven’t learnt to accept constructive criticism, how do we expect our school going children to deal with it?

What is Constructive Criticism?

Constructive criticism is giving feedback to an individual in a way that acknowledges the person’s strength, and at the same time, helps them improve or do a better job going forward. The main aim of this exercise it to offer useful guidance or tips that can reap better results. It’s a sort of positive feedback.

Criticism is an important part of life. It is because someone pointed out our errors that we refrain from making the same mistakes again and learn to improve ourselves. Growing kids have to constantly deal with ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do that’ comments passed by their parents, and even their extended family members. At school teachers may instruct children on how to adopt correct learning techniques and improve their knowledge. Even their friends can sometimes come up with all sorts of gyan. Criticism can often be difficult for children to tackle. Hence, it is important to teach children how to accept constructive feedback at an early age.

In a school setting there are examinations where children are evaluated, and it is imperative for the educator to write remarks or give comments to those who need to work harder to score better grades. Even in times of pandemic and social distancing, examinations are conducted online. Markezy is one such platform which enables the school to undertake exams prudently while giving the examiner the flexibility to evaluate and provide timely feedback from any remote location. In a short span of time, Markezy has already marked its presence in IB schools across the UAE, including Dubai.

How to teach kids to accept Constructive Criticism

Teaching children to not get dejected and rather gracefully appreciating the feedback and working upon it, is a way to inculcate good practice amongst them. Here’s how to talk about it to your school goers:

Explain what constructive criticism is

Children who are not guided by their parents or teachers on how to handle feedback may not understand how to deal with it and get demoralized or upset about the statement. Their interest in studies may be negatively impacted, and they may lose excitement in improving their skills. It is important to explain to them that constructive criticism is nothing to be afraid or ashamed about, rather it is a part of learning from others and improving oneself. Let the child know that you understand what they may be feeling and ask them to take It in the right spirit.

Children are not always right

Often kids think that they are always right and do not like to be told that they were wrong in the first place. While it is good to allow kids to explore and experiment by themselves, it is also important to correct them when it’s their mistake. Calling the mango, an apple, is not something that you as an adult can let go, and it’s your prerogative to immediately correct them. While the child may get agitated at first, he needs to learn to accept his fault and improve.

Praise the child for his attempt

When your child accepts the feedback given by the teacher on his exam paper and works towards re-learning the concept, appreciate his efforts. Ask the student to attempt the same question again and examine whether the concept has been thoroughly understood. Markezy makes it possible for parents to get real-time feedback. Correcting the child early on is better when the learning is fresh, than waiting for the school to organize its quarterly open-day.

Offer Solution and Advice

Whenever you are trying to correct the child, make sure to be clear with what your expectations are. While correcting an answer sheet, write in details why the reasoning applied by the child is incorrect, and what should have been the appropriate way of going about. The Markezy assessment tools, assists teachers in offering clarity to children by providing enough space for educators to write down their comments. With Markezy there is no room for ambiguity, and most schools across the Middle East, including GCC countries, endorse the manifold benefits of this amazing digital grading platform.

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This is an interesting and an extremely relevant question that we have raised. Isn’t it? Although there can never be a definite ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ as an answer. It is quite a debatable topic of the modern age. So, we have addressed it here and we bring to you our thoughts and take on this subject. Of course, it is a personal choice at the end of the day and one is free to choose and consume whatever they prefer and are comfortable with and that makes them happy.

It is said that when you love something, it really does not matter how the exterior is or in what medium it may come along. We are sure that bookworms will vouch for this. You give them a book and they will be immersed in it, cosily tucked away in their favourite reading spot. That is the power and the delight of reading. A person who enjoys reading and derives their happiness from books, will opt for any book whether in digital or print form. Reading is a wonderful activity and if the habit is inculcated early in kids, it expands their knowledge and shapes them in many brilliant ways.

The excited feeling of holding a book in hand is immense. The distinct sweet scent of the pages begin to waft through the air. An attractive cover, an impactful tagline, and illustrative pictures inside, catch the attention of children and adults alike and arouses their interest and motivates them to pick up that book. Not that an electronic book or an eBook does not have similar features but the presence of a physical book is remarkable. Thus, we cannot undermine or negate the importance of an actual book.

However, with progressing times, one has to adapt, evolve, and move ahead into a future that is promisingly digital around the world. Take Dubai, the UAE, or the Middle East for example. The digital revolution and the technological advancement they have made over the years is outstanding. An eBook is a small but a very significant component of present-day technology that millions avail across the globe. The benefits that are obtained with reading in a digital format as an eBook are enormous.

The common sentiment amongst most parents is that exposing children to the digital screen can be detrimental to their eyes. Hence, parents do not wish to encourage a lot of that and go for hard core books instead for their children. We would say that even reading printed books for long hours can be strenuous as well for them. Hence, parents must allocate the right amount of screen time for their kids. Once that is achieved, the additional benefits can be gained by kids through the use of the digital platform. Let us look at a few plus points eBooks have to offer and we have listed them below.

No space constraint

A printed book is literally something that you have at home on the shelf that occupies space and is often bulky when you carry it around during travel. This does not apply for eBooks as they are stored digitally in one’s electronic devices that have multiple utility beyond reading.

Accessibility across electronic mediums

An eBook can be accessed across several electronic devices such as a computer, laptop, mobile or a tablet. There are many sites and apps that offer plenty of eBooks to read just with a simple subscription. So, it becomes very easy to download books and read them comfortably indoors or when you are on the go.

Fast search and availability

You step into a bookstore or a library and you have to manually look for your favourite book. It could even be off the shelf as it may have been sold out since the number of copies a seller may retail per book would be limited. With eBooks there is no such disappointment. Any eBook can be searched easily in a few seconds online with the wide range of content present and the same book can be accessed by multiple people with their individual subscriptions. The Highlights Library App is one such e-reading App that is extremely user-friendly & is designed for early learners, available in UAE and all around the world.

Retrieval made easy

There is no hassle when you store your data electronically. Even if by human error you happen to delete or lose your eBook, you have an option to download and save it again immediately and access it multiple times and use it as ready reference any time. The Highlights e-library is easily accessible and stores over 1,000 books by noteworthy author’s for children.

Animated Clips and Videos

When print books cannot go beyond still images, the digital platform comes with its perks. Kids enjoy eBooks that have creative video content along with text. Occasionally animated clips and fascinating videos are inserted in these eBooks by the authors and publishers to make it a fulfilling experience for the reader. Highlights Library available in the Middle East, including Dubai and GCC countries, presents post-reading activities such as, quizzes, to test the child’s retention and make reading meaningful.

Audio Books

With digitalization, today you can not only read an eBook but also have the facility to listen to one which is an audio book. They have become hugely popular with the youth these days. Just access the eBook through your preferred platform, put on the audio, sit back, and relax and listen to the content or you could even be doing household chores, exercising, or travelling simultaneously while being plugged in or using speakers if required. You could either be a quintessential reader or a smart tech savvy reader. The choice is yours.

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A Science laboratory is an essential part of any school. Most schools have dedicated laboratories which invite students to conduct experiments, perform research, and indulge in hands-on learning. Often the school’s science lab is the birthplace for successful scientists and renowned researchers, who got the opportunity to explore their interest for science at an early age and develop an inclination towards discovering the amazing mysteries of sciences. A science laboratory is a space where students are not judged on the basis of right or wrong, but conduct observations and learn by experience and repeated trials.

Types of Labs in School

Depending on the space constrains, schools may have dedicated labs for different science disciplinaries like Physics, Chemistry and Biology or have one laboratory with allocated space to conduct different types of research and experiments.

For over 90 years, Carolina has been a trusted provider for supplying science lab materials to schools across the world including the Middle East and GCC regions. Their endeavor is to constantly improve their science supplies by introducing innovative ready-to-use biology, chemistry, and physics, kits to conduct experiments, seamlessly. Carolina specializes in serving the traditional K-12/college classrooms and labs across the UAE, including Dubai. Being a lab partner to many schools, Carolina also mandates safety protocols and manuals to aid safe discoveries.

Why Follow Rules and Precautionary Measures in a Science Lab

Students must not step in the school laboratories casually and treat it as a playground. There are certain rules laid down by the teacher or lab in-charge which needs to be adhered to. Some schools also hand over a copy of the ‘safety manual’ which needs to be read before entering the lab and commencing with the experiments.

When safety is not paid attention to in a laboratory the student not only risks of ruining the experiment, but also putting the life of others present in the lab in danger. An accident can damage the equipment and cause injury to students. Therefore, it’s always safety and rules first!

Do’s and don’ts to follow at the Science Lab

Don’t eat or drink in a science lab

There is strictly no munching allowed in a school lab! Students handle materials and chemicals with their hands and it is too dangerous to put a morsel of sandwich in your mouth with the same bare hands. Also storing food and beverages in the same refrigerator where the lab experiments are kept can lead to adulteration and disastrous effects on human health. Moreover, spilling a drink over the lab research notes can ruin the student’s chance of earning good grades.

Don’t try to be a mad scientist

We know how excited students are when they step into the science lab for the very first time! It’s indeed thrilling to be surrounded by beakers, colorful liquids, and stuffed animals, which is unusual in the classroom scenario. However, children must contain their excitement and not play or mishandle any material. Randomly mixing chemicals just to see what happens, can cause a blast and the premise could be on fire. Running or dancing around could also break delicate glass apparatus.

Don’t enter the lab without any adult supervision

Always inform your science subject teacher or lab in-charge if you have to visit the lab out of turn besides the allocated practical science period. The adult might have to accompany the student and stay with him until he is done with his work. Also make sure not to leave an experiment mid-way. Always complete the experiment and turn off the knobs & valves before leaving the space.

Do dress appropriately

The attire you wear while entering a lab is of great importance, as it can save you from an unruly accident. Always wear clothes that cover most parts of your body, like, long pants, full sleeved shirts, and shoes that conceal your toes. Besides this, you need to protect yourself with an additional layer of clothing. Protective gear usually includes, lab coats, safety goggles, face shields, gloves, and noise cancellation ear plugs, depending upon the nature of the experiment you are about to perform.

Do dispose of the waste and clean up the workstation

Students usually arrange their lab desks neatly before an experiment, however, as soon as the experiment is over, they seem to be in a hurry to rush out and might forget to follow procedures. One important lab rule to follow is to know exactly what to do post an experiment and where to dispose the waste. Chemicals need to be poured down the drain and glass test tubes need to be stored safely in its assigned place. There is also a proper method for removing the safety equipment and dropping it in the appropriate disposable bin.

Do remember where emergency equipment is located

School labs especially should conduct regular drills to practice what is to be done when an emergency strikes. Every lab has a safety shower area, where casualties are rushed to drench themselves in water, if a hazardous chemical happens to spill over an exposed body part. The lab is also vulnerable to fires, and hence having a fire extinguisher handy is a must. Children should be able to access the fire extinguisher in case of an emergency and know how to use it correctly. It goes without saying that a well-equipped First Aid kit should be available in the lab premise which must be restocked frequently.

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