Here's a video of Ciara reading her favourite book The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids - an oldie but a classic!
Ciara is 8 years old and has started to enjoy reading for pleasure. She particularly likes to read to her little brother.
The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.
One of my favourite children’s
authors is Roald Dahl because of his absurd and creative stories about brave
and extraordinary children. When I was an English teaching assistant in a Dutch primary school I
created a lesson series about Roald Dahl, which I would like to share with you. This lesson series is great for an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) class, but can also be
used in any class.
What you will need:
D is for Dahl workbook
A computer, a projector and access to YouTube
Pens,
pencils and colouring pencils
Space
to perform
Lesson 1
The aim of Lesson 1 is to introduce Roald Dahl the author. This is
especially important when the children you are teaching are not British,
because they might not know that much about Dahl and his work.
For Activity A, I have made a PowerPoint about Roald Dahl’s life. You can find a
lot of information about the man online. You can use my questions or make up
your own. The answers for my questions are: F(alse), F, F, T(rue), F, T, T, T, F,
F, T, T, T, F, F. Activity B, C and E can easily be done by the children without a lot
of help. You can allow them to work in pairs if you like.
For activity D you can use a YouTube video in
which the poem is read out loud:
Lesson 2
The aim of the second lesson is to learn more about the characters and to learn
about adjectives.
Activity C can be done without any extra help. Exercise B is an exercise
about adjectives and in my workbook I have used Dutch adjectives because I was
teaching Dutch children. You can change this into an exercise in the language
of your choice or maybe and exercise about synonyms.
For activity A you need two descriptions of characters. You can write these
yourself or you can use mine:
The Witches
A witch is always a woman. When you meet a witch she is always wearing
gloves. A witch doesn’t have finger-nails. She has got claws instead.
They also don’t have toes. Another weird thing about them is that they don’t have hair. She is as bald
as a boiled egg. Also, a witch has very big nose-holes. And I am not ready yet. A witch also
has eyes that change colour and her spit is blue. Scary, isn’t it?
BFG
The BFG, also known as the big friendly giant is
very big. He is much bigger than a normal person. He is wearing a long coat and
holding a suitcase and a trumpet. His face looks funny and wrinkly. His nose is
as sharp as a knife and his ears are very big. His eyes are also big but they
look friendly. The BFG is not mean.
Lesson 3
For the first activity you can use this YouTube
video of the Oompa Loompa song:
For the second part of lesson 3 you will need
this video in which the poem 'Little Red Riding Hood' is read out loud:
Important:In order
not to give away the ending (which is important for the rest of the lesson
series!) you need to stop the video at 2.33 minutes.
Lesson 4 and 5
For these two lessons you just need the poem up to ‘I am going to eat you
anyway’, which can be found in the workbook.
The children will use lesson 4 to learn the sentences and to practice their
individual endings. Each child (there are groups of three) will be one of the
characters from the poem. Make sure to tell them that all of them need to be
and say something in the play.
The first 10-15 minutes of lesson 5 (depending on how many groups you have)
can be the final practice time before the rest of the lesson is used to perform
the play. If you really want to make something special out of it you can
encourage the children to bring or make their own costumes and props.
I hope you will have fun teaching about Roald Dahl and his wonderful worlds!
After her teacher training Chelsea Klaassen studied Children's Literature at Reading University to learn more about the wonderful worlds of children's books. After her degree she decided to start a blog on which she posts creative reading and writing ideas and exercises for teachers, parents and carers to use. You can find her blog here. Follow Chelsea on Twitter at @Chelseamorag1.
The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.
Miss Prince, my latest book wasn't supposed to be about vampires. And it isn't, really. But with all the arguing about how vampires are supposed to act in recent years, I got to thinking about it.
Who decides how stories go? You may argue that it is the writer, but is it really? Anyone and everyone can influence a story. It happens in real life all the time. People worry if they will get into trouble or if bad things will be said about them if they don't do what others expect.
In the Otherworlds, it's not much different. Things go according to how stories say they should. You might think you'd be lucky to be born a princess, yet it seems there's not a single princess who won't have to face being cursed or kidnapped, and the less we say about wicked step-mothers the better. And princes? They have a grand old time of it, fighting monsters and villains without even breaking a sweat – until they get married. All of sudden, they aren't allowed to rescue people any more. Kings just have to sit around while their daughters get kidnapped.
The Otherworlders argue that this how things should be and it stops the really bad things from happening - like the bad guys winning. But it's all very well to say that sort of thing if you're not a princess or a king or a vampire.
I always got very annoyed when I was child whenever anyone told me I couldn't do something because I was girl, for example. People would be very angry if we said characters had to act a certain way because of their gender, social status or race. So I thought... how would the vampires feel about it? And the princesses, and the princes and the witches and the villagers for that matter?
I feel very strongly that you shouldn't let other people decide who are.
And I hope that other people feel that way, too. Even about vampires.
Alicia L. Wright is the author of YA comic fantasies Eggs, Butter, Sugar and Disaster, published in 2011 and Miss Prince, published in 2014. You can download free samples of both books from her publisher's website. In her spare time Alicia also draws a webcomic based on Miss Prince and its sequels called Vampires Don't Belong in Fairytales. You can find her on: Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, deviantART and Tumblr.
The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book
reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your
favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.
My first memories of learning to read involved many pop-up books. I can’t remember exactly what they consisted of but I do vaguely remember colourful aliens and starlit backgrounds. At primary school my love of books heightened soon after the installation of a small library which was tucked away in a small side room. Hundreds of children’s books adorned the shelves and once a week we would all pick a book and read from it.
I have many books which I could quite confidently place under the title of ‘Best Books According to Amber’, but if I had to choose only one I’d go with Roald Dahl’s The BFG. A truly remarkable tale written by an amazing children’s author. The BFG was one of the first ‘major’ books I managed to read by myself from beginning to end.
The story of Sophie and the Big Friendly Giant captured my imagination like no other, especially at an age where my fantasy worlds clashed with reality. What if there are giants that visit humans when the world is sleeping? What if there are such things as snozzcumbers?
Since then my love for the written word has followed me into adult life. Whilst I don’t often venture into book stores for a physical copy of the latest novel, I do find myself browsing the Kindle Book Store for hidden treasures and deals. My fond memories of reading as a child have stayed with me all these years and I’m not afraid to admit that I still find myself reaching for Beatrix Potter, J. K. Rowling or Roald Dahl books in a bid to turn back the clock.
The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos,
poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite
children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.
We asked for your support with the ReadWell #BookSelfie campaign and you did not disappoint! Take a look at some of our favourite pictures.
ReadWell is a registered charity that enriches the lives of
seriously ill children in hospital by bringing them free books and
professional storytellers. To donate text Read 98 £2 to 70070. To find out more about this charityand their projects visit the ReadWell website.
Oliver, Neil, Teddy and Rose Harrison reading their favourite bedtime stories.
Rachel Bruce reading Cakes in Space.
Natalie Carragher and Lisa Bach reading The Smartest Giant in Town and Some Dogs Do.
Kaye Tew enjoying Carol Ann Duffy's Underwater Farmyard.
Sián Olivia with her favourite children's book The Bedtime Bear.
Why not share your book selfies, stories and photos on our Reading and Writing Relay blog? The MCBF2015 team are looking for your stories, book reviews, photos,
poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite
children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.
Ali Sparkes gave an inspiring performance at Green End Primary School
As part of the Manchester Children's Book Festival and the International Reading and Writing Relay, Ali Sparkes visited Green End Primary School on Friday 4th July.
Ali's visit to Manchester wouldn't have happened if the wonderful staff and pupils at Green End Primary School hadn't adopted her. Ali had heard through the grapevine that Green End Primary School was a wonderful eco-friendly school with an enthusiasm for learning, and insisted she visited the teachers and pupils if she were to take part in the Festival.
Green End Primary School Librarians have promised to give Spidey the Sea Monkey a safe home in their library
Ali's custom-made Sea Monkey, Spidey, enjoyed his visit to Green End so much that he asked to stay. The school librarians have promised to give Spidey a safe home in the library, on the condition that he behaves himself.
Teacher at Green End Primary School, Faye Okorie, told us how her pupils were "engaged and inspired" by Ali's visit, "Ali linked brilliantly into our school motto of 'Dream it, achieve it!'"
Ali Sparkes with pupils Rahima Chowdhury (left) and Michael Ryder (right), and teacher Miss Okorie from Green End Primary School
Pupil, Michael Ryder, added that the author of Shapeshifter and the Switch series "really inspired" him.
Fellow pupil, Rahima Chowdhury, commented, "Her books are very fascinating and I'm looking forward to reading her next book. I have learnt to never give up."
Friday 4th July saw the finale of the Reading and Writing Relay, and
Cathy Cassidy took the baton to Wentworth School in Salford for the final
event.
Cathy’s session was extremely inspiring for young writers
and added personal touches describing what she loved at school – daydreaming!
Hanifa Choudhury said, “We learnt about what Cathy was like when she was young
and her inspiration for writing books."
Wentworth High School pupils Yasmyn Abdulwahab and Hanifa Choudhury with author Cathy Cassidy
Cathy captured the importance of how
creative daydreaming can be with another pupil Yasmyn Abdulwahab adding, “I
learnt I can be imaginative and daydreaming isn’t bad! The talk was really
interesting."
The pupils were treated to a reading from the latest book Sweet Honey from the popular The Chocolate Box Girls series and even
had the chance to take part in a quiz to see which character they were most
like.
Cathy also showed one of her mood boards for Sweet Honey and the different pictures
that influence the characters.
Teacher Sarah Eggleton said “Cathy, is always, a
brilliant speaker. Inspirational and practical tips on becoming a writer. Our
students loved it! Thank-you!”
On Thursday 3rd July, Liz encouraged Year 7 and 9 pupils of Turton High School to become writers by talking them through the process of writing a novel and getting it published.
Year 9 pupil, Charlotte Foy, told us, "I really enjoyed today. It's really inspired me to write a story of my own and gave me some great ideas!"
Fellow Year 9 pupil, Lucy Beveridge, added, "A brilliant experience, very inspirational. Thank you!"
Teacher, Carole Baily, commented, "An excellent day that has inspired students to read and write."
Steve Cole paid a visit to St Thomas of Canterbury Primary
School on 3rd of July and performed to an audience of 100 pupils.
Steve introduced the pupils to his new book for children, Aliens Stink, and was amazed at how well the children were able to sing along to the lyrics of the hilarious song he has written to accompany the new book. Aliens Stink, as you would expect from the title, tells the story of Tim and his dad who discover that earth has been invaded by aliens. They are kidnapped and taken to a super-secret base where Tim discovers the full extent of the alien threat ...and the extraordinary kids fighting it. With the aid of a little huggy alien, and a depressed guard, Tim and his weird new friends take the battle to the aliens.
Aliens Stink sing-a-long
Steve went on to talk about the characters in ‘Aliens Stink’
and the concept behind his other new book Secret Agent Mummy. He also illustrated how anyone can be imaginative by creating
a ‘chombie’ (a chair zombie to you and I). Nimi Owoyemi said that “Steve has
inspired me to write in his style”. Steve revealed that his greatest influences as
a writer were comic books and Roald Dahl. He also encouraged the children to
enter the Neville Johnson Comic Strip competition.
The event finished with a Q+A session where the pupils asked
some very interesting questions, which ranged from his inspiration for his
books to what other occupation he would have liked to have pursued. Steve told
the children that he would have liked to become a television presenter, which
is no surprise at all, as he is a fantastic entertainer!
Steve Cole with pupils Marnie, Sarah and Jack
Teacher Amanda McCann said the session had been "such an inspirational event for our young readers. Steve had the children in stitches! They've never been so excited to get home and delve into a new book". All in all the session was a great success, pupil Lola Akintoye
said “Steve brings sci-fi to life!”
Author of Vampirates series, Justin Somper, visited Stockport Grammar School on Tuesday 1st July, to continue the Reading and Writing Relay across Greater Manchester.
Justin Somper and his custom made Vampirates Sea Monkey, Cap'n Jesse Spike.
Justin was greeted by Year 8 pupils, who listened intently as he talked about his popular teen series Vampirates, and his latest series of novels, Allies & Assassins.
Year 8 pupils Scarlett Winter and Sophia Boar with Justin Somper
Pupil, Sophia Boar, told us, "I really enjoyed listening to Justin and he has really inspired me to write more."
Fellow pupil, Scarlett Winter, added to this, "I thought that today was very interesting and that it was fun to listen to."
Justin then joined a few pupils in the library over lunch, for a more relaxed question and answer session. Overall, the pupils at Stockport Grammar seemed inspired by Justin's visit.
We at Oswald Road Primary School in Chorlton are very
excited about this Saturday's event with Cerrie Burnell. Our 2 poetry winners
were given free tickets to the event, as was the little girl for whom the poetry
competition was fundraising: Leila McMurray.
They will all get to meet her afterwards too!
Leila needs an operation to improve her mobility and
the Oswald Road School community has rallied to organise various fundraising activities, it has been totally heartwarming and unifying.
Highlights of our 'Poetry Power' event have been the
Poetry Stop - poetry writing in the playground at lunchtime -
and seeing our youngest, nursery entrant recite his poem at assembly. He
will be a talent to watch as he journeys through school.
As the entries trickled in, I took such pleasure in reading
them - I smiled, laughed and cried! - each one unique with individual
personalities shinning through. Our theme was aptly hopes and dreams.
When I took small groups to write poems, I was struck by
what an organic and nourishing process writing poetry was for many
children.
We will be having a special assembly on Friday where we
officially announce the winners, runners up and final 10 from each Key Stage.
ALL of the poems were a joy to read....poems coming soon...watch this
space!
Sent to us from Susanne Murray at Oswald Road Primary School
.
