Our Favourite Books

Our Favourite Books!

Pupils have been sharing their favourite books with their peers. They are excited about the books they are bringing from home and they also truly appreciate listening to their peers’ stories. It has been an enriching experience for everyone and a way to sparkle their interest in retelling stories. Linked to this, we will start sending books home on a regular basis. You will find further information on the bottom of this post. Please read it and talk to us should you need any clarification.

Thank you very much for your continued support.

PYP 1 Teachers

PYP 1 Omega

PYP 1 Beta

PYP 1 Sigma

PYP 1Delta

Reading Books as a new routine in PYP 1

Dear Parents,

Your child will soon start taking books and sequencing cards home on a regular basis to reinforce further language development. The name of the book will be written on the diary with a small square beside it. Please make sure to mark OK in the square after the book has been read and return it for further work in class.

Overall Goals: 
 • develop vocabulary;

 • construct longer sentences;

 • describe, predict and sequence events (E.g. This picture shows us a girl running to her father. This picture shows the girl reaching her father. This picture shows that the father is lifting the girl up in the air.”);

 • retell stories (or parts of it);

 • set a daily reading routine (10 to 15 minutes).

You can use these goals as a guideline on how to approach reading to and with your child. Once you have fully explored the book with your child, please return it in the folder. We will then revise the story with your child and send a new book home (please note that a new book may be sent a few days following the return). Ideally we would like you to spend no more than three days with the same book.

  *** Please note that the "Library" and "home reading books" are different. The Library books have a tag inside with the return date and they have little lowercase and capital letters on the cover page. 

If you have any doubts or queries please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be glad to help. 

Thank you,

 PYP 1 Teachers

An interesting article for you to read about the importance of reading to children:

The importance of reading to children: 
Ready your child for reading

By Brent Sitton

It's never too soon to start your child on the path to reading. Simply talking to your infant and toddler helps her develop the vocabulary she will need as she enters school and begins to read. As you point to and name objects, she will begin to understand the meaning of words, and will eventually begin to incorporate those words into his vocabulary.

The U.S. Department of Education recommends beginning to read to your baby when she is six months old. According to their 2003 report, "Hearing words over and over helps her become familiar with them. Reading to your baby is one of the best ways to help her learn."

In that same report, the Department of Education also recommends that parents reach out to groups that can:

·                Help you find age-appropriate books to use at home with your child;

·                Show you creative ways to use books with your child and other tips to help her learn; and

·                Provide year-round children's reading and educational activities.

A child's love for reading grows when the words on the page come to life through experiences shared as a family. For example, after reading Eric Carle's Ten Little Rubber Ducks to your toddler, you can learn all about real ducks, make ocean snacks, or go on a family outing and feed the ducks at a nearby pond.

In order to help your child get ready to read, the Department of Education also recommends:

·                Using sounds, songs, gestures, and words that rhyme to help your baby learn about language and its many uses.

·                Pointing out the printed words in your home and other places you take your child, such as the grocery store.

·                Spending as much time listening to your child as you do talking to her.

·                Taking children's books and writing materials with you whenever you leave home. This gives your child fun activities to entertain and occupy her while traveling and running errands.

·                Creating a quiet, special place in your home for your child to read, write, and draw.

·                Keeping books and other reading materials where your child can easily reach them. Having her own bookshelf or small bookcase will not only make her feel special, but will also communicate to her that reading is special.

·                Reading books, newspapers and magazines yourself, so that your child can see that reading is important.

·                Limiting the amount and type of television you and your child watch.

The best thing you do to ensure that your child will grow up reading well and loving to read is to read to her every day. The time you spend reading together will create a special bond between the two of you, and will open the doors for a dialogue that will continue throughout the more trying years of adolescence. The Department of Education suggests that, when you're reading, you discuss new words. As an example, they suggest that you say, "This big house is called a palace. Who do you think lives in a palace?" Likewise, they suggest taking time to ask about the pictures and what your child thinks is happening in the story.

The same report suggests additional strategies for early literacy:

·                When reading a book with large print, point at each word as you read it. Your child will understand that the word being spoken is the word she sees.

·                Read a favorite book over and over again.

·                Read stories with rhyming words and lines that repeat, and have your child join in.

·                Read from a variety of children's books, including fairy tales, poems, and non-fiction.

The more strategies you can incorporate into your child's reading experience, the more likely you are to help your child develop into a strong reader.