World Book Day 

This year our theme for World Book Day was ‘Make Your Own Book’ – this encouraged the children to be authors and write for pleasure. As well as this, children could participate in a book swap – books that had been read and were no longer in use could be brought in and swapped for something else meaning no books are left behind!

2022 sees the launch of our brand new Reading Challenge. Just like our 1,000,000 page challenge this is designed to encourage children to read at home and foster a natural love of reading.

 The idea is to complete all of the tasks over the year. There are 3 levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. The aim is to try and complete a level each term (Bronze in the Autumn, Silver in the Spring and Gold in the Summer). Some of the challenges are easier than others and they can be completed in any order you wish from any level.

Each time a child has completed an activity they are to have it signed by an adult and then bring it to school to be stickered off by Mrs Walker (and a super quick explanation of what they did). There will be a small prize for completing each level.

Bronze – 30 House points.

Silver – a bookmark.

Gold – a book.

Writing – Class have been trying out some new ways to structure their writing this year. We have been using ‘Slow Writes’ and ‘DADWAVERS’ to really think about how we form paragraphs and start sentences in a variety of different ways. This has been really successful so far and has shown great impact on our writing. Eventually we will be able to use the ideas independently to effectively plan and write our own pieces.

Reading – This year we are trying to embed our Reading skills and understanding the different question types. We are using Ninja Vocabulary and Literacy Shed (VIPERS) to help us develop our knowledge and understanding

2020-2021
Summer 1
Mrs Walker’s Reading Challenge

Now we are back after lockdown we think it is important that all adults are listening to every child in the class. Teachers and TA’s (as well as other adult helpers) will be making sure that every one in the class is listened to read each WEEK!

As well as this Miss Dallard has set Mrs Walker a challenge to listen to every child in the school read by the end of the Summer term! This means she needs to listen to 3.5 children read every school day! Apart from forgetting on the first day (oops) she is well underway………… but most importantly she is really enjoying listening to the children read and we are all sure she will complete the challenge!  

Reading at home- It is expected that EVERY child reads at home EVERY DAY. This is recorded in the children’s reading records so teachers can track this is happening. When your child reads, please ask them questions to ensure they are understanding what they are reading and not just the recall of words. It is important that children foster a love of reading and not see it as a chore. As well as listening to your children read it is important you model good reading habits to them by reading yourself and reading to your children too.

Just look at our AMAZING new reading area! Aren’t we lucky to have such a calm and enriching place to foster our love of learning. The children are absolutely loving our new Hobbit Hole. 

Reading Spine

This year the teachers have been making a ‘Reading Spine’ for our school. They have carefully selected books that they think all children should read throughout their journey at St Andrew’s. This spine offers children exposure to a range of genres and authors…….and some really super fantastic books!

2020 saw the implementation of the 1,000,000 page reading challenge, here at St Andrew’s. We love reading and thought what better way to encourage and celebrate just how much we read by setting this challenge. Our weekly total should average around 19,000 if we want to complete the 1,000,000 pages by the end of 2020.