Friday was the last day of term for me – sorry, have I mentioned that already?! At the end of the year primary school teachers usually buy a little something for their class. It’s not easy to decide what to get and often ends up being sugar-related if I’m honest. But this year my fab teaching partner and I had a brainwave. I’ll give you some background before I tell you what it was. When I first went into the class, I was quite concerned about what we could achieve by the end of the academic year. They are (were) a year 1 class, majority EAL (English additional language) and a couple of SEN thrown into the mix. Many of the class could write their name and short captions, but that was about it. To say that they have come on this year would be a massive understatement and, more importantly, a great injustice to them.
The children have been reading and writing a LOT this year and so have we. In fact, we did a rough calculation and discovered that between them, the children have read approximately 2160 books and we have shared 360 books with the class. That’s at least 2520 books, not including library books, stories during assembly and whatever their parents may read with them at home. No wonder they have become such avid readers. They really do love reading and being read to. So, we decided that their end of year present would be a book. Not just any book though; we took away their re-telling of ‘The Sun and the Wind’, typed up each child’s version and had it published by a local printer. Words can not describe how completely excited they were when we gave them out. They looked so proud, instantly beginning to read each other’s stories with a look of sheer joy on each and every face.
Every single child immediately told their parents about their book as soon as they were collected after school that afternoon. For me, that was the best part of the whole year! I can leave my whiteboard behind for the summer safe in the knowledge that we guided those children to success.
The following links can help you get your child’s story/book published:
http://www.usborne.com/catalogue/catalogue.aspx?id=5161
or simply contact your local printers, who I am sure will be more than happy to be of service.
Chicken and Frog Bookshop 