Reading News

   What's happening?  Read All About It!

It is so lovely to see the children reading outside as well as in. Look at what's been happening at Forest School!

#rfp

The Literacy Garden is open once again and ready to be used at lunchtimes for reading and sharing books - a lovely quiet space. Mrs Tuff has worked so hard to get this up and running once again.

Wow! Another successful and very popular Book Swap in the playground after school! We love to see children and their grown ups so excited to swap books with each other and develop reading for pleasure!

#rfp

Miss Munro has started painting book covers on the library ceiling tiles - they are just incredible! There’s more to come and we will be asking the children for suggestions and asking them to vote for their favourites. 

Share the Joy of Reading

Just had to share this little snippet to make you smile and show how reading can bring so much joy  #readingforpleasure

https://youtu.be/5fvmXJCjgJs

World Poetry Day 21st March

We celebrated World Poetry Day in school by sharing and performing favourite poems. A nice message to start the day.....

The funny ones seemed very popular because they made us laugh!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY7AyGRct-E

Fabulous World Book Day celebrations March 2nd 

We had a wonderful day celebrating our love of all things books - dressing up or designing a t shirt, listening to authors and of course sharing to lots of stories, some even round the campfire. The Book Swaps in class were great, so nice to see and hear the children talking about their choices and reading with such enthusiasm! The grand finale was the playground Book Swap where children and their grown ups could exchange even more books!

Chatterbooks  

Each Friday the children join in with Chatterbooks.

They can bring a chosen text from home to share and discuss with classmates.

Research carried out by Teresa Cremin at the Open University supports the crucial balance between reading for pleasure and reading instruction, and we know that without embedding a strong foundation of reading for pleasure, we cannot effectively instil the knowledge and skills required for reading comprehension. We strive for our children to become lifelong readers who choose to pick up a book and read because they enjoy it! #readingforpleasure

   Early Bird Readers

Each Wednesday morning, children can bring their grown ups to school at 8:20am and share a book or two in the library before learning begins in the classroom. What a great way to start the day! #readingforpleasure

Recommended reads for each year group

Please visit  https://www.booksfortopics.com where you will find really helpful lists of books suitable for children in each year group.

Recommended Reads Leaflet Year R 2022 - 2023
Recommended Reads Leaflet Year 1 2022 - 2023
Recommended Reads Leaflet Year 2 2022 - 2023
Recommended Reads Leaflet Year 3 2022 - 2023
Recommended Reads Leaflet Year 4 2022 - 2023
Recommended Reads Leaflet Year 5 2022 - 2023
Recommended Reads Leaflet Year 6 2022 - 2023

No Shelf Control

If you are keen to support your child's reading development and passion for reading, check out this blog written by a teacher where MONTHLY newsletters are published all about books that have recently been published. 

Rosie the Reading Dog

We are so lucky to have Rosie visit us and hear some children read. Rosie is part of the Read2Dogs Pets As Therapy charity. There are so many benefits: 

*Helps improve literacy skills and wellbeing

*Develops confi dence, interest and enjoyment in reading

*Dogs are non-judgemental and great listeners

*Encourages positive social behaviours and enhances self-esteem

*****************************************************************************************************

September 2021 to July 2022

Summer 2022 Reading Challenge 

A great FREE way to keep the children busy and reading for pleasure over the summer holiday. Reading lots also helps to maintain learning during the break. Just pop to the library in town or visit the mobile library to join the challenge from July 9th.

All the information needed can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Q8clEyxDk

https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

Each year group now has a selection of poetry books to dip in to throughout the year.

The DfES reading framework 2021 suggests that.....

Through enjoying rhymes, poems and songs, and reciting poems or parts of longer poems together as a class, teachers can build children’s strong emotional connection to language. Poetry in language-rich classrooms builds shared memories for all children. The predictability of rhymes in poems and songs also helps children to memorise and re-use newly acquired words and phrases. Learning poetry and songs using ‘call and response’ allows children to join in gradually. Each repetition strengthens their vocabulary, embedding new words. Word knowledge exists on a continuum. As each word is acquired in the young child’s lexicon, it moves from the barest familiarity to an in-depth knowledge of that word, with all manner of associations and contexts. As the children say each word of a poem, the cadence of the lines helps to convey the meaning and the mood. Children pick up the rhythm and, by speaking more slowly, gain awareness and control of their voices. Learning rhymes, poems and songs is an end in itself. However, learning poems including traditional nursery rhymes such as ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’, ‘Little Jack Horner’ and ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ can also heighten children’s awareness of the individual sounds within words through alliteration, assonance and rhyme. For instance, because rhymes share the same end sound, they alert children to the contrast of the phonemes at the start of each word, as well as the repeated phonemes at the end, as in ‘dock’/‘clock’, ‘Horner’/‘corner’ and ‘Incy’/‘Wincy’.

Through enjoying rhymes, poems and songs, and reciting poems or parts of longer poems together as a class, teachers can build children’s strong emotional connection to language. Poetry in language-rich classrooms builds shared memories for all children. The predictability of rhymes in poems and songs also helps children to memorise and re-use newly acquired words and phrases. Learning poetry and songs using ‘call and response’ allows children to join in gradually. Each repetition strengthens their vocabulary, embedding new words. Word knowledge exists on a continuum. As each word is acquired in the young child’s lexicon, it moves from the barest familiarity to an in-depth knowledge of that word, with all manner of associations and contexts. As the children say each word of a poem, the cadence of the lines helps to convey the meaning and the mood. Children pick up the rhythm and, by speaking more slowly, gain awareness and control of their voices. Learning rhymes, poems and songs is an end in itself. However, learning poems including traditional nursery rhymes such as ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’, ‘Little Jack Horner’ and ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ can also heighten children’s awareness of the individual sounds within words through alliteration, assonance and rhyme. For instance, because rhymes share the same end sound, they alert children to the contrast of the phonemes at the start of each word, as well as the repeated phonemes at the end, as in ‘dock’/‘clock’, ‘Horner’/‘corner’ and ‘Incy’/‘Wincy’.

The Reading Agency are running a mini reading challenge to encourage children to read over Christmas, and it's achievable with a minimum of 3 books. The challenge is open now and runs until 16th January 2022. You can join up online and download a mini reading diary, a certificate and a badge. 

https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/news/general/winter-mini-challenge-2021

We would love to hear from the children if they take part, and see their certificates and badges - photos on Tapestry would be great!

Here are some links to recommended reads suitable for each year group. A great selection for snuggling up with on cold Winter days and to add to Santa's list!

https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-6

https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-5

https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-4

https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-3

https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-2

https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-1

https://www.booksfortopics.com/reception

      October is Dyslexia Awareness month

Dyslexia Awareness Month was created by The International Dyslexia Association and it  takes place over the entire course of October each year.

It is much more than raising awareness of dyslexia, it focuses on the theme of of ‘Dyslexia Creates’ - the power of dyslexia to create unique individuals, ideas and organisations, and the invaluable contribution they make to the UK, as well as the challenges and inequality that can often be created by dyslexia.

https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/support-us/awareness-events/dyslexia-awareness-week/dyslexia-week-2021

GO and get information   &    GO and get support

The following links are great places to find information about dyslexia and support when discussing it with your children.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/20783005                   

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IEpBujdee8M

https://youtu.be/11r7CFlK2sc

                         January/February 2021

                         Home learning

Some suggestions for reading related activities during home learning...

Virtual library

Please follow the link to a virtual library. There are lots of titles to explore and enjoy. 

https://www.parklandsprimary.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/VirtualLibrary-Parklands.pdf

Phonics Gamer 

has announced it is free to register and play during lockdown. Another option to boost the children's phonics learning.

https://www.thephonicsgamer.co.uk/

Oak National Academy 

have established a Virtual School Library in partnership with the National Literacy Trust.

https://library.thenational.academy/

Every week a popular children's author or illustrator will provide you with free books, exclusive videos and their top three recommended reads.

Epic Books 

are offering parents 30 days free access to their online resource bank.

Epic is an American company so some of the titles and audio books may need getting used to but it's a great way to widen the choices for your child's reading.

https://www.getepic.com/promo

Book Trust

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/

Join the local library and use the Libby app to access hundreds of online resources.

https://kent.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/MSGTRN/WPAC/HOME

Virtual School Library

The National Literacy Trust website is stuffed with great Literacy resources. They have just launched a virtual school library where children have access to magical stories all year round - at school or at home. Have a look:

https://wordsforlife.org.uk/virtual-school-library/discover-your-superpower-greg-james-and-chris-smith/

September 2020

Bringing reading books home MONDAY and returning FRIDAY

We would like to inform you of our system for bringing reading books home in the light of Covid-19. You will be updated of any changes if or when they occur.

The children will not have access to independent book choice from the library or colour band selection. Instead they will choose from a range in their classroom bubble. Any books taken home will need to be quarantined in school before they can be returned to circulation for other children to use. For this reason, children on colour banded books will bring a new book home with their reading diary on a Monday and keep it there to read at home each day until Friday when it will need to be returned to school for quarantine. We will provide zipped pockets to keep the books clean and safe and expect this to be used to transport them to and from school on a Friday only – nothing else should be put in the zipper. Record your child’s daily reading journey in the diary please so we can share this in school.

Reading a book several times is something which we positively encourage; it helps to build fluency and understanding and by the final read, it should sound good with no finger pointing.   The children will also have individualised word books to learn on sight; they can work on these during the week and of course at the weekend whilst books are in quarantine. Weekends are also a great opportunity to snuggle up with a great picture book or log on to Oxford Owl if you wish:

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/

Username and password both Charthamreaders

Obviously, this is a new routine to get used to and we thank you in advance for your understanding of how important it is to maintain safety and consistency.

We celebrated the opening of our Literacy Garden with a grand opening ceremony. Teddy gave a fabulous speech and cut the ribbon! The Reading Den is inside and is proving to be a very popular, quiet place to read and write at play times.

The much anticipated Literacy Garden is almost ready for a grand opening. It houses a cosy Reading Den and is a quiet space to be used at playtime by children who want a calm break from the busy playground. Ask the children what they think.             

Over the last couple of months we have been collecting tokens from The Sun newspaper to exchange for reading books. They actually arrived on World Book Day and we were delighted! Over 100 books worth £600 - thanks to all those who sent in tokens to add to our collection.

We had a fabulous quiet reading day in school. The hall was decorated with twinkly lights, lots of comfy seats, beanbags and cushions. All classes visited and spent time relaxing and enjoying books.

                      February 2020

Over the next two weeks we have planned some fabulous book based events:

Wednesday 4th March - Quiet Reading Day as requested by The School Council. The hall will be set up with beanbags, cushions, fairy lights etc and each class will visit for some time to relax and enjoy books.

The bargain book sellers will also be visiting on that day. We are trying to raise funds for more books in classrooms so we would really appreciate it if  each child could contribute £1 to a class 'pot' which can then be spent choosing and buying books for the whole class to share and enjoy.

Parents can visit the sale after school too.

Thursday 5th March - World Book Day come dressed as a book character or make a prop as a clue to a book. Remember that we LOVE homemade things and it's not necessary to go out and buy a costume; hopefully our early warning gave you a chance to start making during half term. There will also be some fun book based activities during the day.

Monday 9th to Thursday 12th March - Book Fair 

Book Fair will be open in school at lunchtimes for the children and from 3:15 until 3:45pm for children and their grown ups. We really look forward to seeing you there.

Thanks as ever for you continued support and enthusiasm, we couldn’t do any of this without you!

                                     January 2020

There is an exciting competition being run by the KM newspaper group (details below) - entry forms can be collected from the school office or Mrs Flewitt.

There is an earth-moving prize on offer for the KM Charity Team’s latest Be the Boss writing competition.
The winner of the competition for primary school pupils in Kent will spend the day in charge of Diggerland theme park in Strood.
They will get to explore the site, instruct staff on their activities for the day, work with the marketing department, check the stock in the shop - and even get to work some of the awesome equipment at the venue. 
To be in with a chance of winning, children need to write an account of their daily car-free journey to school.
Entrants need to think about issues such as: 

• Who they walk with and what did they talk about
• The things they see during their journey
• Any interesting wildlife or plants they see along the way.

The author of the best piece of writing will win the prize, and the experience day will take place on Saturday, March 28.

                      Mini library pop ups........................

There has been a buzz of excitement over our new shelves which have appeared around school; all were kindly funded by The Friends.

Each class has responsibility for one shelf; two pupils from each will be stocking it, keeping it tidy and recommending books to their peers. 

                                        Platinum Literacy Mark

We have been awarded a Platinum Literacy Mark which is presented to schools that demonstrate a clear commitment to promoting and supporting home reading. Reading is a team effort  so we would like to  thank everyone who shows such commitment when encouraging the children's reading at home.

Chartham Primary School are taking part in a free books for schools scheme run by The Sun newspaper. Tokens will be printed in the newspaper for our school to collect in exchange for lovely new books. The tokens will be printed from November 23^rd until January 18^th 2020 and we need to collect LOTS! We would be very grateful if anyone who takes The Sun could save the tokens for us; please ask friends and relatives too, or perhaps you work in a shop and you can get hold of old newspapers! The tokens can be sent into school with pupils or dropped off at the school office. Many thanks, we will keep you informed of our progress.

         The Book People - Big Book Boost

We are now registered with The Book People to be part of their 'Big Book Boost'. If you make a purchase with them over £10, and nominate Chartham School, they will donate £1 to us to spend on books! Please spread the word to friends and family members so that we can build up as much to spend as possible. Many thanks!

https://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/bigbookboost

Harry our PAT dog has kindly gifted a book to our school library. He doesn't get to hear everyone read but anyone can borrow his book. Guess who is the main character? Hmmmmmm.........................

.                                                                       

   Edward in Year 3 Chameleon Class wins a poetry competition!

To celebrate National Poetry day combined with RE Mrs Bennett entered some Chartham students into a national poetry competition.  They made books of all the entries to put in our school library. 

We have just heard that Edward in Chameleon Class won a  category;  click on the link and you can see the head judge reading Edward's poem.

Well done Edward, we are very proud of your achievement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMLsxdLa7F4&feature=youtu.be

Book Sale update

The book sale was amazing. Each class got to choose books with their non uniform money collection - there was a great buzz of enthusiasm and excitement throughout the day. Then more books got sold after school! Thanks so much for your wonderful support to get more books into the hands of the children.

Bargain Book Sellers

On Friday 11th October we have a visit from the Bargain Book Sellers and this time we would like to do things a bit differently in order to get lots of books into the hands of as many children as possible.

Friday 11th October will be a non uniform day in exchange for £1. Each class will then have a pot of money to spend on books to enjoy in school/borrow for reading at home. 

Many thanks in advance for your support.

      October is Dyslexia Awareness month

Dyslexia Awareness Month was created by The International Dyslexia Association and takes place over the entire course of October each year.

This year the idea is to Go Green for Dyslexia

It is much more than raising awareness of dyslexia it is a green light for going forwards and taking action to:

GO and get information   &     GO and get help

The following links are great places to find information about dyslexia and support when discussing it with your children.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/20783005                   

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IEpBujdee8M

https://youtu.be/11r7CFlK2sc

There's something mysterious happening in the library!

Some mystery packages appeared in the library - they seemed to be wrapped books but only the blurb was visible!

The children could then sign up to read the books once they had read the blurb. This caused much excitement and lots of children took part before the books were given out for unwrapping and reading. We look forward to hearing what they thought of their 'mystery' books. Keep checking back!

                             Toucan Class love reading!

Mr Woolcott and Mrs Croucher are so proud of Toucan Class, they are enjoying reading at home and remembering to bring their books to school every day. Also, they have really launched themselves enthusiastically into their first Guided Reading sessions. What a great start!

Louis chose a book as his prize for Perseverence in Celebration Assembly on Friday.

Fabulous reading displays are popping up all over school - we really do love books!

Our fabulous TAs work very hard every day to boost the children's reading mileage.

The children love choosing their reading books independently. 

What's happening in the playground? Keep checking back to see some exciting developments!

                   Word booklets to learn at home

Children in Key Stage 1 now have booklets of words to learn to read speedily at home as well as their reading book. There are 6 words in each and once they have been learned we can check in school before moving on to the next. The booklets contain a mix of tricky words, high frequency words or common exception words. Once learned they will really help to support the children's reading and writing. If the children can spot their words in their reading books that would be amazing!

Reading for pleasure has  been found to improve Maths skills in children!

A study by the Institute of Education at the University of London has found that children who read for pleasure perform significantly better at school than those who read less. It was shown to improve performance in vocabulary, spelling and maths tests. Even more reason to read, read,read!!

We are very lucky to have Harry come in to school to hear readers as part of the Read2Dogs programme devised by the Pets As Therapy Charity. The children look forward to his visits each week and he listens beautifully!

The Friends have very kindly donated some money towards buying some new books from Barrington Stoke which we are really excited about. Their website states……..

Barrington Stoke specialises in 'cracking reading', publishing super-readable children’s books that break down the barriers that can stop kids getting into reading. Our first-rate short fiction brings together the very best children’s authors and illustrators in the UK with a host of unique accessibility features to offer cracking reads accessible to more children including those with dyslexia or visual stress.

We really hope this encourages more reading and a BIG thank you to The Friends!

Thanks to The Friends

Each term The Friends are kindly funding the purchase of some newly published books

which are refreshing library stocks. The School Council have helped Mrs Flewitt to choose what to get. There was much excitement and discussion around the choices and a good spread of ideas.

Thank you to The Friends

The Friends have very kindly agreed to fund the purchase of magazine subscriptions for the children to read in school. The magazines will appear in the library over the coming weeks and are another great way to get the children reading for pleasure. Ask your children what magazines they have been reading!

Thank you - new books

Many thanks to parents and carers for their generous support at our School Book Fairs. Each class has been able to choose new books free of charge using commission that we have built up at each fair. These books are a wonderful addition to our Literacy resources and contribute to the childrens' learning.

Picture Book Week 2018

Picture Book Week was a super time for each class to base their work on a picture book chosen by their class teacher. The week started with a visit from a published author and it culminated in a mini exhibition where each class displayed their work for the rest of the school and parents to see. There was some very imaginative and creative work on display and it was so lovely to see the development of the childrens' learning from Reception to Year 6, along with such a variety of ideas. The pupils who manned their class stall were very keen to talk about their work and they were fabulous ambassadors. Thanks to everyone for a lovely week, and we hope that it helped to deepen the childrens' love of books.

                            Picture Book Week 2017

What a wonderful week the children have had exploring picture books specially chosen by their teachers. The work that they produced was so colourful and creative. The children swapped teachers and classrooms for a story session for a different experience and we even had an assembly with the traditional tale of The Enormous Turnip in French!

World Book Day 

We celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as characters from Where's Wally? He is 30 years old this year!