Reading for all!
You know what it’s like, your body finishes school for the Easter holidays…..but your brain has other ideas. As English lead, I am keen on giving children a purpose for their writing – and if that links to reading for pleasure as well, then so much the better.
So my brain said what if children could write to another child about their reading? Which authors they enjoy and why, recommend books and receive new ideas for what to read next. I put the idea on twitter and a couple of people expressed interest. Maybe it was just me who thought this was a good plan. I also belong to the Facebook Reading for Pleasure in Schools group and so I decided to float the idea here too. And that, dear reader, is how I created a monster!
Over 100 classes expressed an interest – The idea obviously had legs! I heard from small schools with mixed year groups to larger 3 and 4 form entry schools; book clubs within schools to overseas schools. I spent time matching up school as best I could and let teachers know their Doorways to Stories pen pal partner school. What happen next is up to them. I’m hoping they let me know if they write, zoom, meet up? As long as the children keep reading and have a purpose for for their writing, I will be happy and the monster that I have created will have been worthwhile.