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Source: http://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/category/primary-literacy/feed/

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<item>
<title>Teaching every child to read!</title>
<link>https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/teaching-every-child-to-read/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[stefanlesik]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 24 Nov 2022 09:12:19 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary Literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Little Wandle]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary reading]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/2022/11/24/teaching-every-child-to-read/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We are determined to teach every child to read, so we have developed different programmes to ensure you can meet the needs of all your leaners. 
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/teaching-every-child-to-read/">Teaching every child to read!</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[By Charlotte Raby
We are determined to teach every child to read, so we have developed different programmes to ensure you can meet the needs of all your leaners.
There are now three Little Wandle programmes:
<ul>
<li>Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised + Daily Keep-up (what we call the main programme)</li>
<li>Little Wandle Rapid Catch-up</li>
<li>Little Wandle SEND Programme.</li>
</ul>
Each programme has been carefully designed to teach the same curriculum at different paces to specific groups of children.
Children in Reception and Year 1 
Most children in Reception and Year 1 will follow the main Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. Some children will need additional support; they should have the Daily Keep-up.
Children with complex SEND issues that affect cognition will follow the Little Wandle SEND Programme.
Use this chart to help you work out the correct programme for your children in Reception and Year 1.
<img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="wp-image-9244 aligncenter" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/JPEG-graphic-1-768x279-003-1.jpg" alt="" width="626" height="228" />
Find the SEND programme in the Weekly lesson content area.
<a href="https://findarep.collins.co.uk/">Collins reps</a> will guide you to purchase the right resources for your setting.
Children in Year 2 + 
We urgently need to teach any child in Year 2 or above who cannot read.
Every child in Year 2 and above who cannot read at age-related expectations needs urgent targeted support so that they can access the curriculum and enjoy reading as soon as possible.
Little Wandle Rapid Catch-up is a complete catch-up programme that mirrors the main phonics programme but has a faster pace. It has been created to help children catch up quickly.
Children with complex SEND issues that affect cognition will follow the SEND Programme.
Use this chart to help you work out the correct programme for your children in Year 2 +.
<img decoding="async" class="wp-image-9245 aligncenter" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/JPEG-graphic-2-768x279-1-1.jpg" alt="" width="649" height="236" />
Rapid Catch-up is taught for 20-30 minutes every day. This includes the phonics teaching and reading practice session.
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/teaching-every-child-to-read/">Teaching every child to read!</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
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<title>Meet Nadine Cowan, author of the new Black history series from Big Cat</title>
<link>https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/big-cat-black-history-series-nadine-cowan/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[stefanlesik]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Nov 2022 11:20:34 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary Literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Collins Big Cat]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[collins primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary education]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary english]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary literacy]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/2022/11/21/big-cat-black-history-series-nadine-cowan/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I’m Nadine Cowan and I write and illustrate picture books with Black main protagonists to combat the low figures of Black children in children’s literature from diverse and underrepresented voices/creators. 
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/big-cat-black-history-series-nadine-cowan/">Meet Nadine Cowan, author of the new Black history series from Big Cat</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-9229" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Nadine-1-838x1024.jpeg" alt="Nadine Cowan" width="164" height="201" />I’m Nadine Cowan and I write and illustrate picture books. I include Black main protagonists to combat the low figures of Black children in children’s literature from diverse and underrepresented voices/creators. I’ve loved writing creatively for as long as I can remember. When I was young, I would write stories, songs and poems on my mum’s electric typewriter and be fascinated by the way I could put words on a page.
My earliest memory of writing success was joining my school poetry team at secondary school where we practised the art form of Spoken Word. We went on to win the London Teen Poetry Slam and had the opportunity to tour Chicago in the USA, performing at various schools and performance venues. When I left school, I put the pen down to pursue other passions and dreams.
The writing spark was reignited after the birth of my first child, motivated by the fact that there weren’t many contemporary books available in the UK that featured Black protagonists written by Black authors.
So, when I was approached by Collins Big Cat with the opportunity to write and illustrate a book series focused around Black History, shortly after graduating from the HarperCollins Author Academy, I was thrilled.
A lot of the content around Black History centralises stories of enslavement and trauma so I was adamant that I wanted to amplify positive stories.
Growing up in London as a second-generation Brit whose grandparents came over to England during the Windrush era from Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the late fifties, I still had close ties to the Caribbean. I grew up on Caribbean food, music, dance and games. My dad taught us how to play dominoes and Ludi (known as Ludo in the UK), and my aunt had this really huge handmade beautiful wooden Ludi board with hand painted African masks on it from Jamaica that we would play on. I knew many Black British children would share similar experiences, so I really wanted to tell a story that had some of these elements weaved in.
And so, <a href="https://collins.co.uk/collections/stories-from-black-history">the series</a> was born. A 12-book adventure series about a Black female protagonist Aniyah who travels back in time with her cousin EJ and her best friend Olivia, through a magical Ludi board – not unlike the one I played as a child – where they meet real historical figures and adventure with them.
<a href="https://collins.co.uk/collections/blue-mahoes"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-9228" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/CBC-BH-email-2-1-1024x576.png" alt="Blue Mahoes books" width="638" height="359" /></a>
There were so many amazing stories that I wanted to tell; it was extremely hard to narrow it down to twelve but I settled on some really great stories I think children would love to read, like Yasuke, the first African samurai that we know of in Japan, Miss Lala (Olga Brown), who was an expert aerialist in the 19th and 20th centuries, and Domingo Benkos Biohó, who escaped enslavement in Cartagena and founded San Basilio de Palenque, to name a few.
The first four titles in the series will be available from January 2023, and are available to pre-order <a href="https://collins.co.uk/collections/stories-from-black-history">here.</a>
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/big-cat-black-history-series-nadine-cowan/">Meet Nadine Cowan, author of the new Black history series from Big Cat</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
]]></content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>Books Like Us</title>
<link>https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/books-like-us/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[stefanlesik]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2022 09:12:15 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary Literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Books Like Me]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Collins Big Cat]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[collins primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[fiction]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Little Wandle]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary education]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary reading]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/2022/09/29/books-like-us/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I remember visiting the library in Doncaster when I was nine. One time, I spotted something surprising peeping out from … <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/books-like-us/">Continued</a>
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/books-like-us/">Books Like Us</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[I remember visiting the library in Doncaster when I was nine. One time, I spotted something surprising peeping out from a low shelf.
‘Johnny and the Bomb’ by Terry Pratchett. There it was – Johnny! My name!
What stuck with me more than the story itself was the euphoria of that first time seeing my name on a book.
Fast-forward fifteen years or so, and I was the teacher of a Year 5 class of my own, at Elmhurst Primary School in Forest Gate, East London. I asked my class of thirty children how many of them had ever seen their name in a book. Not a single child could raise their hand. It certainly wasn’t for a lack of reading.
The lack of representation ran deeper than names. My students – most of them of South Asian Muslim heritage – had rarely found stories with characters who looked like them. Had never encountered fiction with characters who shared their religion.
Whilst there is still an enormous amount of work to be done in publishing and education, things are now at least moving in the right direction. My classes since then have found Zanib Mian’s ‘Planet Omar’ and rolled around laughing at Humza Arshad and Henry White’s ‘Little Badman’, among a wealth of other stories.
I have had the pleasure of writing some new books in the Big Cat Little Wandle series. Every book has the potential to show a child that they either do or do not belong in the world of the written word. It is a responsibility for all of us who write for children.
My book <a href="https://collins.co.uk/products/9780008552077">‘It Honked At Me, Ashwin’, </a>illustrated by the amazing Rea Zhai, is a funny book about an administrative error that leads to two men adopting a chaotic goose called Minty.
Freddy and Ashwin – who intended to re-home a puppy called Monty – are a same-sex mixed-heritage couple.
<a href="https://collins.co.uk/products/9780008552077"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-9176" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Picture1-6.png" alt="" width="583" height="408" /></a>
As a gay man, I think back to what difference it would have made to me as a sometimes-lost kid to have seen any LGBTQ+ characters in an early reading book. And for that to be completely normal. Even in my own bittersweet story of middle-aged gay men being lampooned by an anarchic goose, there is a simple implicit message that LGBTQ+ people exist and belong in the world.
Just before lockdown, I had been working with kids in schools across Yorkshire. Whilst I was browsing the phonics texts in one of the schools, it struck me that our particular kind of ‘Britain’ is absent from children’s books.
Not London, but not the countryside of Enid Blyton either. Where are the towns built with solid bricks and history, coated in the memories of factory smoke?
There are children learning to read in places like Doncaster, Bradford, Plymouth, Dudley, Wigan and Barnsley.
<a href="https://collins.co.uk/products/9780008552114"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-9177" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Picture2-6.png" alt="" width="624" height="644" /></a>
When I began writing <a href="https://collins.co.uk/products/9780008552114">‘Myths Don’t Frighten Me’, </a>I decided early on that I wanted Doncaster to feature in my fantasy story about two sibling Greek gods fighting against an ancient beast. Not just a ‘Doncasterish’ place but Doncaster itself – by name and by appearance. The wonderful illustrator Jim Crawley brought this vividly to life.
Why shouldn’t the reincarnated children of Zeus be transported to fight against their timeless serpent foe outside Greggs in Doncaster town centre?
<a href="https://collins.co.uk/products/9780008552114"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-9178" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Picture3-4.png" alt="" width="624" height="351" /></a>
All children deserve to see the different aspects of their lives reflected in the books that they read.
Quite simply, we live in a society that is still far more diverse than the books that portray it.
<hr />
This blog post is written by Jonny Walker, author of<a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat-little-wandle-letters-and-sounds-revised-books"> Collins Big Cat for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised books</a>, including <a href="https://collins.co.uk/products/9780008552077">It Honked At Me, Ashwin</a> and <a href="https://collins.co.uk/products/9780008552114">Myths Don’t Frighten Me</a>.
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/books-like-us/">Books Like Us</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
]]></content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>Supporting Reluctant Readers</title>
<link>https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/supporting-reluctant-readers/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[stefanlesik]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sun, 14 Feb 2021 22:19:32 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary Literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary reading]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Reading]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Reluctant Readers]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/2021/02/14/supporting-reluctant-readers/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Reluctant readers are a small but significant group of children who do not yet read for pleasure. They are children … <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/supporting-reluctant-readers/">Continued</a>
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/supporting-reluctant-readers/">Supporting Reluctant Readers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Reluctant readers are a small but significant group of children who do not yet read for pleasure. They are children who can read, but instead avoid or choose not to read. While not exclusively boys, many are, and finding ways to guide them towards reading as a pleasurable activity is hard work. In this article, I consider some of the characteristics of reluctant readers and how we can help them.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-8675 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/DSC01121ret-scaled.jpg" alt="Reading in school" width="302" height="202" />
<h4>Finding the first book</h4>
Knowing what books to recommend to a reluctant reader can be tricky. You need to know what they’re interested in and then have a wide knowledge of children’s literature. Making time to read children’s books will help you recommend texts to the children in your class but also finding out what interests them out of school, which television programmes they like, the sports they’re interested in, the games they play and what they read out of school will help you make recommendations more easily. The <a href="https://researchrichpedagogies.org/research/theme/teachers-knowledge-of-childrens-literature-and-other-texts.">Open University Reading for Pleasure website</a> has a huge range of ideas to help you build your knowledge of children’s literature.
<h4> 
Finding the next book</h4>
Once a reluctant reader finds a book they like, the next hurdle is to find them subsequent books they’ll enjoy. Pointing children towards books written by the same author is always a good idea and similarly having a stock of books in series also encourages a reading habit. Books in series are particularly good for this as they offer children familiar characters, settings and themes. They also look similar to each other and the further children delve into these series, the more they come to trust the author and illustrator to provide them with pleasure from their reading.
<h4> 
Reading by choice</h4>
Children who read for pleasure do so by choice and not because they’ve been told to. Ensuring that all the children in your class choose to read means you’ll need a range of texts that appeal to all children and a system for exchanging books based on choice rather than allocation.
<figure id="attachment_8915" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8915" style="width: 303px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/f4cdah6nbibspt9/CBC%20book%20bands%20guide%20update%20sep-20_1.pdf?dl=0"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-8915 " src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Guide-to-Book-Bands-1.png" alt="Collins Big Cat - Guide to book bands" width="303" height="214" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8915" class="wp-caption-text">Collins Big Cat – A guide to the book bands</figcaption></figure>
It’s a good idea to have a range of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and other texts organised within reading bands. This means that children can choose the texts that appeal to them while you’re assured that the text will be within their reading ability. It’s also worth scheduling some time each day for reading for pleasure to help children develop the habit of regular reading.
It’s also worth bearing in mind when setting up reading for pleasure time, that reading doesn’t need to be a solitary activity and many reluctant readers benefit from reading socially. Encouraging children to read in pairs or small groups is hugely beneficial for all readers but especially those who are less likely to read on their own. Having multiple copies of books so that children can read together aids this greatly as does having audio copies of books that children can read along with.
<h4> </h4>
<figure id="attachment_8928" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8928" style="width: 296px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-8928" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Chaos-crew-app-1.png" alt="Shinoy and The Chaos Crew image" width="296" height="395" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8928" class="wp-caption-text">Illustration from Collins Big Cat Shinoy and The Chaos Crew series</figcaption></figure>
<h4>Reflecting the world around them</h4>
Another barrier to reading experienced by many reluctant readers is that they struggle to find books that reflect their own experiences of the world around them. This could be that the characters in books don’t look like them or that they don’t have the same interests as them. Furthermore, reluctant readers are often unable to find characters they aspire to be like.
It’s worth auditing the stock in your classroom collection to see how well it reflects the lives of your children. When doing this, you may want to think about how many of the main characters in books are representative of the ethnicity of children in your class. It’s also worth considering whether the books you have present positive images of boys and girls, children with disabilities and positive images of working class and middle-class people. <a href="https://clpe.org.uk/publications-and-bookpacks/reflecting-realities">The Reflecting Realities report</a> undertaken by the CLPE is worth reading to support you as you audit your classroom book stock.
In a similar way, it’s worth looking at the range of books in your collection that represent the contemporary world. You and I might like old-fashioned adventures set in times gone by, but not all readers do. Some of our reluctant readers want to read texts set in the familiar world of the present.
<h4> 
Multi-modal texts</h4>
Sometimes children are deterred from reading in school because the books on offer don’t reflect the texts they read out of school. 21st century children are skilled at interpreting multimodal texts such as illustrated fiction, comics and graphic novels. They are experts at following computer game narratives and navigating online texts. Ensuring that you have a range of multi-modal texts in your classroom stock, and that you value these as highly as longer chapter books, is a good way to encourage children to read for pleasure.
<figure id="attachment_8916" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8916" style="width: 489px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-8916" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/graphic-novel-spread-1.png" alt="Shinoy and The Chaos Crew Graphic Novel spread" width="489" height="335" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8916" class="wp-caption-text">Graphic novel – Pages from Shinoy and the Chaos Crew: Mission: Static Shocks</figcaption></figure>
In summary, if you’re looking to support reluctant readers, I recommend:
<ul>
<li>creating a collection of books by the same authors and books in series</li>
<li>ensuring that you have a range of fiction, non-fiction, comics, graphic novels, picture fiction and e-books</li>
<li>becoming familiar with children’s books so that you can more easily make recommendations to children</li>
<li>getting to know your class really well so that you know both their reading and wider interests</li>
<li>providing time each day for children to read for pleasure and allow children to read together during these sessions</li>
<li>auditing your reading stock to ensure that it reflects the interests of your class and that it is representative of the lives they lead</li>
</ul>
If you’re looking for a new series of books in series to inspire reluctant readers working between Purple and Lime bands, <a href="https://collins.co.uk/collections/primary-primary-english-collins-big-cat-shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew">Shinoy and the Chaos Crew</a> is a new addition to <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">Big Cat</a> that may offer just what you’re looking for.
<hr />
Written by Rachel Clarke
Rachel Clarke works with schools across the UK and beyond to raise standards in literacy. She is the author of several education books published by Collins and writes regular articles for education magazines and websites.
 
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/supporting-reluctant-readers/">Supporting Reluctant Readers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>Chris Callaghan – From reluctant reader to published author</title>
<link>https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/chris-callaghan-from-reluctant-reader-to-published-author/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[stefanlesik]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sun, 14 Feb 2021 21:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary Literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[author]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Collins Big Cat]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[collins primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary reading]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Reluctant Readers]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/2021/02/14/chris-callaghan-from-reluctant-reader-to-published-author/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A few years ago, when I became a published author, I was thrust into a world of writers, readers and … <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/chris-callaghan-from-reluctant-reader-to-published-author/">Continued</a>
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/chris-callaghan-from-reluctant-reader-to-published-author/">Chris Callaghan – From reluctant reader to published author</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-8919 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Chris-Callaghan-1.png" alt="Chris Callaghan" width="322" height="428" />
A few years ago, when I became a published author, I was thrust into a world of writers, readers and of generally charming people who love books. And I mean LOVE books. I listened to their reminisces of devouring all kinds of books from an early age, of excited visits to libraries or bookshops and tales of their favourite childhood books and the special nooks in which they would be read. All wonderfully passionate reasons for how they had become the writer/reader they are today. But all of this was so far removed from my own childhood experiences.
If the term had existed then, I would have been regarded as a ‘reluctant reader’. I didn’t like or engage with reading at all, in fact, (prepare yourself for a shock, bookworms) I found books utterly boring.
My parents were not readers, and as they struggled to pay the bills and put food on our table, books were never on any shopping list. Opening up a book at bedtime to encourage a beautiful dream-filled sleep, didn’t happen either. But before you get your violin out, I must say I had a fantastic childhood with a loving and hardworking family – we were just not readers.
The books we read at school, with a few exceptions (Stig of the Dump and The Machine Gunners), and the way reading was almost treated as a punishment, did nothing but enforce my reluctance to read.
But looking back, I realise that even though I didn’t read stories, I still loved stories. Being a painfully shy and quiet young lad, I would often happily sit back and listen to other people talking. This is something that continued into my adult life. During my service in the military and later as an environmental scientist visiting factories, crew room banter has always been a favourite part of the job. I’ve listened to countless stories of simple occurrences, elaborate retellings of nights out, memories of crazy days in far-flung places, and always filled with huge dollops of humour throughout. Great stories told with flair and drama.
<figure id="attachment_8920" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8920" style="width: 152px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-8920" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/shinoy-1.jpg" alt="Shinoy" width="152" height="510" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8920" class="wp-caption-text">Shinoy</figcaption></figure>
Stories come in many forms. The way I accessed most of them as a child was through TV and films. So many episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man or The Professionals are still imprinted in my head. Watching the 1960 version of The Time Machine one evening curled up on the settee with my Dad was a total gamechanger in how I viewed the world. I lived, breathed and dreamed those stories.
I also wrote my own stories. I found writing far more interesting than reading. My head was always full of crazy characters and unbelievable situations. I used to write my own episodes of Danger Mouse and, believe it or not, Last of the Summer Wine. I was never in any danger of being regarded at school as one of the ‘cool kids’!
When I was putting together an idea for a series of books for reluctant readers, I became completely selfish and thought, “What would have tempted me to pick up a book when I was a kid?” I remembered all those TV programmes I watched instead of reading and thought of how much fun it would have been to summon Colonel Steve Austin into my house and go off on a bionic adventure or to break down a door and summersault into a room with Bodie and Doyle. And so, the idea of Shinoy and the glitch in his phone came about. A young lad with a head full of excitement, who was able to call upon his TV heroes, The Chaos Crew, and take part in their outrageous adventures.
These stories were written by a young (at heart) lad with a head full of excitement, hoping that they might engage with young people just like him. It would be amazing to think that as a result of enjoying these stories a ‘reluctant reader’ would simply become a ‘reader’.
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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-8921" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Shinoy-covers-1-1024x332.png" alt="Selection of Shinoy and the Chaos Crew covers" width="810" height="263" />
To find out more about the Shinoy and the Chaos Crew series visit <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">collins.co.uk/CollinsBigCat</a>
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The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/chris-callaghan-from-reluctant-reader-to-published-author/">Chris Callaghan – From reluctant reader to published author</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
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<title>Shinoy and The Chaos Crew – The new Big Cat series for reluctant readers</title>
<link>https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew-the-new-big-cat-series-for-reluctant-readers/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[stefanlesik]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sun, 14 Feb 2021 21:05:49 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary Literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary reading]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Reluctant Readers]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/2021/02/14/shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew-the-new-big-cat-series-for-reluctant-readers/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Reluctant readers are a small group of children who can read but choose not to. Meeting their needs can be … <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew-the-new-big-cat-series-for-reluctant-readers/">Continued</a>
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew-the-new-big-cat-series-for-reluctant-readers/">Shinoy and The Chaos Crew – The new Big Cat series for reluctant readers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Reluctant readers are a small group of children who can read but choose not to. Meeting their needs can be extremely challenging, but now <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">Big Cat</a> has a series of books to help this special group of readers ignite their love of reading.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-8924 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Collins-Big-Cat-Logo-3-1024x640.png" alt="Collins Big Cat logo" width="351" height="220" />
<a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">Big Cat</a> has always striven to provide readers with interesting books covering all topics. Each book in the <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">Big Cat</a> range has been carefully researched and written to ensure that children are introduced to new and interesting vocabulary; topics that they may not otherwise encounter; and stories that are new, well-known, from the UK and further afield. Furthermore, the use of the Book Banding system means that children are guided through their reading journey by gradually increasing the number of words and the complexity of the sentence and text structure in a systematic and scaffolded manner. The addition of the <a href="https://collins.co.uk/collections/primary-primary-english-collins-big-cat-shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew">Shinoy and the Chaos Crew</a> series means that there are now even more books to help you meet the interests of your class and most specifically your reluctant readers.
<figure id="attachment_8927" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8927" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-8927 size-large" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/9780008399252-01-1-1024x726.jpg" alt="Shinoy and the Chaos Crew spread" width="810" height="574" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8927" class="wp-caption-text">Pages from Shinoy and the Chaos Crew – The Day That Repeated Itself</figcaption></figure>
Research shows that many reluctant readers are put off by the look and style of traditional reading scheme books. Yet, these same children are often avid readers of comics, magazines, e-books and graphic novels out of school. The <a href="https://collins.co.uk/collections/primary-primary-english-collins-big-cat-shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew">Shinoy and the Chaos Crew</a> series taps into these other literacies to create a genuinely engaging series of reading books. The cover graphics and illustrations are reminiscent of manga and superhero comics. Within the books, the typography is often changed to reflect meaning and the glossy colour illustrations are suggestive of a UK setting but with a hint of belonging to a comic book universe where out-of-the-ordinary events are part of the every day. Throughout the series, readers will find comic book picture frames, thought bubbles and pop-out images to support the narrative told through the text. All of this ensures that the books are very visually appealing. But, unlike many of the ‘out of school’ choices children may make, you have the assurance that they are written to the high standards of the <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">Big Cat</a> programme.
Finding one book to hook a reluctant reader is hard. Finding the subsequent books to keep them reading is even harder. This is why books by the same author and books in series work so well. They give a sense of security to reluctant readers that they’re going to find what they like and that they can trust the author and illustrator to deliver. This sense of familiarity and security is just what <a href="https://collins.co.uk/collections/primary-primary-english-collins-big-cat-shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew">Shinoy and the Chaos Crew</a> offers young readers. All of the books are written by Chris Callaghan and illustrated by Amit Tayal and they all feature a young hero, Shinoy, who solves exciting problems with the help of his superhero friends, the Chaos Crew. The books share common cover artwork and graphics that make them instantly recognisable and while clearly part of the <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">Big Cat</a> programme, they look very much like the ‘real books’ that you will have in your classroom library.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-8921" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Shinoy-covers-1-1024x332.png" alt="Selection of Shinoy and the Chaos Crew covers" width="810" height="263" />
There’s nothing like browsing through a bookshop to find the next book you want to read. If we’re to encourage our most reluctant readers to take up the reading habit, we need to offer them the chance to browse and choose their next book, also. This is why choice is built into the <a href="https://collins.co.uk/collections/primary-primary-english-collins-big-cat-shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew">Shinoy and the Chaos Crew</a> series. Each story stands alone, meaning children can select which book to read next within their band without fear of missing any important plot developments. This flexibility also means children can choose their next book based on their preferences for particular members of the Chaos Crew or the theme of the book.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-8920 alignright" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/shinoy-1.jpg" alt="Shinoy" width="133" height="446" />
Children’s book choices, like ours, are frequently informed by their interests. Big Cat’s extensive catalogue of books already covers a wide range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and with the addition of <a href="https://collins.co.uk/collections/primary-primary-english-collins-big-cat-shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew">Shinoy and the Chaos Crew</a> now includes a set of comic book-inspired superheroes. Not only that, the series draws on the modern world by embedding mobile phones, tablets and game levels into each story both incidentally and as part of the main plot.
Not only do many readers like books that reflect their interests, they also like to read books with characters they relate to, be that shared aspirations, shared interests, shared heritage or shared lifestyle. They also often like characters they can aspire to emulate. Shinoy himself is a mixed-heritage 10-year-old who likes science, science fiction, playing video games and watching his favourite superheroes, the Chaos Crew, on television. Like the best fictional characters, he has more than one dimension so that he is both brave and intelligent but prone to bickering with his older sister. He’s a fictional role model who manages to behave realistically.
The<a href="https://collins.co.uk/collections/primary-primary-english-collins-big-cat-shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew"> Shinoy and the Chaos Crew</a> series has been written to engage the most reluctant readers in your class. This does not mean its appeal is limited to these children. As part of the <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">Big Cat</a> programme, the <a href="https://collins.co.uk/collections/primary-primary-english-collins-big-cat-shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew">Shinoy and the Chaos Crew</a> books are carefully graded to meet the specifications of each band between Purple and Lime bands making them suitable for all readers working at these levels.
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To find out more about the Shinoy and the Chaos Crew series visit <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">collins.co.uk/CollinsBigCat</a>
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Written by Rachel Clarke
Rachel Clarke works with schools across the UK and beyond to raise standards in literacy. She is the author of several education books published by Collins and writes regular articles for education magazines and websites.
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/shinoy-and-the-chaos-crew-the-new-big-cat-series-for-reluctant-readers/">Shinoy and The Chaos Crew – The new Big Cat series for reluctant readers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
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<title>Helping children with non-fiction writing</title>
<link>https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-children-with-non-fiction-writing/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[stefanlesik]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2020 20:50:57 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary Literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Collins Big Cat]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Collins Big Cat Writing Competition]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[descriptive writing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[non-fiction]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary writing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[writing at home]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Writing creatively]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/2020/06/18/helping-children-with-non-fiction-writing/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Collins Big Cat author Emily Dodd shares ideas on how to get children excited about writing non-fiction. Although the ideas … <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-children-with-non-fiction-writing/">Continued</a>
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-children-with-non-fiction-writing/">Helping children with non-fiction writing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-6919 alignleft" style="color: #333333;quot;quot;quot;quot;,times,serif;font-size: 16px;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: bold;height: auto;letter-spacing: normal;max-width: 100%;text-align: left;text-decoration: none;text-indent: 0px;text-transform: none" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/shutterstock_408944401-1-300x199.jpg" alt="girl enjoying writing" width="300" height="199" />
Collins Big Cat author Emily Dodd shares ideas on how to get children excited about writing non-fiction. Although the ideas are aimed at teachers, they can easily be adapted for parents to support their children’s writing at home.
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Imagination and Memory 
When I’m starting children off on a writing challenge, I tell them they have two bags in their heads. One bag is their memory. It’s full of the things they learn and experience. They can add to it by doing new things, learning at school and by reading books. The other bag is their imagination.
To help them to understand, I draw something on the board and ask them to guess what it is. They guess ‘butterfly’ before I’ve even finished drawing. I tell them they knew it because they have seen one before so they went into the memory bag and pulled out ‘butterfly’.
But then I remind them of their imagination and how that bag works. I have a little cloth bag with me. I say “Perhaps you like tigers so you use your imagination to make a butterfly like this…”
(I pull a butterfly from the bag, it’s striped like a tiger – has anyone seen such a thing!?)
Or perhaps your favourite colour is red and you like a disco? (I pull out a red disco sparkly butterfly).
I remind them that every single person has different memories and a different imagination so we can use these to come up with the most amazing stories and with brilliant ways of explaining information.
Non-Fiction 
There are many different ways to communicate information. We can use facts, diagrams, short descriptions, bullet points, graphs and charts, case studies, real-life examples, photographs, interviews… the list goes on.
Writing facts could be a good way to get children to start thinking about the mechanics of non-fiction writing. What’s a fact about yourself? Something surprising or interesting. Something that’s not obvious.
You could put a few facts together around something they’ve already been learning about using a riddle. Children love guessing. You could challenge them to write their own riddles too?
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-8223 alignleft" style="color: #333333;quot;quot;quot;quot;,times,serif;font-size: 16px;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: 400;height: auto;letter-spacing: normal;max-width: 100%;text-align: left;text-decoration: none;text-indent: 0px;text-transform: none" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Classroom-Writing-01-1-1-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />What about explaining something in a way others can understand? To get them thinking about that, ask them to think of one of their favourite things (it could be a sport or computer game) and then ask them to describe it to someone who’s never played it or heard of it before. Perhaps to an alien. Or an Inuit who doesn’t play golf. They are learning the skill of describing something without assuming prior knowledge.
Say it’s golf, they might say (with some prompts and questions as they go): 
“It’s a sport (but what’s a sport?) …something you do for fun, and you use a club (what’s a club?) it is a long metal stick with a metal blob on the end, and you use the club to hit a ball across a green (what’s a green?) which is grassy with sandy bits, and you try to get the ball into a hole. There’s a little flag above the hole so you know where to aim for.”
Then you could ask, would it be easier to explain this with a picture? (YES!)
Author residency 
I recently worked as the Scottish Book Trust author in residence with Annette Street Primary in Glasgow. 90% of children in the school don’t have English as a first language so the residency was all about encouraging confidence in the children. We did this by breaking tasks down into steps they could do and enjoy. We used non-fiction reading and writing to do this and at the end of the residency the class had produced their own non-fiction book, gained a lot of confidence and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Here are a few ideas from the residency that you could try in class or outside; they could also be adapted for home learning.
To get the children to work on their descriptive writing, I gave them an object and white boards in groups. They had to come up with as many words between them to describe the leaf. They were learning about adjectives without knowing they were, gaining vocabulary and having fun.
Next I chose a pinecone and this time they had to say what it reminded them of. They came up with metaphors and similes working in groups and it was a competition to come up with as many as they could.
Back in class they put their adjectives, metaphors and similes together to write and illustrate nature poems.
Later when they started on their non-fiction book writing, they used the same skills to describe a volcano. Questions such as ‘what does lava remind you of’ (similes) and ‘how would you describe the shape and look of volcanoes (adjectives) were used as a starting point.
<figure id="attachment_8788" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8788" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-8788" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Volcanoes-case-study-2-300x125.png" alt="Case study from Volcanoes book" width="484" height="202" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-8788" class="wp-caption-text">Pages from Collins Big Cat book: Volcanoes</figcaption></figure>
Using books for research
It’s easy for children to just copy a book they’re reading so instead you could give them a case study from a non-fiction book and ask them to create some facts from it (when there aren’t already fact boxes).
Structure and Narrative
It’s just as important to think about beginning, middle and end in non-fiction as it is in fiction. What do you need to explain first? What do you need to know before you can explain the next bit?
Writing about a topic they’re passionate about 
“When we speak or write, we can communicate information or we can communicate our heart with passion. The best communication does both.”
With young people so committed to caring for their planet, how could they combine information, creativity and their passion in writing to change the future? One way we can show we care about our environment is through writing stories. A story can bring an endangered species to life and cause others to care about a character they can identify with.
I write fiction and non-fiction stories featuring endangered species and real animal behaviour. I’ve written about dancing birds who can’t dance (Capercaillies are rare birds that dance in real life), camouflage as an escape from danger and an osprey trying to throw a fish mid-air to another osprey – this happened in real life. Nature is amazing and the stories are already there! We just need to write them.
Before we can write a nature story, we need to find out about nature in the first place. That could be through hearing from experts, watching documentaries or a school visit. That’s where non-fiction books can come in too.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-8314 aligncenter" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Love-Writing_purple-1-288x300.jpg" alt="Love writing logo" width="131" height="137" />
<hr />
This blog is by Emily Dodd, author of several non-fiction <a href="http://collins.co.uk/collinsbigcat">Collins Big Cat</a> books. 
Emily is passionate about science, wildlife and storytelling and was a judge of the 2019 Collins Big Cat writing competition. The theme was ‘Our World, Our Home: Be a Big Cat Eco-warrior’ <span style="text-align: left;color: #333333;text-transform: none;text-indent: 0px;letter-spacing: normal;font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman','Bitstream Charter',Times,serif;font-size: 16px;font-variant: normal;font-weight: 400;text-decoration: none;float: none;background-color: #ffffff">in response to the growing importance of the environment on our daily lives. You can view Emily reading one of the winning entries <a href="https://youtu.be/hUivUV0bAQo">here</a>.
She is also a screenwriter for CBeebies science programme Nina and the Neurons and the author of fiction and non-fiction books.
Emily spent several years working in museums and has written and presented science shows for the Edinburgh International Science Festival, the Scottish Seabird Centre, Edinburgh University, National Museums Scotland and Our Dynamic Earth.
Emily was also the 2012/2013 Scottish Book Trust Reader in Residence at Leith Library, Edinburgh.
 
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-children-with-non-fiction-writing/">Helping children with non-fiction writing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
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<title>Helping children with writing fiction</title>
<link>https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-children-with-writing-fiction/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[stefanlesik]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2020 20:44:47 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary Literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Collins Big Cat]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Collins Big Cat Writing Competition]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[collins primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[descriptive writing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[fiction]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[improve writing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary writing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[writing at home]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Writing creatively]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/2020/06/18/helping-children-with-writing-fiction/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Collins Big Cat author Brandon Robshaw shares his own experiences of writing, plus tips on how to get children excited … <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-children-with-writing-fiction/">Continued</a>
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-children-with-writing-fiction/">Helping children with writing fiction</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Collins Big Cat author Brandon Robshaw shares his own experiences of writing, plus tips on how to get children excited about writing fiction. 
<hr />
Human beings are natural storytellers. Almost as soon as we can talk we find ourselves telling stories – little accounts or reports of things that have happened to us. We tell our parents why we’re crying or what our little sister did or what we saw on television or what games we’ve been playing or what we did in school that day. And we don’t just give dry factual reports: we share memories, thoughts, attitudes and feelings. Quite often we tell made-up stories, jokes, fantasies, tall tales, stories about imaginary friends. This isn’t something we need to be taught to do. Stories just bubble out of us, easily and naturally. (We don’t even stop making up stories when we’re asleep, for what are dreams but the stories our brain creates when it’s off the leash?)
What’s more, the stories we tell each other in conversation often use techniques to make things more interesting, even though we may not be consciously aware of it. We don’t bother with boring, irrelevant details, but try to focus on the most interesting parts. We wouldn’t describe the weather – unless the point of the story is about getting soaked, or sunburnt. Sometimes we describe what people looked like, or sounded like. We report things they said and exaggerate to make it more entertaining. And we don’t give away the ending. We save it up until it will have maximum impact. We use phrases to build up the suspense: ‘And you’ll never guess what happened next!’ ‘Who do you think was standing there when I went through the door?’ ‘And then something really weird happened…’
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-8143 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/shutterstock_452061478-1-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" />And yet. Although we are natural, practised storytellers, it can seem much more difficult when we have to get a story down on paper. Then we start to worry about whether we are telling it right. (We might also worry if we have spelt words correctly or punctuated accurately.) The key to good writing, I think, is to tell your story in the easiest, most natural way, as if you’re speaking to a friend. That’s the way to get your first draft down. Afterwards, of course, you can redraft it. Improve the word choice. Cut out the boring bits. Go to town on the interesting bits. (And, of course, tidy up the grammar and spelling.) Redrafting is part of the craft of writing and it can be the most enjoyable bit, as you polish your story until it shines.
But what story are you going to tell? Faced with a white page you can feel paralysed by indecision. Your mind goes as blank as the page. That is when you need some kind of prompt, to focus on something specific. And then a story will start to grow in your mind…
<a href="https://collins.co.uk/products/9780008340452"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-8790 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/192012-FC12-1.jpg" alt="The Wrong Door" width="125" height="177" /></a>For <a href="https://collins.co.uk/products/9780008340452">The Wrong Door</a>, I decided to draw on my own childhood. Although, unlike Molly, I never had to go to a holiday club, I did often feel shy when meeting large groups of new people and wanted to get away. So I used that as my starting point. And then I thought, what if Molly escapes and wanders off on her own? Here I had to make a decision about whether this would be a scary story or a funny story. It could easily have been a scary story, if she had met a dangerous character, a wicked witch or an escaped tiger. But as a child I was particularly fond of funny stories, and stories about mistaken identity always made me laugh. So I thought, ‘What if Molly keeps getting mistaken for somebody else?’ – and the story just built from there. (It had to go through quite a few drafts, though!)
Here, then, are a few prompts to get you thinking:
<ul>
<li>Write a story about something that scares you (e.g. if you are scared of spiders, write about spiders)</li>
<li>Write a story about something that makes you laugh (e.g. if you think grown-ups acting childishly is funny, write about a teacher who acts like a child)</li>
<li>Write a story about a polar bear on a melting ice-cap</li>
<li>A story about life in the year 2050</li>
<li>A story about some kids who clean up a polluted river</li>
<li>A story about someone who finds a mermaid while cleaning up a polluted river</li>
<li>An autobiographical story about your first day at school</li>
<li>A school story about someone who cheats in an exam</li>
<li>A science-fiction story about a family of aliens who visit Earth for a holiday</li>
<li>A day in the life of a family in a war-zone</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-8312 aligncenter" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Love-Writing_pink-1-288x300.jpg" alt="Love writing logo" width="143" height="149" />
<hr />
This blog post is written by Brandon Robshaw, author of <a href="http://collins.co.uk/collinsbigcat">Collins Big Cat</a> book, <a href="https://collins.co.uk/products/9780008340452">The Wrong Door</a>.
Brandon was also a judge of the 2019 Collins Big Cat writing competition. The theme was ‘Our World, Our Home: Be a Big Cat Eco-warrior’ in response to the growing importance of the environment on our daily lives. You can view Brandon reading one of the winning entries <a href="https://youtu.be/v0a_MOe6_Bs">here</a>.
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-children-with-writing-fiction/">Helping children with writing fiction</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
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</item>
<item>
<title>Helping KS2 Children With Reading At Home</title>
<link>https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-ks2-children-with-reading-at-home/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[stefanlesik]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2020 09:13:30 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Home Learning]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary Literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[collins primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Key Stage 2]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[KS2]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[learn at home]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary reading]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Reading]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/2020/05/06/helping-ks2-children-with-reading-at-home/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Literacy expert Gill Matthews, shares some simple, enjoyable ideas for how parents can support their child’s reading comprehension and development … <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-ks2-children-with-reading-at-home/">Continued</a>
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-ks2-children-with-reading-at-home/">Helping KS2 Children With Reading At Home</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Literacy expert Gill Matthews, shares some simple, enjoyable ideas for how parents can support their child’s reading comprehension and development at home. You may find this helpful to share with your pupils’ parents or you can adapt the ideas for your home learning plan.
Once your child is able to decode words – i.e. they can work out how to say words aloud when they are reading – you might feel rather redundant in terms of helping them to improve their reading. However, this is when you can help them to build up fluency and develop their understanding of what they are reading.
Ask your child to read a couple of pages aloud to you, encouraging them to use expression. Listen carefully as they read, helping where necessary.
<ul>
<li>Are they reading in an expressive way or is their reading rather flat and mechanical?</li>
<li>Are they using punctuation to help them to read e.g. pausing at commas and full stops, lifting their voice for a question mark?</li>
<li>Are they using expression to make the meaning clear?</li>
<li>How are they reading when characters speak?</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-8163 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/shutterstock_141107008-1-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
Suggest that you take it in turns to each read a page. When it’s your turn, think about the points above so that you can model how to read aloud so that it’s interesting for the listener.
Each time your child reads aloud, check how they are using expression. It’s a good indicator as to how much they are understanding about what they read. It also helps for your child to read aloud from books they are familiar with – they will read known text more fluently and this will give them confidence as readers.
You can build your child’s comprehension – their ability to understand what they are reading – by talking to them. In a story you can talk about events, about the characters and about where and when the story is set. Think about this as having a chat about the book, one reader to another, rather than an interrogation.
So, ask questions that encourage your child to predict what they think might happen and to reflect on what has happened already. Keep these questions open – in other words, ask questions that don’t require a yes/no answer. For example, if you ask ‘How did you feel when …?’ you are more likely to get a fuller, more reflective answer than asking ‘Did you like it when …?’.
Ask about their favourite characters and how the characters change in the story. Ask how they think they would have felt or reacted if they were that character in that situation. Encourage them to give reasons for their answers.
You can invite them to ‘jump into’ the book: to put themselves into a situation and explore what they can see, what they can hear, what they can smell and how they might feel.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-8764 alignright" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/shutterstock_1401361988_low_nwm-1-300x200.jpg" alt="Child reading aloud" width="300" height="200" />
You can also use the following prompts to help with your book chat:
<ul>
<li>Tell me what you liked about the book</li>
<li>Tell me about something you didn’t like</li>
<li>Tell me about something that puzzled you or that you didn’t understand</li>
<li>Tell me about something that this book made you think about or reminded you of</li>
</ul>
There are no right or wrong answers to these prompts so you can then respond to your child’s thoughts with your own ideas.
You may well find that your child can work out how to pronounce new words but they don’t necessarily know what they mean. Encourage them to try and work out the meaning by reading the rest of the sentence, even the rest of the paragraph. If they can’t work out the meaning then give them a definition that they can understand and a sentence that puts the word into a familiar context. For example, an 8 year old was reading aloud and came across the word ‘humorous’. She worked out how to pronounce it but couldn’t work out the meaning. Her dad explained: ‘Humorous means funny. So, when your friends come round and I tell one of my jokes, they all laugh because they think I’m humorous.’ Imagine the eye rolling from the 8 year old – but she’ll remember what ‘humorous’ means now!
Reading is a great way to boost your child’s vocabulary. Before they read to you, read a few pages yourself and note down three words that you think will be new to your child. After they have read, revisit these words and check their understanding of the words. Go through the process above – giving a definition and a sentence that puts the word into a context. Ask your child to come up with their own sentence that uses the word. Challenge them to use their three new words at some point during the rest of the day.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-8171 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/shutterstock_528426013-3-300x200.jpg" alt="reading aloud" width="300" height="200" />
When we read non-fiction books, we tend not to read them cover to cover, front to back – we dip into them, looking for information. So, if your child is reading non-fiction, talk to them about how to find what they are looking for. For example, using the contents page and the index. Some non-fiction books contain glossaries that explain the meaning of unfamiliar words. Encourage your child to use these. Once they have homed in on a particular page or section, they need to be looking for key words. Suggest that they try to picture the word, thinking about its shape and specific letters. They can then run their eye over the page, looking for that word. Play games that develop this skill of looking for key words by playing Fastest Finger First (You will need to prepare this in advance.): Challenge your child to turn to a particular page and then to find the first ‘the’ or ‘and’ on the page, or to find how many times the word ‘but’ appears, or the first proper noun (they need to look for capital letters to spot that one). Obviously, you can amend the words they are looking for according to the book they are reading.
If your child has enjoyed reading a book, why not try a few follow-up activities? There are some generic ideas that will work with many books: if you’ve read a story with your child, ask them to retell it or act it out; they could have a go at writing a sequel or another adventure with the same characters. If you’ve read a non-fiction book together, ask them to write a quiz based on the book, or encourage them to find out more about the subject of the book.
We should try to develop a love of reading in our children – often difficult when there are so many other distractions. Carry out a quick check:
<ul>
<li>Does your child see other people in the family reading?</li>
<li>Do they understand why people read e.g. for pleasure, for information?</li>
<li>Are they aware of the wide range of reading materials that are available e.g. books, papers, magazines, on-line resources?</li>
</ul>
If you have any doubts about the answer to any of those points, try to actively address them. For example, you could set aside 15 – 20 minutes every day when everyone in the house reads. Quietly. To themselves.
Finally, in these unusual, and often stressful times, keep reading fun and enjoyable. Try to read with your child in a quiet place where they feel safe and secure. If they become bored or cross or upset – leave it and move on to something completely different.
<hr />
Written by Gill Matthews
Gill Matthews is an education consultant specialising in the field of literacy. She runs training courses for teachers and has written a number of children’s books. Gill has written, edited and advised on a range reading schemes, including Collins Big Cat, and a variety of writing programmes.
<hr />
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-8769 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Collins-Big-Cat-Logo-2-300x187.png" alt="Collins Big Cat Logo" width="239" height="149" />Collins Big Cat is a primary reading scheme packed with fantastic fiction and non-fiction by well-known authors and illustrators. Discover hundreds of banded readers, from Lilac to Pearl, to foster a love of reading in KS1 and KS2 children.
Find out more <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">here</a>.
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-ks2-children-with-reading-at-home/">Helping KS2 Children With Reading At Home</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
]]></content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>Helping KS1 Children With Reading At Home</title>
<link>https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-ks1-children-with-reading/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[stefanlesik]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2020 09:07:30 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Home Learning]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Primary Literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[collins primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[eBooks]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[key stage 1]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[KS1]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[learn at home]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[literacy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[primary reading]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Reading]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/2020/05/06/helping-ks1-children-with-reading/</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Literacy expert Gill Matthews, shares some simple, enjoyable ideas for how parents can support their child’s reading comprehension and development … <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-ks1-children-with-reading/">Continued</a>
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-ks1-children-with-reading/">Helping KS1 Children With Reading At Home</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Literacy expert Gill Matthews, shares some simple, enjoyable ideas for how parents can support their child’s reading comprehension and development at home. You may find this helpful to share with your pupils’ parents or you can adapt the ideas for your home learning plan.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-8761 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Copy-of-Email-Asset-Music-Music-Express-Homepage-on-laptop-1-300x178.png" alt="Dinosaur rock ebook" width="300" height="178" />
Over 300 Collins Big Cat KS1 books are available as eBooks on the <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/big-cat-ebooks">Collins Learn at Home </a>web page. Why not take a look and use these ideas to help you make the most of this free on-line library? You can also apply these ideas to any books you have at home.
You don’t have to dive straight into a book. Take time to explore the covers with your child, spotting the title and the names of the author and illustrator, reading the back cover blurb (yes, that is a thing) and talking about what the book might be about. Ask:
<ul>
<li>Have you read any other books by this author? </li>
<li>Do you think it might be a story or maybe an information book?</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-8163 size-medium alignright" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/shutterstock_141107008-1-scaled.jpg" alt="Reading with child" width="300" height="200" />
If it is a non-fiction book, ask your child to tell you what they already know about the subject. Tell them what you know about the subject too. Discuss what you’d like to find out. Predicting the content of a book is an important reading skill because it activates the knowledge we already have about reading, about books, and about a particular type of book.
Here are some example discussion points you could ask:
<ul>
<li>Read the title of this book to me 
</li>
<li>What can you see on the front cover? (Leave the child to answer this in their own way. It will reveal their understanding of the subject matter of the book.)</li>
<li>What do you think we’ll find in this book? (Again, leave your child to answer this and revisit their response once you’ve read the book.)</li>
<li>Why do you think that? (Encourage your child to support their ideas with reasons.)</li>
</ul>
You can talk about the book together as you read it, to see if your expectations were right.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-8172 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/shutterstock_223929754-1-300x200.jpg" alt="Reading at home" width="300" height="200" />
Once you’re into the book, you can vary how it is read. You can take it in turns to each read a page, you can ask your child to read it aloud to you (or someone else in the family), or, you can read it aloud to them.
When you are reading aloud, show how to read with expression and interest. This means taking notice of the punctuation, thinking about the meaning and with a story putting on voices when characters speak (remember – you’re not auditioning for drama school – just change your voice a little!)
When your child is reading, give them time to work out unfamiliar words rather than jumping in and telling them what it is. You can help by prompting them e.g. What sound does it start with? What sound comes next? Read the sentence again and think about what would make sense. 
You could read the sentence aloud yourself, emphasising the unknown word, then ask your child to read the sentence themselves. In the Collins Big Cat eBooks, the text on each page is read aloud. You can choose to pause this until your child has read the text or to play it and encourage your child to read along.
Learning to read isn’t just about reading the words on the page. It’s also about understanding what is being read. So, in a story ask questions that encourage your child to predict what they think might happen next and to reflect on what has happened already. Be curious (ooh, I wonder what will happen now?) and keep questions open – in other words, ask questions that don’t produce just a yes/no answer. ‘How did you feel when …? rather than ‘Did you like …?’.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-8762 alignright" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/031206-FCX-1-216x300.jpg" alt="Jodie the juggler" width="154" height="214" />
Here are some typical open questions that would support a chat about Collins Big Cat eBook Jodie the Juggler (Band Green):
<ul>
<li>How did you feel when Jodie kept breaking things?</li>
<li>What did you think would happen when Jodie kicked the ball on pages 16 and 17?</li>
<li>How do you think Jodie felt when the football smashed some glass? </li>
<li>Why do you think Mum said that juggling was a good idea?</li>
</ul>
Think about this as having a chat about the book rather than an interrogation. You can also use these prompts to help with your book chat:
<ul>
<li>Tell me what you liked about the book</li>
<li>Tell me about something you didn’t like</li>
<li>Tell me about something that puzzled you or that you didn’t understand</li>
<li>Tell me about something that this book made you think about or reminded you of</li>
</ul>
There are no right or wrong answers to these prompts so you can then respond to your child’s thoughts with your own ideas.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-8763 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Big-Cat-worksheets-1-300x300.png" alt="Big Cat worksheets" width="300" height="300" />If your child has enjoyed reading a book, why not try a few follow-up activities? If you look at the Collins Big Cat eBooks, under each picture of the book there is a ‘Resources’ button. Clicking on this will take you to a Worksheet and Teacher’s Notes. The worksheet can be printed off and completed. In the Teacher’s Notes, there is a section headed Checking and Moving on. This will give you some follow up ideas, many of which you can adapt for a home schooling situation. There are also suggestions of other <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">Collins Big Cat</a> books that are linked by subject matter or story type as well as some generic ideas that will work with many books. If you’ve read a story with your child, ask them to retell it or act it out together; if you’ve read a non-fiction book, ask them to write a fun fact sheet where they list their favourite three facts from the book, or encourage them to find out more about the subject of the book.
Finally, in these unusual and often stressful times, keep reading fun and enjoyable. Try to read with your child at a time and in a place where they feel relaxed and secure. If they become bored or cross or upset – leave it and move on to something completely different.
<hr />
Written by Gill Matthews
Gill Matthews is an education consultant specialising in the field of literacy. She runs training courses for teachers and has written a number of children’s books. Gill has written, edited and advised on a range reading schemes, including Collins Big Cat, and a variety of writing programmes.
<hr />
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-8769 alignleft" src="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2023/03/Collins-Big-Cat-Logo-2-300x187.png" alt="Collins Big Cat Logo" width="213" height="133" />Collins Big Cat is a primary reading scheme packed with fantastic fiction and non-fiction by well-known authors and illustrators. Discover hundreds of banded readers, from Lilac to Pearl, to foster a love of reading in KS1 and KS2 children.
Find out more <a href="https://collins.co.uk/pages/collins-big-cat">here</a>.
The post <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk/helping-ks1-children-with-reading/">Helping KS1 Children With Reading At Home</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk">Collins | Freedom to Teach</a>.
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