Polly and the Birdman

I'm delighted to show you the fantastic review that Polly has written for us after reading My Dad's a Birdman by David Almond.

Polly is a really super girl at our school, who is taking big, bold steps into reading this year;  she sometimes gets a little scared of doing things wrong, but she's learning that everything is probably going to be great, and besides which, as long as you've tried, it's OK if something doesn't always go right!

I bought this book recently> I chose it as I really enjoy David Almond books, and was saving it for someone special. Polly was just right! She took a little convincing, but it was worth it. She loved the book! I knew she would. It's a funny, but also affectionate story about a little girl who has to take care of her dad after her mum dies. They're all lovely people, but dad just needs a little help coming to terms with the changes.

Here's Polly's review of the book. And if you like it, why not try 'Where your wings were', also by David Almond, who has a common theme of angels disguising themselves as people in many of his books:

The challenge

I was talking to one of our teachers recently, who had just attended a literacy course, and was reminded that some of the best examples of language use is in some of the classics. I've noticed that not many of the children read the classics, and we were wondering how to encourage them.

One of the things I really like about  school is that a great deal of encouraging the children to do positive things because they have chosen to, not becuase it's a rule, so I want to encourage them to read some of these classics, and some they will like, I hope, and of course, some they might not like, but we have to try things to discover things we might never have expected to enjoy.

So slowly I'm putting together a reading challenge. Most of the classics in the library are in the silver and gold bands, so these are children who are comfortable with reading. I've got the list of books, but need to write it somewhere - here - of course! That's one problem solved. They will need to read somehting like 5 of these classices in order to receive the award. I was looking at getting a really nice quill pen (Thank you Mrs Dennis, good idea) though wondered if some children might to be thrilled by this (I would be!) so did a quick look for a really nice matchbox car - I know some of the children areally are into their classic cars - so I just need to look at that in more detail.

So it's beginning to come together - I'll update you when I've got this more finely tuned :)

Getting Things Sorted

So, just before Christmas I grabbed the bull by the horns, so to speak, and decided to really do something to sort out the library. We have so many fantastic books, but there are just too many, and we end up with piles of books all over the place. The trouble is, one job leads to another. I can label the shelves permanently once the books are arranged permanently...I can do that once the new shelves are put up and any unused books are cleared out...which I need to tell people about so the books aren't wasted...

I've been wondering what to write here. I'd like to tell you about all the amazing, life changing, funny, terrifying books we have, and I can't wait...but just let me climb out from under this pile of books...