Reading for pleasure 3 July 2015 - conference notes

Margaret Holborn, Head of the Guardian Education Centre, welcomed everyone to the conference.

Julia Eccleshare, the Guardian children’s books editor, introduced and chaired the day and spoke about the Guardian’s commitment to as much discussion of children’s books as possible. The aim is to get the best possible books to children, teachers and schools. There is a children’s book prize every year and one of the day’s speakers, author Piers Torday, was last year’s winner.

Emily Drabble, editor of the Guardian Children’s Books site, explained that the website is for under 18s and is often written by young readers. Young people can review books and they will be sent books for free. There are thousands of members of the site and children are sent encouraging emails to improve their reviews. The website produces galleries, articles and reviews of books for age 0-18. There are themed book weeks and also live chats with authors. Children and reading groups can join the site.

Writing for children - Piers Torday

Julia introduced Piers Torday, 2014 winner of the Guardian children’s book prize for his book The Dark Wild, the sequel to his debut novel The Last Wild and the second book of a trilogy.

Piers explained that he spends time in schools every week and is aware of an upsurge in strategies, initiatives and schemes for reading.

He talked about the value of children reading. His focus was not just on educational, social or literary value but also the human value. Through reading children can feel that they are not alone and they can engage with feelings and experiences that they may not have yet encountered. They can become aware that there is a space in the world for every kind of person.

Piers asked delegates what they thought were the 100 most influential books according to Facebook. Data collated shows that 20% are books originally written for children. Harry Potter was listed as the most influential, with Lord of the Rings, Hunger Games and the Narnia books also in the top ten.

Piers asked delegates to name their influential books and they recalled Polyanna, Secret Garden, The Once and Future King, Tom Sawyer and Little Women. Piers loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Piers felt it was an immense privilege to write for children.

Piers addressed how adult writers set about creating stories which will inspire, excite and move a younger mind. He told a story about a boy called Jack who lived a happy and conventional life in Belfast in 1906. His mother died and his response was to lose himself in a fictional world called Animal Land. He wrote to his brother at boarding school and said that he was going to write a history about Mouse Land. This boy was CS Lewis. He said that all his happiness and security went with his mother's death. Piers said that the author seems to be recreating a personal paradise that existed before his mother died.

Piers tries to create stories that he would have enjoyed as a 13 year old. The environmental themes in his stories probably have roots in a holiday he took when he was 12. He went to the tiny Scottish island of Colonsay with his best friend and family. The 12 year old boys trekked across moors and cliffs and were followed by a cat. On a beach they found a seagull with a broken wing, which his friend put in his pocket and they took to a vet. They then came across a mouse interested in their sandwiches and to protect it from the cat Piers put it in his pocket. A rabbit then joined them and the boys returned to their hotel with the creatures. He later used this

experience as inspiration for his stories. Children's books often come from recognisable experiences.

Piers said that 40% of his work as an author is reading. He reads to top up his own imaginative reservoir but also to be aware of the range of styles, tone, voice and different structural approaches.

Jacqueline Wilson said that she writes with one eye on the market to be imaginatively in tune with what children are reading. Piers would also add having one eye on history. He is aware that he is working in a tradition and so wants to be original but learn from past classics. He enjoyed Aesop's Fables and The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. A book which is pleasurable usually has resonance beyond its own words and plot and children will respond to that. Piers works as a volunteer with reluctant readers with the Beanstalk charity and thinks the answer is not to give them something too simplistic to read. They live in a modern complex world and even the simplest tale needs depth and context to be convincing.

Characters are at the heart of any story. He approaches characters from the point of view of function, eg: hero, enemy, liar, trickster and then tries to think of the most original and appropriate personality to fill the role.

When writing The Last Wild Piers wanted to write a book about climate change and the relationship with the natural world. Children have lost about 60% of their playing space during the last 50 years and spend more time playing with computers. Before writing The Last Wild Piers had decided he wanted the story to include a whale and a polar bear. Whilst wondering how to write his story he spotted a large pigeon outside his window. He thought it was a boring animal but he researched them and found they had an interesting history, they had been useful during the second world war and one had won a medal. Piers was also surprised to learn that the passenger pigeon, an extinct North American bird, numbered over a million in the 19th century and the last one died in 1914. The Last Wild was written about pigeons

Piers concluded by saying that what most children want is to be older and freer. A good book will grant that wish. For an hour or two young readers can also be wiser and braver, happier, sadder and angrier. The gradual awakening of the imagination can be a passport to a lifetime's journey of self-discovery that is the central pleasure of reading that children's writers have all discovered in their own way and try to return for generations following them.

Creating a community of readers – Martin Cooper, deputy headteacher, Mile Oak School, Brighton

Martin talked through a huge number of ideas that he uses to encourage reading for pleasure at his school, with an emphasis on ownership by the children, entering the 21st century, innovation and reinvention, including:

The Library (called the Hub) is run by the children. There is a space for writing as well as reading. Children write letters applying to be a librarian. Everybody also joins Mile Oak library

Reading champions: At Mile Oak they wear black shirts so everyone knows who you are. Writing champions wear purple shirts, maths wear red. There is no jealousy; it is about aspiration. The youngest children start as reading stars and then it goes right up to silver and gold champions for the older pupils. Children have said things such as: “Every time I put on my shirt I feel a tingle of power in my brain” and “I can write a lot better when I put the shirt on.”

Accelerated reader: The scheme helps children read entire books. Children do a star reading test and then the book quizzes are based on their level. There are currently around 30,000 books on the system. It develops reading stamina. Children are motivated by quizzes and recommend books to each other. Michaela Morgan took part in a mastermind quiz on her own books in

assembly and was beaten by children. Parents are also involved via Home connect. Children get treats for targets being met – for example taking to them to the cinema. It is also useful as diagnostic tool as lots of data is collected.

Reading millionaires: Accelerated reading counts the words read. Children who have read a million words get a certificate and book tokens. Martin hired a Hummer and took the first 12 on a trip as a reward. This year they have over 30 millionaires – he is taking them on a boat.

Words on wheels: A book trolley selling books - run by 16 year 4 children, who invested £5 of their own money to invest in the company and sell the books to other children.

Book buses: Miniature buses full of books go up and down the corridors of Mile Oak. Book busketeers wearing hats deliver books – including on the field in summer. Brighton & Hove buses renovated the buses and made a new one that lights up. Busketeers give up lunchtimes to work with younger children. Teachers train the children on managing groups "we put the kids who weren't paying attention at the front...".

Community reading champions: Children visit local nurseries and volunteer with them. To become a champion they have to write to Martin and give good reasons why they should do it.

Reading pavement: A Reading Walk of Fame - children who reach beyond the gold standard get a paving slab inscribed with their name on the walk of fame. A very special honour – only 2 or 3 a year. Mile Oak also now have a Writing Walk of Fame.

Reading in different places: Outside of school grounds – While working at a school in Croydon, Martin took children to the courts – they were reading I Was a Rat. At the court they all got out their books and read in the courtroom instead of the classroom. The judge put him on trial.

Buddy reading: How to be a buddy instructions are always available. They have stickers for buddies, a buddy of the day – participation can be occasional, does not have to be all the time.

Book hunters: Children find the missing copies of a book hidden around school – to increase the complexity, have 'bad guys' trying to find the hunters.

Super dads workshops: To get dads more involved in children's reading.

Football and reading: Premier League Reading Stars is a football scheme where the children read football related texts and then finish with football related activities.

Quick ideas: Raffle tickets are given to children who are caught reading/writing/calculating (including at home and in the library); Keep Calm and Keep Reading posters; shelfies; speed dating with books; reading on line with a Kobo; blackout poetry using newspapers; recreate a cover for World Book Day (pose a photo like a book cover); beach read (crank up the heating, give out choc ices, children read); pets as reading champions competition (the best photos of pets reading). The hamster won.

Workshops

Bringing books alive in your school….for free! Guardian Children’s books and Puffin Live

Alexandra Taylor introduced Penguin Schools and discussed how they work with schools and how schools can engage with their authors. They have a schools mailing list and free teaching resources.

Emily Drabble introduced the Guardian Children's books site and showed a video of children interviewing authors.  She talked about how the website is written for children and by them. They have been running for four years and the number of children reviewing books has grown.

She showed an article where two site members interviewed Jacqueline Wilson and how this engaged children with reading. 

Andrea Bowie and Tash Collie introduced Puffin Virtually Live. It is a free live author show that schools can sign up for and the children ask questions in advance of a show. During the shows there are live Q&As with authors and draw alongs with illustrators. The shows also star special guests and reveal exciting news such as book cover reveals. Puffin Virtually Live has been running since 2012 and over five million children have been involved. 

The Puffin Live team showed an example of a draw along with Quentin Blake as well as Jeff Kinney and Jacqueline Wilson examples.  They also do shows that feature stories by authors who are no longer with us such as the annual Roal Dahl Day show. The 2014 show featured performances from the West End production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.   

They also have lesson plans that schools can use before or after watching a show. They showed an example of a Virtually Live show with Jacqueline Wilson   and her Hetty Feather book and they used a draw along with her illustrator Nick Sharratt as part of the show. The teachers got a chance to take part in that draw along.

Alex explained how visual literacy got children got into books and how this links to Chris Riddell's, the new children's laureate, aim to get children to access books through illustration. The teachers talked about how you could use the draw alongs as a lesson starter.

Emily then showed some how to draw galleries from the series that the site does once a week and explained how schools teachers and children can use them and be inspired to draw.

The Puffin team talked about a Steven Butler and The Diary of Dennis the Menace inspired show that was anarchic and chaotic but the children loved it.

Emily then explained how she got the site reading groups to engage with authors – they did a call out to book members asking them to pitch a review of the Diary of Dennis the Menace and then picked the school to interview them. The St Andrew's Reading Group came up with some brilliant questions for the author that resulted in a lovely interview. Emily encouraged the teachers to join with book groups and how using the site and taking part in such activities can really engage children with reading. 

The teachers asked Emily what makes a good review from a child. She suggested that when children start writing reviews they think they need to be formulaic but actually they need to be chatty and fun. She suggested the children talk with a friend first.  They should ask each other questions such as why do you love this book and give examples. The answers to these are what need to be in a review. When children send in reviews Emily and her team will give them advice and encouragement. 

Emily showed an example of the review of the Dennis the Menace diary from a book group that was chatty, informative and fun and really engaged with the book.  The group realised that they were recommending it to all the site members throughout the world.

The next Puffin Virtually Live show is a Roal Dahl Twits spectacular on the 25 September, for which you can sign up for free. You can find out about Puffin Virtually Live shows via the monthly newsletter and the Penguin Schools newsletter. The Penguin Schools newsletter also contains news and updates about other events, competitions and books from Penguin Random House Children’s.  You can watch all of the Puffin Virtually Live shows on demand. This web page contains every Puffin Virtually Live show plus the accompanying resources.

The teachers then got a chance to review the Puffin Live site and Guardian Children's book site. 

Play on words – Shelagh McCarthy, British Library learning team

The workshop is part of the British Library's learning programme. It is designed to stimulate the senses and aims to increase confidence in using language playfully and creatively, using the collection at the British Library as inspiration.

Shelagh began by asking the questions ‘what is creative writing?’, 'where to authors get inspiration from?' and 'what if you don't have any inspiration?' and challenged the group to think experimentally about it. The workshop aims to create something out of nothing - a springboard to creative writing.

The group gathered words from around the room (letters framed on the wall, signs around the building, words suggested by our surroundings) and recorded them on a worksheet which asked for nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

Using the collected words, they created an imaginative text, first individually and then in groups.

Individually, delegates selected an adjective and a noun followed by an adverb and verb and then another adjective and noun - so the six words in a row to resemble a sentence, but it makes no sense – at this point with children, you could change the words, add to it, bring in grammar and so on.

Next, the groups read their sentences aloud – the first group whispered altogether, the next group shouted theirs and the final group sang.

The group explored what whispered words would look like; small, faint and spidery, fragile. Shouts would be in capitals, big, bold, red and black. The sung words were golden, moving, dancing.

Shelagh showed a video of the Jabberwocky which highlights the visual impact of the words in the poem, and the group then physically put their own words onto paper, using stamps, stencils and lettraset.

Finally, the groups produced a piece of creative writing to be performed at the end – Shelagh gave examples that children had come up with in the past, including a broken telephone conversation, a rap, and the historical mash ups and collisions that happen when using words in the Library.

Characters and places could be found in the lists of nouns, and actions and descriptions in the verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The results involved interpretive dance, choral kennings and promenade theatre.

The folded sheets each person had been working on also created a bookform when tied together, which could be used as inspiration for new stories, or to illustrate, collage etc back in the classroom.

Engaging parents in reading for pleasure with Julie Westrop – Cafés for All lead trainer and Senior school advisor Norfolk County Council

Julie introduced the workshop by explaining she would be looking at:

1. Research.2. How to engage parents in schools and supporting learning and the barriers and obstacles.3. How to engage parents in supporting reading for pleasure.4. Sharing success – key ingredients.5. An approach – Cafés for All.

Julie asked the group why engaging parents in reading is important. The response was that children spend more time with parents and parents supporting children at home makes a

minimum of 10% difference to pupils’ achievement. Parents also shape children’s attitudes to reading, especially their reading for pleasure.

The group was asked to describe events they used to engage parents in reading:

Book Week. Dads reading in school. Parents making books for children activity. Book swap day for parents.

Julie asked the group working in pairs to divide a sheet of paper into three sections: A, B and C. Under A they listed which parents would not engage with reading for pleasure. Under B they gave reasons for lack of engagement and under C suggested what the solution could be.

One suggestion for parents who may have work commitments was to vary times for parents to come into school or ask parents to encourage other family members to join in reading activity sessions.

Other obstacles to parental engagement could be negative school experiences which meant finding schools intimidating places. Suggestions to overcoming this included using a neutral venue and also involving parents in other ways in school before asking them to get involved in reading activities. Dual language books may also be appropriate for overcoming obstacles to engagement.

Julie also suggested schools should be conscious of the reading age of material sent to parents. SMOG (Simple Measure of Gobbledegook) tests may be a useful guide to appropriate levels. Also sometimes a poster can be used instead of a letter as a quick and effective means of communicating with parents.

Cafés for All

This programme is based upon the idea of creating an informal pop up Café in the school setting. The aim is to invite parents into a comfortable environment and help them develop their skills, knowledge and confidence in supporting their children’s learning and development across the curriculum. The Café can be set up economically using inexpensive tablecloths, comics, books from classrooms etc. Teachers decide how often and how long they open the Café. To be a proper Café school it should open at least once every half term for one and a half hours. Children can make invitations for grandparents and child minders as well as for parents.

For the first fifteen minutes of the Café session the teacher always reads a book. It is an opportunity to model how to share a book, including for example books without words such as Sylvia Van Ommen’s The Surprise. Schools are encouraged to involve the community library and also to invite guest readers. In Wales for example politician Carwyn Jones and actress Ruth Jones have participated in Cafés for All sessions. It is also suggested that in the early stages of engaging parents and families, an art and craft activity is involved as this involves no pressure and can be great fun.

As parents become more relaxed and confident they can take away for instance a dice activity based on 365 Penguins book. It’s essential that enough time is given on every occasion for refreshments and the chance for parents and children to enjoy time with one another, look at and explore resources and socialise with other families.

It’s important that at the end of each session it is pulled together so that parents know what has been achieved. Some schools have a bank of Café parents who will come in and support the Café activity. Children can also take part in Cafés as leaders. Positive feedback from schools has shown that it has been appreciated as part of their reading culture.

Recommended reading:

Promoting Reading for Pleasure in the Primary School by Michael LockwoodWho Next?: A Guide to Children’s Authors edited by Vivian Warren and Mary YardleyAre You Sitting Comfortably? Then I’ll Begin: Exploring the Role of Storytime and its Impact on Young Children by Neil Griffiths

Cafés for All training for early years settings and primary schools is available at a discounted rate for Reading For Pleasure attendees. For more information contact julie.a2e2@gmail.com, 0746 795 0523, follow twitter @a2e2Cafesforall and look at the website Cafes for All.

Afternoon speakers

Creating and illustrating stories for young readers: author and illustrator Mini Grey

Mini enthusiastically described the secret power of picture books.

It’s possible for children to build imaginative worlds and build empathy by imagining from someone else’s point of view. Books have the dangerous power of putting ideas into your head – are books a survival vehicle for ideas?

Empathy and imagination

The thing about picture books is that you can explore what it would feel like to be an egg, or a biscuit or a spoon. Imagination is a really powerful ability humans have to run through whole scenarios in the mind without actually having to do it. Mini thinks the test of a good story is whether at the end you feel like you have been somewhere else. She talked about the process of creating picture books for young readers.

The Gap

A picture book is not like a film. It is a three-way collaboration between child, adult and book. There are gaps that ask imaginative work of you unlike in a film. Words and pictures are working together.

Mini is very fond of maps. One of her favourites is the Isles of Forgetfulness from the Atlas of Experience. She finds that with a picture of an island she can make a list of words and put them together and create something new.

The great thing about making picture books is that you are all powerful – you can make anything you want happen. Mini has often made food run around. One of the pleasures in introducing book characters and small objects is the chance to see things from the point of view of the small character and to animate things.

In Traction Man the action hero enters the imagination of the boy owner. Action packed adventures are played out by the boy and his new toy and they can overcome all sorts of villains lurking around the home. Children can imagine their own homes and gardens being transformed into adventurous settings. In Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey the action figure finally leaves the house and is swept out to sea and the dilemma was that the boy in the story is Traction Man’s animator and what would he do separated from the boy?

In Toys in Space, toys are accidentally left outside one summer’s night and the dilemma is what could happen to them.

Hermelin is the inside story of a street. It begins with a cheese box from Prague with the name Hermelín on the front, and a lost pet. Mini had noticed that lots of local cats seemed to be going missing, including her own, Bonzo, and wondered if something strange was going on. Unable to solve the mystery of the lost cats Mini introduced a mouse detective. The great thing about a mouse is that it can get anywhere and so find clues. There is also the interesting existential problem that although the mouse was incredibly clever people regard mice as pests. So the

ingredients for the story were: lost things, a mouse with a special ability and everything happening on one street.

In Space Dog Mini was inspired by the idea of dogs in space and adventure and also thought about Laika, the Soviet dog sent into space in 1957. Fascinated by moon rations and a toy rocket owned by her son Herbie, she made a map of outer space and planets complete with toilets, hoovers and duvets. Mini has to limit her stories to 32 pages and therefore has to ditch lots of ideas in the writing process.

Mini reflected that when people talk about “illustrations” in books, it often sounds like the words are in charge and the pictures are just following orders. But in picture books it’s different. In picture books words and pictures are a double act, each doing a different job, but you need both of them to have the whole story. Even the youngest children are expert readers of pictures. In pictures you can say complex things that would take an enormous number of words to explain.

When words and pictures come together something magical happens that is made by the reader’s imagination.

Strategies to get children reading, learning and achieving - Prue Goodwin, lecturer in literacy and children’s books

Prue’s talk focused on the joy of reading and how teachers can help promote this with their pupils. She began by reading aloud to the delegates, first with a quote from Terry Pratchett’s Truckers, the First Book of the Nomes, for the joy of its words, and how he plays with grammar: “The sky rained dismal. It rained humdrum.”

She also read from BJ Novak’s The Book with No Pictures, to show how much fun reading with children can be, especially when a teacher has to read out, "Also, I am a robot Monkey. What?! And my head is made out of blueberry pizza".

Then, to illustrate how teaching children to read for pleasure is an act of love, she used Carol Ann Duffy’s poem, Teacher, which begins:

When you teach me,your hands bless the airwhere chalk dust sparkles.

And ends:

I bow my head againto this tattered, doodled bookand learn what love is.

Prue gave some examples of books that are brilliant at helping to create the reading bug, including: Claude, Welcome to the family, Dreams of freedom, Shh! We Have a Plan, How a Library (Not the Prince) Saved Rapunzel, ABC UK , How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen

She gave us suggestions of why reading for pleasure is vital, and how schools can help to make this happen:

Children improve as readers when they read for pleasure. All children should experience the pleasures of reading in school.

There should be compulsory modules on children’s books in all ITE courses. There should be libraries equipped with best texts for children in every school (fiction,

picture books, digital texts, non-fiction, comics) plus a librarian.

Teachers are in good company when it comes to running campaigns about reading for pleasure: Dolly Parton, Sir Quentin Blake then all the Children’s Laureates that followed him, school librarians, The Fonze, Geri Halliwell, Meatloaf and many other individuals and groups have all made the point that children make progress with reading when they read for pleasure.

Prue discussed the pleasures of reading, such as: 

Getting lost in a book. Becoming emotionally engaged. Being absorbed in unfolding narrative.

However, what can very easily happen in schools is often what makes anyone not enjoy reading:

Being told what to read. Struggling with language because it is beyond your abilities. Having to write a book report. Being tested. Reading ability measured by the perceived level of the text.

She went on to discuss how children develop as readers: little children get pleasure from performance and being praised for reading aloud correctly. In year 2-4 most children reach 'pivotal plateau' when they can use decoding strategies without direct support. In order to progress from here to begin to enjoy the content of the books they read, they need lots of practise. The language must be below limit of their skills in order to encourage deepening levels of understanding, breadth and reading stamina, and to elicit a personal response.

Progress comes when pupils are regularly reading for pleasure. When they are reading with ease, pleasure shifts from praise at performance to enjoying content. They develop understanding beyond the literal as decoding becomes automatic. They experience being lost in a book. Language and texts will gradually increase in complexity.

Strategies to get children reading, learning, achieving:

BE a reader yourself - specifically be a reader of children's books. Celebrate readers and books. Use librarians and libraries. Make reading for pleasure a priority in your school/classroom. Run a campaign or book award - give kids an opportunity to read, enjoy books and make

a choice.

Being a reader is nothing to do with:

The colour, level, or shelf a book has come from. Being able to answer questions about the text. More words fewer images. Getting level 5.

Prue concluded by emphasising how reading for pleasure is an essential part of learning to read.

Afternoon workshops

Literature into literacy – Mathew Tobin, Senior Lecturer in English and Children’s Literature, Oxford Brookes School of Education

The teachers went straight into reading David Weisner’s Flotsam as they arrived.

Mat then introduced himself. Has been in teaching for 16 years and is now a Senior Lecturer of Children's Literature at Oxford Brookes having gained his Masters at Roehampton University. Mat said he had a very arrogant view of children’s books when he first started his four year teaching degree at Westminster College (now Brookes) but it didn’t take long for a very influential lecturer, Mary Sutcliffe, to change his mind. She showed him that there was a diverse, brave and challenging world of reading out there that was far more complex and exciting than he had even imagined. Whilst on the course, he was also fortunate to be taught about the power of stories by Aidan Chambers and Philip Pullman, the former was a repeating guest speaker and the latter as his lecturer in traditional tales.

He encountered hundreds of books on the course but the ones that influenced him were:

A Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson) – Taught him that children’s books can make you cry and that it’s fine to do so.

Tuck Everlasting (Natalie Babbitt) – Children’s books touch on the philosophical and ask big questions.

Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak) – Picture-books are powerful literary devices.

John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat (Jenny Wagner & Illustrated by Ron Brooks)  – Shows that picture books can reveal different things with every new read.

Red Shift (Alan Garner)  – Sometimes you have to work to get the most out of a reading experience.

He then talked about cross-curricular planning in using a novel and how it can bring a more meaningful context to teaching.  When he was assistant head, he found a fellow Harry Potter obsessive and managed to cajole her into trying some creative planning. She agreed and they had the best fun planning and this immediately fed the children’s enthusiasm too.  They taught across all curriculum subjects using Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The final activity they did with the children lead to turning the school into the great hall from Hogwarts with a sleepover. They also tried a similar small-scale approach with Anthony Browne’s books across the whole school.

In the workshop, the teachers were then given an image from Flotsam and were encouraged to write around anything that they could see and infer and then they fed this back to the group. He talked about the wealth of creative discussion that can come from just one image in a book and level of conversation you can have with the children.

He recommended inspirational books to get teachers thinking about the power of picture books - Looking at picture books by Jane Doonan, How texts teach what readers learn by Margaret Meek and Tell me: Children, reading and Talk with The Reading environment by Aidan Chambers.

With his PGCE students, he tries to dispel the idea that picture books are for younger students/beginner readers. He showed the teachers some of the plans students did on picture books as examples of how to use them throughout the curriculum.

He gave the teachers a planning framework using Flotsam as a guide and they then picked a picture book relating to a year group, then worked and discussed in small groups how they might use it in a cross curricular way.

They had to think about the characters, settings and themes and then drama and literature opportunities. In the grids there are links to opportunities that help with planning.

Drama opportunities: http://www.educationumbrella.com/storyteller/cpd,

http://dramaresource.com/drama-strategiesLiteracy opportunities: https://michaelt1979.wordpress.com/freeresources/Cross-curricular activities: https://michaelt1979.wordpress.com/freeresources/Receptive context (how you can use the room to excite and engage the children into wanting to explore the book and anything related to it more): http://www.readingrockets.org/article/103-things-do-beforeduringafter-reading

In the last five minutes he shared this Padlet on using picture books from foundation stage to year 6 and discussed how these books can be used in inspire critical thinking, drama and cross-curricular planning.

Additional resources 

Drama resource: http://dramaresource.com/drama-strategies/Drama Resource 2: http://www.educationumbrella.com/storyteller/cpdCurriculum Overview: https://michaelt1979.wordpress.com/freeresources/Before, During & After Reading: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/103-things-do-beforeduringafter-readingLink to Exemplar Planning and all of the handouts: https://app.box.com/s/337z83xygrtb91usayrjsm05phg94qv4mtobin@brookes.ac.uk (email)@Mat_at_Brookes (Twitter)http://mattobin.blogspot.co.uk/ (blog)

Make a book! Shelagh McCarthy - artist/educator, the Learning team, British Library

The British Library Learning Centre offers the practical Make a book! workshop to primary schools for years 3-6.

During this session, teachers had the opportunity to try out the workshop. They developed teaching ideas to use back in the classroom and also discovered what their students would do if they came for a visit.

The session helped show how teachers can promote excitement about books by exploring them as physical objects.

Shelagh led a general discussion based upon the following questions:

What do books look like? What is a book for? Which senses do we use when encountering books? What's inside a book?

Teachers were introduced to the history of the book.  They looked at a variety of images and discussed different types of books including a codex, scroll, ebook and a fan-fold book. Shelagh underlined the physicality of books when explaining the terms for different parts of a codex book - the head, the foot, the body. Teachers handled different types of books including an old codex book that they were encouraged to smell and a braille book.

Teachers then went on to create their own book using basic bookbinding techniques and decorating the cover, taking inspiration from the British Library's collections.

Building a Buzz about Books

Sophie Peach - Chair of Shrewsbury Children's Bookfest

Joanna Hughes - Festival Co-ordinator for Shrewsbury Children's Bookfest

Shrewsbury Children’s Bookfest was established in 1999. It is a registered charity based in Shropshire and is run by a group of mainly volunteers. Its aim is to bring the world of books alive and inspire children with a genuine love of reading. In 2009, the organisation was given the Queens Award for Excellence in the Voluntary Sector.

The organisation started 16 years ago with an annual four-day literary festival for families. 13 years ago they began an annual week-long programme of bringing authors and illustrators into schools.

The workshop focused on the Shrewsbury Children's Bookfest Book Award, a reading development project that they have been running for schools since 2010.

The aim of the project is to find the book published in the last 12 months that children like the most. In 2014, the project involved over 1,000 pupils from 33 Shropshire primary schools.

The project beings in July (ie for Book Award 2016 this is July 2015). They begin by asking all the leading children’s publishers to submit around five titles each for the longlist. By the end of August they have around 60 titles. They distribute these books amongst groups of pupils considered good readers from eight schools.

The children create the shortlist: they help select the six titles that they feel other children of their age in other schools will enjoy the most. They have until end of November to read their set of books and evaluate them.

Joanna and Sophie have found that the children really rise to the challenge of choosing a shortlist for their peers across the community; it is this element that makes this Book Award project different from many others. The adults on the steering group must respect the feedback from the children, even if it means giving up a book they feel has more literary merit for one the children feel will have stronger appeal.

The shortlisted books are given to teachers in time for them to plan lessons beginning in January, when the project is launched to the children in participating schools. Children are asked to read as many of the books as they can before the end of March when they will vote for their favourite. They don’t need to read all six, but they do need to read more than one.

A range of competitions are launched as part of the project, including: an art competition to illustrate a scene from one of the shortlist titles; a competition to create a piece of poetry based on any character or element from one of the books; a competition to produce a short film trailer inspired by one of the books. Bomber Dog, by Megan Rix, won the Book Award 2014 and the trailer that the children produced can be viewed on the Bookfest website.

In March all pupils are invited to cast their votes for their favourite books – the voting system is weighted according to how many books have been read by the pupil.

The project culminates in an Awards Ceremony. The three main objectives of this are:

1. For the children to showcase their work.2. For the children to meet the shortlisted author(s).3. To find out who has been voted winner of the Book Award.

For Bookfest in 2014, 31 out of the 33 participating schools attended the Awards Ceremony at a central venue. Around 900 pupils came to this event. The remainder who were unable to attend had the whole event live-streamed via the internet direct into their classrooms.

Feedback from teachers about what makes this project so engaging for pupils:

Non-competitive, inclusive reading initiative that is led by pupils (Beanstalk volunteers work in schools to support more reluctant readers with the project).

A number of creative mediums are given that pupils enjoy working with – a good platform to showcase their work.

Reading has a sense of purpose with a common goal in sight – community of young pupils vote for their favourite book title.

Huge levels of discussion generated among pupils – spontaneous, unprompted by teachers, pupil-led (though can be guided by teachers an used as good classroom discussion activities too)”

Teachers don’t have to take part in all the extra activities – it is not prescriptive.

Individual schools included the book award in their teaching in different ways:

One school invited Piers Torday to come in and speak with their pupils as soon as the shortlist was announced. All work that term was referenced back to The Last Wild.

Another set up a classroom blog, which led onto the development of the review/comments area on the Bookfest website.

Another school invited players from the Shrewsbury Town Football team to come in and read alongside some of the boys who were more reluctant readers. This school also used the ESB (English Speaking Board) framework for six pupils to prepare a talk about the shortlist which was delivered to the Minister for Schools on his visit to Shropshire.

A short film about Book Award can be seen on the Book Award webpage.

Ideas generated by delegates in the workshop, inspired by the book award, included:

Using the existing library as long list - track lending history to discover most popular title, collate responses to books over period of time, annual prize etc as result.

Children choosing books that go into collections at school. Topic for whole school generated by themes of a book. Mini book fest as a cluster of schools. Older children create a long list for the rest of the school. Postcard small ads - read this book... Word list wall in the library.

How you can take part in Book Award 2016:

In an ideal world, Shrewsbury Children’s Bookfest would love to be able to extend the engagement in their project to all those who wish to join, nationwide. However, while this is not yet possible, Shrewsbury Children’s Bookfest would very much welcome other schools, libraries, bookshops etc to follow the organisation as it rolls out the Book Award 2016 project in order to deliver a book award project of their own.

This could be done simply by using the Shrewsbury Children’s Bookfest shortlist for Book Award 2016 (which will be confirmed in December 2015) as the basis for running their own Book Award. The shortlist titles can be obtained by purchasing the necessary copies via their own sources and applying the classroom activities and extra-curricular projects alongside, that would most suit their own children/pupils/audience.

In order to ensure that all necessary information is received by those wishing to map or replicate Book Award 2016, contact Joanna Hughes at Shrewsbury Children’s Bookfest via email: joanna@shrewsburybookfest.co.uk

Guardian Teacher Network – Kerry Eustace

Kerry introduced the work of one of the Guardian newspaper’s professional networks. Much of the content is user generated and Kerry highlighted the popular Secret Teacher feature. One of

the many community projects was asking teachers what they would be reading over the summer. There is also some fantastic literacy and reading content which may be of interest to delegates:

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-networkLive chat with Michael Morpurgo  Teachers tips on boys and reading for pleasure.Bit of fun with teachers sharing their top summer reads  How reading teaches empathy 

The Children’s Bookshop, Muswell Hill sold books throughout the day. Kate Agnew from the bookshop also took part in the final panel discussion.