Reading Leader's Celebration | Sheffield, December 16 2009

As promised in my previous post about the great results of our Character Profile activity, here are some photos from our celebration event which took place on 16 December at Sheffield Town Hall.

As well as the fabulous author Alan Gibbons, Councillor Andrew Sangar, people from Barrington Stoke, Reading Matters employees and Sheffield Council personnel, the most important people in attendance where the staff and Reading Leaders from Sheffield schools:

• Handsworth Grange School
• Heritage Park Community School
• King Ecgbert School
• Silverdale School
• Stocksbridge High School

It sounds like Alan Gibbons has had a busy month, that is set to continue. He is writing a new Barrington Stoke book, The Dying Photo, based on a blurb written by James Pybis of Our Lady's and St Philomena's Primary School in Liverpool, as part of The Book Factor project. I first read about this on the Write Away website, so thanks to them.

Picking on Percy by Catherine MacPhail - Barrington Stoke Book 2

Second week of the year, second of my mini reviews of Barrington Stoke books. We use some audio of a Reading Mentor and her partner reading Picking on Percy by Catherine MacPhail in some of our training sessions. So I have heard the first few pages many times, but I am always concentrating on how the reading partnership is going, and not really focusing on the book itself.

Picking on Percy turns out to be incredibly similar to Desirable, which I read last week, both are excellently plotted and written, with similar a subject matter dealing with life as an 'uncool' kid in school, and both have excellent illustrations.

The illustrations, by Karen Donnelly and Dylan Gibson respectively, add enormously to both books, extending and supplementing the stories perfectly. So here's a tip, if you ever attend one of Reading Matters training sessions and hear the Picking on Percy audio. The pictures don't get a mention at all, this is definitely something the reading mentor could use to help their pupil partners understand and get the most out of the book.

Where's Wally Activities

Last week we had a super Reading Matters training session for volunteer reading mentor co-ordinators in Sheffield Primary Schools. One of the subjects we touched on was books with no or limited words. I have blogged about books without words before, I think such books are great because they are not tied in to reading ages, get children familiarised with books, plus they encourage discussion and so are perfect for reading partnerships. One suggestion last week was the Where's Wally books, perfect for collaborative reading.

Now by chance I just spotted on the Reading Agency website a batch of Where's Wally activity sheets from publishers Walker.

What timing!

Desirable by Frank Cottrell Boyce - Barrington Stoke Book 1

Yesterday, I rather rashly suggested I would try and read one Barrington Stoke Book a week. I am still a bit nervous about such a commitment but I have made a good start.

I was given Desirable by Frank Cottrell Boyce by Barrie from Barrington Stoke, I had seen it in most schools I have visited recently because it is included in this years Booked Up selection.

As you would expect from such an author it is a great read, with a really magical feel. I have to say I had a lot of sympathy for the hero George, like him I had a bit of a thing for Warhammer games when I was younger. I am not sure this did me any favours in terms of 'desirability', and unlike George I didn't find any magic potions to help me out. I think a lot of other boys would see themselves in George too.

New years resolutions

I had to think long and hard before writing this post, but I hope by writing a blog post I'll help keep two new years resolutions:

1. Read one Barrington Stoke book a week in 2010
I was really inspired by Barrington Stoke supporting our event before Christmas. Seeing their fantastic range of books made me realise that, although I recommend them all the time and we have good range we use in our reading partnerships, I have not sat down and read that many myself. So I am looking forward to reading 52 of them this year! To get me started I picked up Desirable by Frank Cottrell Boyce (thanks Barrie), I'll post a mini review next.

2. Leave more comments on other people's blogs
I love getting comments on this blog, and I was once very good at commenting on other peoples. I seem to have got out of the habit. So I plan to do a lot more this year. To inspire me I have signed up to the Comment Challenge 2010 organised by Mother Reader; so starting today I'll be commenting on five blogs a day for three weeks (well that is the idea)!

Character Profiles - One-to-one Reading Partnerships in Sheffield Schools

At the end of last term (16 December 2009) we held a celebration event for all the Reading Leaders we have trained in Sheffield schools this year. It was a fantastic event with author Alan Gibbons giving an inspired presentation, more like a comedy routine than a writer talking about his work. I'll give some more details when I get the photos through. In the meantime I wanted to share another activity we undertook with all the reading mentors we supported last year, over 200 of them!

All of the Sheffield mentors and their partners had the opportunity to complete a character profile about someone they read about together, and we have compiled the results into a book that you can read and download online:

Balancing the books

I have been reading a couple of books on a literacy theme, Lost for Words by John Humphrys (Radio 4's Today programme) and Teaching Your Child to Read and Write by Valerie Douglas. Both are 'interesting' for different reasons.

I found Humphrys' book to be quite a polemic, summed up a quote from the book "I love arguing". He doesn't like linguistic rules being stretched too far, but neither does he like pedants picking up on every last error. It seems to me that the middle ground that is left is both very narrow and very hard to pin down. My confusion is perhaps down to the fact that I usually have to read each example of bad practice several times to determine what the problem might be.

Similarly Teaching Your Child to Read and Write has it's own individual perspective, written by an ex-teacher it is making the case for teachers not having the sole responsibility for a child's literacy skills. I felt that she wanted parents to both take a lead role in the development of children's reading and writing skills, but also to bow to teachers superior knowledge on the same subject. And again I was confused as to how to find the right balance.

To finish on a slightly more positive note, the Teaching Your Child to Read and Write was lent to me, by a reading mentor at Parkwood Academy, not to read cover to cover, but because there are a range of reading tests set out, that are indeed potentially really useful, so thanks Mandy.

Ideas from our Reading Mentors training

Last week we trained a new batch of Volunteer Reading Mentors, they are a great bunch, and I am busily trying to set them up with suitable places in schools to begin reading sessions. Sitting in was Melanie the Librarian from Bradfield School. She was full of great ideas for activities to use in reading partnerships.

• Head to your local shopping centre, eg. Meadowhall and pick up a map and a catalogue shop catalogue, you can then plan a Christmas shopping expedition together


• WOW! 366: Speedy Stories in Just 366 Words


• The Booked Up programme should be running in most school libraries and the books included in the scheme give a good overview of what's hot in the world of children's books, the accessible book options are particularly relevant

Thanks Melanie

Choose your own adventure

I have been covering some reading sessions at Parkwood Academy, and really enjoying it. Because I will only be spending a few hours with the pupils I did not want to embark on a long story. So as well as the usual games and activities we have been reading some 'Choose you own adventure' books.

I remember the Fighting Fantasy Books which I absolutely loved when I was younger, but we have been using the slightly more accessible Full Flight 5 range, which are great too.

The children I have been reading with are really excited by them and when the die horrible deaths are keen to have another try. Great for reading partnerships.

Sheffield Bag-A-Book Day 2009

Last week, during half-term Reading Matters had a stall at the Sheffield Fostering Service Bag-A-Book Day, at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough Stadium. It was a great day, lots of fun. It was the first time Reading Matters had been involved so we were not sure how to best particpate. Because of the setting I decided on a set of football word games, but these were put to shame by all the othe activites on offer; paint-a-pot, face-paining, mask-making, urban poetry, street dance, stadium tours, story-telling and lots lots more. So next year we need to think of something really exciting, suggestions very welcome!

Rhyme and Reason Bookshop Books at Hillsborough