All of the children in Year Six know how to access and publish reviews on our book blog. It has proved to be a great way of interacting with books, and provides a fantastic opportunity for them to share their thoughts and views with each other. Not only do the children write reviews of books they have read, they also post up interviews with staff from the school and any authors who have been kind enough to respond to their emails. They also enjoy writing book lists (Our Top Ten Book Characters, etc) and creating competitions and quizzes based on the books they have been reading.
Members of the school Book Club tend to do most of the updating, but it is always very rewarding when a pupil who has never shown much interest in reading suddenly wants to share a brilliant book they have discovered and write about it on the blog. Younger children also contribute occasionally, usually with support from pupils in Year Six.
One thing to be aware of if you are setting up a book blog is that the more visits the site gets, the more chance it has of receiving spam comments. If the children are going to be accessing the site from home it is really important to check all of the security settings, especially if comments from other people are to be published on the blog.
I am more than happy to support any school or teacher who would like to set up a book blog in their class, as I believe it is the initiative that had the most impact on reading for pleasure this year. There is always excitement in the class whenever a new review or quiz goes up, and they love being given time to read the writing of their friends.
Our school book blog: http://wejsbookblog.blogspot.com
Another primary school book blog worth a look: http://eastboldonbookworms.primaryblogger.co.uk
