49 ideas to raise the profile of reading in schools

These are just bullet points at the moment but I will put it all into some sort of coherent state whenever I get an opportunity. The ideas are a mixture of what is already happening in my school and my R4P 'wishlist'. Some are directly relevant to the school I work in, but could easily be transferred into any school. The majority are pretty standard practice, although there should be a few in there that you won't have tried before (there's definitely a few I haven't tried yet!).
 

Reading for Pleasure- whole school ideas

Children learn about literature from what the adults about them do about it.

Zahnleiter, 1985

You want weapons? We’re in a library. Books...the best weapons in the world!

Dr Who, 1879

Finding ways to engage children in reading is one of the most effective ways to leverage social change.

OECD, 2002

 

Children

• Whole school questionnaire for pupils to gauge attitudes to R4P- present results to staff
• School book council/reading council- two pupils from each class to attend meetings to talk about how to raise profile of reading
• Lunchtime reading boxes for quiet area in playground
• Regularly share favourite books and poems in assembly
• West Earlham Junior School book awards- each year group to judge a particular category
• Class author/theme- opportunities needed for classes to feedback to each other
• Class ‘book talk’ sessions (at least once a week)
• Extreme reading photo competition (pupils, staff and parents)
• Weekly fifteen minute DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time (pupils and staff)- staff as reading role models (newspapers, magazines, graphic novels, etc)
• Lunchtime story and poetry clubs
• Book club (and, equally importantly, Not A Book Club, where pupils read poems, magazines, comics, graphic novels, etc)
• Class and individual rewards for using Reading Records
• Book swap box (‘wandering’ book) for pupils and staff- reception area?
• ‘Mr Green is reading…’ posters to also include all non-teaching staff
• Daily class storytime
• Reading cafes
• Poem of the Day- to be performed by children and staff- classes to make anthologies of poems, short stories, etc
• Book/author quiz- Between classes (families involved?)
• ‘I am reading.…by....’ badges (pupils, staff, visitors)
• Shadowing national book awards/competitions (Carnegie, Blue Peter, etc)
• Out and about- book festivals, author visits in other schools, bookshops, libraries, etc
• Video and audio books reviews- upload onto class blogs, etc
• Pair up with a class from another school to swap reading recommendations
• Celebrate World Book Day, National Poetry Day, Non-Fiction Week, etc

Staff

• One staff member per week to share a book in staff meeting (2-3 minutes)
• Regularly share favourite books and poems in assembly
• Patron of Reading- Who to replace John Dougherty at the end of his tenure?
• As well as regular visits from PoR (2-3 times a year), at least three visits a year from other authors or poets
• Host meetings for SLS KS2 Fiction Group
• Mystery Book/Random Read/Blind Date With A Book
• Staff reading interviews by children (to be filmed or recorded on Audioboom)
• R4P INSET- either at NCBC or invite Marilyn to us
• Review folder/space on wall (Reading Wall), bank of ideas for staff to find out about new authors, poets, etc- reviews from Carousel, Books For Keeps, etc.

Parents / Community

• Dads & Lads reading group (or similar)- focus on dads
• Make it possible to borrow books from the school library
• Events to be held jointly with WEIS (paired reading, etc) and CAN (especially library)
• Community- West Earlham’s Favourite Books, ‘flash’ reading events.
• Regular involvement with local library
• Parent readers/Reading champions
• Home/school liaison (My child loves reading xxxxx. What else will they enjoy?)- available in library one evening a week?
• Information pack for parents- local libraries, websites, a few recommended books for each Year Group
• ‘New for old’- parents to bring in books their children have outgrown and swap them

Environment / Resources

• Library- ‘If you liked… then try…’ posters and bookmarks (Recommend for a friend)
• Library and classroom- List of author/poet websites
• Library- football magazines, comics, etc- use car boot sales, jumble sales, etc to pick up
• Posters of new books, etc up all around the school (eg sport books in the changing rooms) and in classrooms
• Posters of staff reading
• Posters of ‘cool’ kids reading
• Books from other cultures, dual language books