Evidence versus Mindfulness?

In the run up to her highly anticipated series of concerts at the Hammersmith Apollo at the beginning of September, Kate Bush released a statement appealing to her fans to put down their mobile phones at her gigs. Bush wrote on her website: "I have a request for all of you who are coming to the shows. We have purposefully chosen an intimate theatre setting rather than a large venue or stadium. It would mean a great deal to me if you would please refrain from taking photos or filming during the shows. "I very much want to have contact with you as an audience, not with iPhone's, i Pad's or cameras. I know it's a lot to ask but it would allow us to all share in the experience together." 

This really struck a cord with me. I have been guilty of this myself, filming and photographing events rather than engaging in them directly. I realise now that the result of this was that instead of 'living in the moment' I had merely become a spectator in my own life.  We are it seems creating and encouraging a culture of distraction where we are increasingly disconnected from the people and events around us. 

Sadly this phenomenon is not limited to the smartphone or even just to technology. We are increasingly distracted and some may say obsessed by recording everything from concerts, our holidays, days out, the list is endless. This takes the form of photographs, videos and written and typed notes. Evidence has become king!

My daughter recently gave birth to my second Grandson and I was truly blessed and honoured  to be her birthing partner. She had a very nice midwife who delivered the baby safely and soundly, she was competent and committed to her job. However.  I couldn't help but notice how much time the midwife spent typing up notes throughout the labour. She didn't have to leave the room to type up the notes as computers are installed in each delivery room. But whilst this meant she didn't have to leave the room she still wasn't actually 'living in the moment' and caring for her patient, she was distracted. At one point whilst my daughter was having a contraction the midwife was at the computer typing furiously, she then looked over her shoulder briefly to say 'Keep breathing through it!' I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. 

The midwifes job it appeared to me at that moment had changed from caring for the mother during labour to making copious notes for evidence and recording data. I am sure that is the total opposite of what this and any midwife would like to be doing. They do, I am sure, go into their profession to care for people but both they and the mothers under their care are being deprived of this due to societies constant need to record everything! 

This then got me thinking about teaching, a profession like most teachers I am passionate about. But despite my years of experience I find myself caught up in this drive to record and evidence everything! Ofsted love evidence which can be seen from numerous school inspection reports on their own website:

 'The quality of written marking is inconsistent, and too few opportunities are provided for students to respond to the advice given.'

Does marking and evidence in books improve or enhance the learning? And if it does is this then outweighed by taking the focus of teachers away from the important job, teaching!


Mindfulness is one of educations latest buzzwords:

'Mindfulness involves learning to direct our attention to experience as it unfolds, moment by moment, with open minded curiosity and acceptance. Rather than worrying about what has happened or might happen, it trains us to respond skilfully to whatever is happening right now be that good or bad'  The Mindfulness is Schools Project

Have we been forced away from living in the moment with our pupils? Experiencing learning together? Seeing what develops in them and ourselves? Do we need to be more mindful not just for the pupils but for ourselves in our role as teachers? After all the evidence is in the pupils themselves not what they have written or recorded in their books. The proof of the pudding as they say is in the eating!

A back to school Pledge

The end of the summer holidays is fast approaching and whilst thoughts about school are never far away the immanency of the return to school has resulted in lots of reflection and a desire to ensure that the coming year is a successful and happy one.

Hence the decision to make a very personal pledge, I hereby pledge to:

• Immerse myself in the teaching and learning that takes place in my classroom as regularly as possible.  

           Do whatever you do intensely  
          Robert Henri  - American Painter and Teacher

• Engage and enthuse the pupils in my class making their learning experience challenging and exciting. 

           When the creativity is well embedded the learning happens naturally  
          Diane Kenny - Primary Teacher Wirral

          

• Stay true to myself, avoiding the politicalisation of education and the pressures that it brings 

           This politically charged time is the time to stick to our values and get on with getting on
           John Tomsett - Headteacher York

• Ask questions of my pupils, myself and my colleagues both in school and within the Twitter community

           Effective questioning brings insight, which fuels curiosity, which cultivates wisdom.
           Chip Bell - mentor, trainer, speaker, author

• Fight my absolute in built desire to seek the acknowledgement and approval of other adults

          Do what you feel to be right in you heart for you'll be criticised anyway
          Eleanor Roosevelt - Longest serving first lady of the United States

• Continue to be responsible for my own professional development

          Once you stop learning you start dying
          Albert Einstein - German-born theoretical physicist and philosopher of science

• Try to maintain a work life balance

          We live in a world in which we are dependent on others; We cannot expect to fulfill our 
          goals while disregarding others needs
          Dalai Lama -  His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, describes himself as a 
          simple Buddhist monk and the spiritual leader of Tibet.

•   Be the best teacher that I can be

           Teachers have three loves: Love of learning, love of learners and the love of bringing
           the first two loves together
           Scott Hayden - ?

An essential back to school checklist for NQTs

The new academic year is upon us and for some has already begun, but for those who do not return until 1st September I have compiled an essential back to school checklist. The list includes all of the things I have discovered over the years that really help me to hit the ground running at the beginning of the new academic year. With the constant pressures put upon all of those in education that can only be a good thing, there is nothing worse than getting to day two of the new term and already feeling behind and like you are running around like a headless chicken! 

The only way to prevent a chaotic first term is to take some of the time over the holidays to begin your preparation. Some people prefer to go into school right at the beginning whilst others would argue the case for the last week of the holidays but whichever you choose I would advise roping in any willing helpers you can. Hopefully your T.A. if you have one, if not long suffering friends and family can fit the bill nicely.


1. Planning:

It is essential to know what to are going to teach. Are there topics already in place? What were your year group taught last year? Always approach other teachers planning with caution though. After years of teaching myself I can genuinely say I have never repeated my own planning and have never followed another teachers. I use my own planning from last year as a starting point but each year I often find more up to date resources or have to alter my whole approach due to the cohort etc. If there is no planning in place start with the expectations for the year group or groups you are going to teach. Hopefully your SLT will provide you with some guidance here but if not there is a huge amount to be found very easily with a quick Google search. Here is quite a useful one from TES if you are stuck for time Overview of the new Primary Curriculum. 

The next step is to put these expectations into some sort of order to form your Long Term Plan. Perhaps by organising expectations into topics across the three terms, topics can be termly or half termly this really depends upon the topic and your cohort. When planning topics it is always useful to come up with an exciting way to launch your topic, this can come in the form of a class visit or visitor, a mysterious letter etc. And likewise an exciting way to round up or conclude the topic, again this could be a trip, a class party or celebration, an assembly or performance. Use the internet as much as you can, Hamilton Trust have lots of topic based planning and even if you do not want to follow it all it can act as a good starting point.

Phase two of your planning prep comes in the form of Medium Term Planning which sorts out the learning for a particular term or half term depending upon the topic. This requires a little more detail and breaks down the learning into weekly sections. Try to add in potential websites, books you may need, class visits you need to plan and when you will need them.

The final part of the planning is your Short Term planning weekly, daily, lesson plans, what you are going to be teaching across the whole week but written in a clear, more detailed format. This should link to resources for you daily plan such as Hamilton Trust or Abacus Evolve, particular books etc. It is essential to match your planning to both curriculum expectations and your learning outcomes for the individual lessons. What do you want the children to learn? Lots of schools will have a suggested format for your planning but if not do some research both on the web and from colleagues in the school. 

2. The Teaching and learning environment:

I have written in previous blog posts about the road to outstanding teaching and believe that environment plays a huge part in this. http://theteachingnut.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-road-to-outstanding-part-two.html .

This is where your friends and family can come in really useful. The first job is to start with a blank canvas, make sure all previous display boards are stripped and your classroom is clean and tidy. Hopefully your school with have a caretaker and a cleaning team, if so make friends with them immediately! If you have them on your side you will always have a tidy room. Once stripped and prepped the next step is to put up some displays. 

If you are not given any guidance from the school here go and have a look around in other rooms. Its great to get a feel for the school when it is empty and it will give you a sense of what is expected. I would suggest as a starting point a Literacy and a  Numeracy working wall. A good tip here is to place some garden netting over the top of the backing to act s a place to peg pupils work up because as a working wall this display will and should alter if not daily at least weekly. The netting will therefore prevent you having to change it at all for the year which is always a bonus.  

You will also need a topic display which you can have prepped with the topic heading and maybe with some questions and some books at the base. Next you should think about a board for behaviour management with statements of expectations and sanctions, try to keep it as positive as possible. Research is required here to ensure you follow the schools behaviour policy but often even where there is a clear policy schools allow individual teachers to have their own reward systems.

Learning zones are really useful if you have he space but even the tiniest rooms should be clearly labelled and organised with the basics such as a reading area, writing area. An investigation area is always a good area to have as it can cover all of subjects including Literacy, Maths, Science and topic. Be creative and really try to make the space clear, uncluttered but fun.

All resources should also be labelled such as pupils books, trays or boxes but also trays with printer paper, lined paper, pencils, rulers etc. You will need to think if you would like resources such as pencils, rulers etc be on the tables or not. I prefer not to as often this just gives pupils something to mess with. However, I do have to then ensure all resources are easily accessible and clearly marked. Pinterest provides lots of ideas for creative classroom environments and is well worth a look. Here are some ideas for decorating your classroom door which the children really love and certainly make a positive statement about you and your classroom. 

                                 

           

                                   

3. Know your Cohort:

It is essential that you know your pupils. You will obviously after the first couple of weeks of term have learned a lot about them but in order to make an impact straight away it is essential that you do your research. Ask for up to date data which should provide you with where your pupils were at the end of last year and where they need to be at the end of the new academic year based upon their year group end of year expected national level as well as based upon their individual expected level. This will help ensure good to outstanding individual progress. This information allows you to plan, sort your pupils into groups, identify any pupils  that may need individual or group interventions, extending or support. All vital components of ensuring progress. A meeting with the assessment coordinator or a member of the SLT would be great but if they are not available until the start of term have a go at analysing the data yourself. Ideally you should also have a meeting with the teacher who taught your pupils last year for a proper hand over which allows you to find out their family life, friendship groups, who they work well with, who they should not sit next to etc This will all again really help you to make a well prepared and informed start. 

Prepare a class 'mark book' with all of your pupils names, end of last year data at the beginning of the line, Where they are now, and their expected end of this year data at the other end, Where they need to be. Leave sufficient space in between for half termly assessment to be added. This allows you to track progress throughout the year. Have a different page for Reading, Writing, Numeracy, Science etc as well as a page for things like times tables and mental maths scores, homework and reading books. all of which will provide essential information for parents evenings and give you a reminder about who needs chasing up for homework or who needs more times tables practice etc.

I hope my checklist has helped rather than put you into a blind panic! Remember this preparation will be for each new academic year not just your NQT year. Teachers in schools all around the country are preparing for their new pupils too and no matter how long you teach each new year is a fresh start, new pupils, new topics, new Government initiatives..... That is what makes teaching the challenging yet amazingly rewarding profession that it is! Try to be prepared as you can to help ensure a good productive and happy start to your school year!

Good Luck and above all else enjoy because happy teachers make happy pupils and happy pupils are much more likely to achieve!

The Three Teaching Ghosts

The Ghost of class past:

I have been teaching for a long time ...... However, last academic year was my first ever in KS1. I taught a year 2 class of 34 children, 22 boys and 12 girls. I approached the year as I always do with a mixture of excitement and anticipation. It was a new challenge and that is something I always enjoy.

As it turned out it really was a challenge! They were a full on, hectic, noisy but absolutely lovable class. Due partly to the size of the class (34 is not that large in KS2 but it certainly is in KS1) also due to the high number of boys, together with a relatively small classroom resulted in quite a noisy year. 

We already have in place a behaviour system based upon the sunshine, rainbow and cloud but each teacher then runs their own reward system to compliment this.  It was clear pretty early on that I was going to need a reward system that would match the needs of this particular class. They needed something to keep them on task, motivated and quiet! I also felt that it was important that some sort of a reward should be awarded at the end of each day. I  was then, thankfully, introduced to the joys of The Great Behaviour Game by my, experienced in KS1, T.A.

Once you have registered it works by continually adding points to each pupils name, unless otherwise paused. It also has the facility for you to add additional points for whatever you choose. The game is displayed on the Whiteboard for all to see and the children quickly became enthralled by it. The reward for 'winning; the Great Behaviour Game was two fold. Firstly a postcard home to their adult and secondly a class wrist band allowing them access to the schools adventure playground equipment. Two much coveted prizes which resulted in a much happier, calmer class, pupils, T.A. and teacher! The parents really enjoyed receiving the postcards too.

Teaching year 2 has been a challenge but I loved it that much in the end I begged and pleaded to do it again! We had lots of fun and learned a lot together. I have had lots of experience of year 6 Sats but this was my first dip into KS1 Sats. I am glad to say that on the whole the experience for the children and for me was quite a painless one (even I cannot believe how well they all did!) The KS1 Sats are delivered a lot more discretely but are still very strictly implemented and assessed to ensure data which presents as true a reflection of the pupils attainment as possible. 

I have throughout my teaching career moved year groups regularly, due to circumstances in each of the schools I have taught in as well as to my requests. I have always seen changing year groups as a way to keep learning, keep things fresh and to improve my skills as a teacher. It is great professional development! After teaching for 16 years I really I have gained so much from moving regularly, my experience is vast. However, I also think it is important to have at least two years, preferably three,  in a year group before moving on. This provides an opportunity for real reflection: What worked well? Why? What didn't work so well? Why? And where there is reflection there is learning.

The Ghost of class present:

No I haven't been teaching summer school! Or have I? During the summer holidays this year I have had the opportunity to spend lots of time with my six year old grandson. All teachers know that even during the holidays school is definitely not out. Wherever we go, the beach, the museum, the pictures, anywhere, even a wet day at home ... there is always an opportunity to teach. I cant help myself, everything presents itself to me as a teaching and learning opportunity. This year has been a great one for that, my grandson has just completed year 1 and will be going into year 2. The very year group I have just taught and will be teaching next year. Great! Well for me at least, I'm not so sure he would agree.  

I would describe my grandson as very active, inquisitive, interested, interesting yet a very, very reluctant learner. I have to approach any formal work with great caution and go to great lengths to avoid anything formal. This is easy when it comes to science experiments, rock pooling, collecting shells, sticks, treasures, mini beast hunts,  counting, painting, drawing, making our own Lego movies etc.  All of which we have both thoroughly enjoyed and all of which he has with out a doubt learned a lot from. 

The tricky part has been the more formal learning specifically writing. He has been reading regularly with his Mummy and actually is really beginning to enjoy it, well I hope so anyway. Writing however is another matter. He is a very reluctant writer and thankfully as I had taught a year 2 class last year I know he is most definitely not alone. I have taught lots of boys who are reluctant writers from every year group in KS2 but year 2 reluctant writers are really a completely different breed. They will do and do do anything to avoid writing. It is as if it is actually painful to them, similar to sitting still, which for lots of boys is genuinely painful, well it appears writing is the same.

I had a core group of reluctant writers last year but by the end of the year they were all much improved and finding the whole process a lot less painful. This gave me some hope, perhaps foolishly, that I could achieve this with my grandson. Any teachers who are parents will understand that teaching your own children is not quite the same. To them you are Mum, Dad, Grandma etc not their teacher. They do not therefore behave the way a pupil would towards you. 

Nevertheless as my grandson had homework to complete for his new teacher and his Mummy and I did not want him to go back to school having not written at all I had to have a go.
It has been like pulling teeth! With short, sharp periods of writing spread out over the holiday he has actually made progress. Oh no I cant believe I just uttered the dreaded word progress! and about my own flesh and blood and during the holidays! I really have lost the plot. But progress he has made. I can see a distinct improvement in his handwriting (on the line and legible) and he was able to write about three sentences before having a total meltdown. 

All of this has presented another opportunity for reflection about teaching and education. Why are lots of boys such reluctant writers? Is homework worth the stress it causes parents? Do we begin formal education much too soon in England? 

The ghost of class yet to be:

Year 2 2014/2015 rapidly approaches. Due to the time to do it I feel like have prepared more this year than any other. My classroom looks amazing, I have completed a long term plan for the year, a medium term plan for the first half term and two weeks short term planning! I have hammered Pinterest and Twitter in search of new inspiration and have done lots of reflecting upon last year. What worked? What will I change? What will stay the same? What new thing s will I introduce?

I am poised and ready to pounce! I love seeing my new class on the first day all shiny shoes and new haircuts. I love listening to the buzz in the classroom as they return to see each other after the long break and share their stories of summer. It is always a time of great anticipation and a huge sense of the task ahead. It is an honour but also a great responsibility to be a teacher. A whole class of different personalities, backgrounds, home lives, abilities, expectations but all with the right to a teacher that believes in them and will lead them on the learning journey ahead. 

Oh no I've gone all soppy!! It is because of all of this though that teaching really is a full time job a true vocation that takes over your life. But a job I know I am good at and in the dark, hard days when every one wants a piece of me, I need to try to remember the three little ghost and why I do it in the first place!

 
 

A Successful Competitive Sports Day

For the last 8 to 10 years competitive sports days in schools all around the U.K have been frowned upon. This is clearly refected in an article in the mail online from 2006  School killjoys ban traditional sports-day  

Whilst I can see both sides of the competitive v non competitive argument I have always secretly missed the old fashioned running, relay, obstacle course type of sports day of my own youth and from my first few years teaching. I have to admit I have actually dreaded sports day in school each year, even going to the lengths of praying for rain, if I knew any rain dances I would have danced them. Trust me I loathed the 'team game' format that sports day had become. 

One of the reasons for my dislike of these type of sports day are simple, they are not, from what I experienced or observed much fun. The children are assigned to 'mixed age group teams' with children from F2 through to year 6, this fact alone clearly limits the type of activities the children take part in. Some of the activities include throwing bean bags into buckets, skipping, rearranging their group on benches in order of age and welly throwing.

The children and any long suffering adults then rotate around the activities until each team has taken part. Of course there is a bit of a competitive edge as the teams are competing against each other, albeit not directly. This lack of direct competition took a lot of the fun out of it, this along with the limited 'activities'. 

We actually, in my opinion, underestimate our children by indicating that the competitive nature of sports day is too stressful, whilst piling the pressure on to achieve high Sats scores and pass the 11 plus! Most children are by their very nature competitive, ask any child who has siblings, it is from day one in a family a competition. When at play children compete when deciding whose game they are going to play first, who is 'on' in tick, in the classroom they compete, even if it is only to claim the first pencil from the middle of the table or to be first in line going for lunch. 
  
Has this change in format resulted in children being less competitive, better behaved or more thoughtful and considerate towards each other than they were before? Were the children asked what type of sports day they wanted?

Thankfully for the children and adults in our school common sense finally prevailed and it was this year back to a fully fledged competitive sports day! Each year group took part in a boys then a girls running race followed by a boys and then girls obstacle race with prizes awarded in each case to the winner. 

After all of the childrens races it was over to the adults, starting with Mums/Grans, Aunties, then Dads, Grandads and Uncles followed by the staff race! To end it all we then had a tug of war with staff verses parents. It was a resounding success! The children, parents and staff all had a ball, there was a real sense of camaraderie, a community coming together and having fun.

I don't think I will be praying for rain next year!

The Road to Outstanding Part 4 - Planning and Teaching

You know your cohort, the classroom environment is arranged and you have a clear behaviour policy in place. You are ready for the next step towards outstanding teaching and learning and in the words of Yoda:

  'A Jedi soon you will make.' 

What does an outstanding lesson look like? With a simple Google search it is possible to find a whole host of cafeteria's, tick lists and outstanding lesson examples. However , there are far too many different lesson types, cohorts and teaching styles to make these ideas useful. Actually using a criteria can have the opposite affect with teachers over planning, not teaching to their teaching style or strength and not considering the cohort of pupils they have before them with their own very individual needs. There is no 'ideal'  formula!

Ofsted and school Senior Leadership Teams have to take a lot of  the blame for spawning a fear that results in over reliance of a particular lesson format and teaching style. Teachers receiving Ofsted and Performance Management lesson observation feedback with criticism for 'too much teacher talk', 'pupils sat on the carpet for too long', 'not enough differentiation.' 


If we are to believe the recent press releases from Ofsted then actually Ofsted will not be grading teacher or lessons on these factors anymore:

'Inspectors should not grade an aspect such as teaching, unless circumstances are exceptional, without considering the broad range of evidence that they can gather during a visit to a lesson – for example, the behaviour of the students and how well they are managed, subject knowledge, the standard of work completed in books, the quality of marking and so on – and use this to come to a view about what teaching is like for those students and its impact on their learning over time.' 

'I was speaking to a colleague today, one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors. He reminded me it is all about outcomes and that it does work both ways. In a classroom he was in recently, a teacher produced, literally, an all-singing, all-dancing lesson. There was music, comedy, costumes, games, ‘thinking hats’, and all with clear objectives on the whiteboard. He recorded a teaching quality grade of inadequate. Not because of the ‘performance’ on the day but because students’ graffiti-strewn books hadn’t been marked for six months and work was shoddy or incomplete. In contrast, he graded teaching as outstanding in a classroom where students sat reading in silence because of the exceptional quality of students’ work and the teacher’s marking in exercise books. He told both teachers what his conclusions were'    

A summary by Mike Cladingbowl, National Director, Schools.Taken from 'Why do Ofsted Inspectors Observe Individual Lessons and How do they Evaluatr Teaching in Schools' 
21st February 2014



Outstanding teachers do not try to fit into a specific teaching style or lesson format, they think, plan and teach 'outside of the box.' Whilst this may be a scary prospect, it does actually in essence free you from the constraints that can actually shackle and confine you, Teaching Without Limits.  There is no one way to teach or approach a lesson, however there are some key elements:

Teaching approaches should be active and creative allowing pupils to encounter the new and at times unexpected
Planning that is linked to pupils needs and interests
Immediate responses to items in the news, the weather
Age appropriate activities with a level of challenge built in
Personalised learning
Quick responses to extend, challenge but likewise know when to support
Opportunities to practice, reinforce
Consistent, positive marking and feedback
Time to reflect and respond to marking
Strong partnership with other adults in the room - T.As
Positive classroom environment

This list is by no means exhaustive, nether is it a defined, must see all elements, list it is merely some of the things that outstanding teachers strive for, think about and indeed add to and amend. Outstanding teaching evolves, changes, ebbs and flows. What it isn't is safe!

If teachers have high expectations of their pupils they also need to have high expectations of themselves whilst also being realistic. Not every lesson could or should be all singing all dancing, what they should all do though is:

(with object and infinitive or clause) Impart knowledge to or instruct someone as to how to do something

(with object) Give information about or instruction in a subject or skill

(with object and clause) Cause someone to learn or understand something by example or experience Taken from Oxford Dictionaries.com

 

My life in children's books

I love books! Books have always been an important part of my life. I read for pleasure, I read when I am bored, I read to escape, I read for inspiration, I read to research, I read to learn, I read to remember and I read to forget. The joy of reading is a gift, it provides endless opportunities.

One of my earliest memories of books comes from the 'library' that we had in the front room of our council house. In reality the 'library' consisted of a couple of book shelves in the corner of the family living room, but to me it was a magical place filled with books old and new, paperback and hardback. I used to sit among the books sniffing them, inhaling deeply, it was a guilty pleasure. I loved the way they all smelled differently, they smelt of the adventures that would soon be mine.                                                

 
My next memory of books came not much later. I remember standing on tiptoe, looking out of the window waiting and waiting for the postman to deliver a parcel. The parcel I was waiting for was a I think a birthday present for my fourth birthday in 1965.

The parcel contained a full set of Dr Seuss books! Just thinking about these books evokes a thousand memories of pleasure. The pleasure of sitting in my Mums big, warm bed all safe and warm reading with, and then to, my mother. As the youngest of eight children with a mother and father who both worked full time, time spent reading with my mother were especially precious. 

'The Cat in the Hat', 'Green Eggs and Ham', 'Fox in Sox' but my favourite was 'Are you My Mother?' I loved the repetition and quickly remembered what was going to come next as my mother read. My mother always told me that Dr Seuss taught me to read! I'm not sure if that is true but I do know that Dr Seuss was indeed my first journey into books. 

The next phase in my relationship with books was when I was a newly independent reader.  The ones that stick in my mind the most from this phase of my life with books are 'The Wishing Chair' and 'The Far Away Tree' by Enid Blyton. With Enid Blyton I was able to enter a world full of fantasy: 'When Peter and Mollie wander into an antique shop to buy a present for their mother's birthday, little do they know how enthralling life is about to become. Quite by accident, they acquire a wishing-chair which sprouts wings and flies them wherever they want to go.'

 

My Naughty Little Sister came next, probably bought for me by one of my older siblings. She was actually the little girl I wished I could be when in fact I was, I think, a quiet and quite serious little girl.


Then the Borrowers entered my life, taking me back to a world of fantasy -  'The Borrowers own nothing at all; they live in the secret places of quiet old houses – behind the mantelpiece, inside the harpsichord, under the kitchen clock. Everything they have is borrowed from the 'human beans', who don't even know they exist. Arrietty's father, Pod, is an expert Borrower – he can scale curtains using a hatpin and bring back a doll's teacup without breaking it. Girls aren't supposed to go borrowing but as Arrietty is an only child her father breaks the rule. But then Arrietty makes friends with a boy – a 'human bean' – and from that moment danger is never far away for, above all else, they must avoid the great disaster of being seen'.

Her Benny by Silas K Hocking was given to me by my Mum. It had been her favourite book as a child growing up in Aylesbury in Wiltshire. How ironic that she would later go on to raise her children not far from the city in which the book is set. This book was to become the first book that made me cry. I remember sobbing when Benny's little sister Nelly died. 

My Next adventure with children's books continued with the birth of my two daughters Sarah and Beth. I vowed to read to them regularly, as my Mum did with me so that I too could give them the gift of reading. I have many happy memories of reading to them in my double bed, one of them either side of me, all snuggled, safe and warm. Peepo was one of their early favourites due to both the beautiful illustrations and the repetitive, rhyming pattern which allowed them to eventually join in saying the words along with me as I read. My daughters are 26 and 28 now and one of them a mother herself and they still remember all of the words in this book off by heart!

As they grew into toddlers their favourite books became the stories of Alfie and Annie-Rose written and beautifully illustrated by Shirley Hughes. Alfie becomes trapped inside the house whilst Mum and  Annie-Rose are outside on the step, the window cleaner nearly saves the day by climbing up his ladder to let himself in an open window. But just in time Alfie manages to turn the lock and let everyone in - andhimself out. On the last page, Alfie, his mum, Annie Rose, Mrs MacNally, Maureen and the window cleaner are sitting cosily round the kitchen table with tea and biscuits - the perfect celebration for the perfect little hero. 


We went on to read many, many books together and both of my daughters do indeed have the gift of reading and although both have busy lives they try to read as regularly as they can. My daughter Sarah who has her own son has gone on to read both 'Peepo' and 'Alfie and Annie Rose' to her son. After raising my family I went back into full time education and qualified as a primary school teacher. This was to herald a brand new adventure with children's books and to provide me with the opportunity to share the joy of reading with many, many children over my 16 years of teaching.

Harry Potter Lloyd and the Philosopher's Stone' was published in 1997 whilst I wl and swept along with the hype that followed. I was, and still am,  a huge Harry Potter fan. Any author who can capture the interest of children and entice them into reading has my vote without question. As we know J.K. Rowling went on to write a further five books which has provided me with a great amount of reading material to read with my pupils over the years. I even have a copy of the first three books on tape read by Stephen Fry which I used constantly on the school Coomber. Sadly Coombers no longer come with tape players but I cannot bear to part with them nevertheless!  

I have to confess that I have never really been a fan of Roald Dahl books. I think this is perhaps because they do not really lend themselves to 'reading aloud.' However, this all changed when became a KS1 teacher for the very first time. My first topic 'Down in the Woods' set me off in search of a 'class read' or 'read aloud' book. I considered 'The Far Away Tree' but felt that it would be too long for my purpose. The book I wanted needed to be relatively short as I wanted it to be part of the exciting launch to a topic. I then stumbled upon, literally, The Minpins: Running from the terrible Gruncher monster of the woods, a young boy is rescued by the tree-dwelling Minpins, a tiny race of nature-loving beings who live in an ancient tree high above the forest floor.This book was an amazing find as it led on to me cresting a 'Minpins' door at the bottom of the tree outside my classroom which the children in my class then 'discovered' The results were magical! We also used 'conscience alley' to help us to think about the conflicting feeling Billy had before going into the forest despite his Mum's warnings. 

As part of the same topic we also read The Stick man by Julia Donaldson. I am a huge fan of Julia Donaldson. Her books are beautifully illustrated by Alex Schiffer and due to the repeating, rhyming nature of the stories they are lovely to read and allow the children to 'join in' in key parts of the story. This means they are all actively engaged in the reading process which I and they love. After reading the book  we all made our own Stick man or Stick Lady love which was great fun.

All of the childrens books I remember the most are' fiction', perhaps because my own personal joy of books comes from the joy of sharing, imagination and escapism. Non fiction has been part of my life in children's books but not as much a memorable part. 

If I had listed all of my favourite children's books my blog post would quickly have turned into a book itself, such is the impact that they have had on my personal life as a child, mother, grandmother and teacher. I love children's books! Which books would be on your list?