Reading for Pleasure

How do we develop a love of reading at Abbott?

At Abbott, we want children to love to read. We understand the vitally important role that all staff play to ensure that reading is a core part of every child's educational entitlement regardless of background or attainment. When a child becomes 'hooked on books, they aquire involuntarily and without conscious effort, nearly all of the so-called "language skills" that so many people are concerned about'. (Krashen 1993). Our overall aim is to establish each child as a lifetime reader, which recent studies show not only supports children in developing personally but academically too. The promotion of reading and heavy involvement of staff can have a major impact on children, their future and their life chances. 

Reading aloud

From Y1 - Y6, each class has 20 minutes of protected time each day to listen to their teacher read their class novel to them. These novels have been specifically chosen by the English lead to be a mix of challening, diverse or classic texts. This will include informal book talk in which the children all get the opportunity to discuss what they have read, voice their opinions, make predictions and informally discuss use of new vocabulary and connected meanings.

Timetabling

All children from Year 1-6 have the opportunity for 15 minutes every morning to enjoy a book of their choice; this is often independent however we see the value in sharing books together and building a reading community, so on some occasions, we do allow the children enjoy books with their peers during this protected time. Books for this time can be taken from their class library, brought in from home, the school library or it might even be their school reading book. After investing funding into our school reading books, many children choose to read their school reading book as part of this time - especially in Upper Key Stage 2. 

Teachers as influencers 

We understand the importance of teachers being the main influence on children when it comes to their reading habits. We ensure that children develop a love of reading by teachers getting to know what they like, and from there, make suggestions as to what they may enjoy next when visiting the library. Teachers ensure that they are up-to-date on a diverse range of children's authors to in order to do this successfully. Informal book talk also ensures that teachers are regularly speaking to the children about what they are reading which gives another opportunity to suggest what they might want to read next. 

Our school library, library visits and author visits

At Abbott, we ensure that all of our children have the opportunity to regularly visit the school library in order to take a book home that they would like to read. We don't dictate to children what they should take from the library, but we do advise based on their likes/interests and age. The children also have regular visits across the year to Manchester Central Libary to take part in an array of activities linked to timetabled calendar days such as 'Black History Month, or 'World Book Day' and sometimes even get to meet authors in person! Since 2020, we have seen the value of virtual author visits; classes are signed upto these zoom meetings throughout the year, in which the children can ask questions to the authors and listen to them talk about their new books. 

Reading Cloud

All children at Abbott have access to 'The Reading Cloud'. This is an online platform linked to our school library, where the children can make a social-media style profile that is centered around books. On the Reading Cloud, children can reserve books, write reviews of books, recommend books to peers and also 'like' books and authors, which are then displayed on their profile. We find that this tool hugely supports reading for pleasure and faciliates the children in being able to talk about and remember what they have read. 

Celebration days

Celebratory calendar days such as 'World Book Day', 'Roald Dahl Day' and 'National Storytelling Week' are taken part in every year at Abbott; we find that they support our approach in getting children excited about reading. However, we want children at Abbott to intrinsically want to read rather than for extrinsic rewards so these days are put in our timetable for the children to just have fun rather than as an approach to reading for pleasure in itself.