Tag Archives: Literacy

Bookchat at Warden Park Primary

I had a fantastic visit to Warden Park Primary to run bookchat workshops with Year 5 & 6. The children were brilliant and enjoyed sharing their thoughts about reading, as well as participating in the various activities. The aim was to share the joy of reading and enable them to discover the magic of books, with guidance on how to go about choosing the right book, using their own interests as a guide. We looked at the concept of genre and played genre based games, which they loved. They also loved the travelling bookcase and the fantastic books it contained!

It’s such a joy to talk about books with children and see their excitement and appreciation. Bookchat is such a great opportunity to develop reading skills and empower children to become more confident in their reading choices. I’m delighted to say the feedback was great; thank you Warden Park Primary!

“The children loved the workshops, they are now so much more motivated to read and explore books – children that used to say that they didn’t like reading are now asking to go to the library so that is great! Also, when I ask them to find book to do some quiet reading I am now met with smiling faces! The activities that you led were engaging and really encouraged the children to think about reading and what it means to them without being too intense! The workshops had an extremely positive impact.”

Why I love reading.

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Working as I am at present has caused me to reflect and as such, consider why it is that I love reading.

I’ve always been a reader. I can remember as a young reader, when I was so engrossed in my books, my older sister would throw things at me to get my attention – thankfully there were no broken bones (or books!). As I got older, reading was just something I always did, it being perfectly natural to pick up a book, sit and read for hours. It was definitely an escape for me – not that I had an unhappy childhood; I just had a massively vivid imagination and would open the pages of a new book with joy ready for the next adventure to begin, escaping the world of school, homework and the growing pains of being a teenager.

So maybe that’s what made me fall in love with reading – the ability to transport myself to other worlds, other times and connect with new ‘people’ even if they were only between the pages of a book. My father definitely influenced my reading; giving me a ‘library’ of brand new books; ‘classic’ reads which I loved because they were beautiful leather bound books – not because I actually wanted to read them at the time! Beau Gueste, Lorna Doone, Uncle Tom’s Cabin didn’t really appeal to me – I was more into Sweet Valley High which I suppose reflected my blooming interests in all things romance and the trials & tribulations of friendships! But the thing was, I loved those actual, physical books, the idea of all those words inside, knowing these particular ‘classics’ perhaps reflected a certain intelligence and knowledge, which even though I hadn’t read yet, it was there. Just waiting. Continue reading →