FREE Reading Support pack - Rising Stars

Reading
with
Reading
Support
Pack
Expert advice on
supporting your
struggling readers
H Top 10 tips for
successful reading
intervention
H How to tackle the
gender gap in
reading ability
H The benefits of a
well-stocked library
H Improving storytelling
in your school
H eBooks and learning
www.risingstars-uk.com/reading

Reading with
Rising Stars
With Ofsted focusing more sharply
than ever on raising attainment
in reading, schools are
searching for effective
resources that can be
used for intervention
and support for their
older struggling
readers.
Rising Stars’ range of
reading resources:
H Are specifically developed to
engage older learners
H Feature age-appropriate themes
and storylines, but with a
controlled language level that
supports reluctant readers
H Include extensive support material
for teachers, TAs and LSAs with
lots of advice and activities for
guided reading sessions and reading
intervention classes
This reading support pack includes lots of
useful help and advice from teachers and
literacy experts showing how you can raise
attainment in reading and create a reading for
pleasure culture in your school.
For more information on Rising Stars’ reading resources go to
www.risingstars-uk.com/reading
Supporting your
Struggling Readers
Paul Blum gives his top ten tips for successful reading intervention
1 Accurate assessment
Assesment before you start is really important. Make
sure that you know your reader’s real reading level.
Eight in ten words should be read accurately if the book
is to work for your pupil.
2 Praise and rewards
Every five minutes try and say something positive about
the progress your pupil is making. Use a reward
stamp frequently, once every fifteen minutes
minimum.
3 Error free
environment
Make each step in your lesson so
simple that it’s almost impossible
for your pupil to trip up and get
it wrong.
4 Over learning
Go over the same material
again and again so that you
really reinforce the lesson
objectives.
5 Light touch
phonics
Many weak readers are
turned off by phonics.
They have had a lot of over
exposure to it in the early
years of primary. So when
you use phonic teaching
methods, do it sparingly and
for short periods of time. Five
minutes is long enough.
Paul Blum has worked in London schools for
more than 25 years as both a senior manager and
SENCO. He has worked extensively with groups of
struggling readers and is the author of Shadows,
The Matt Merton Mysteries, Vampires Inc. and
The Extraordinary Files.
6 Real reading opportunities
A good storyline with exciting characterisation and
conflict is essential for your readers. They need to be
truly engaged.
7 Fun and entertainment
Try and make your lessons varied and exciting. Praise
and rewards are key to this, but so is the use of a bit of
drama and role play.
8 Mixed bag of interventions
Variety is key. Pupils like a routine but they like a
routine that keeps them guessing and has a variety of
teaching strategies. No single strategy will appeal to
everybody in your group.
9 Involve parents
Parents often feel frustrated about the reading skills of
their son or daughter. Try and get them to reinforce the
reading process at home and participate in the praise
and rewards system you are using at school.
10 Short, simple personal
targets
Each pupil needs to know what they are aiming for.
Explicit short term targets for each reading session are
very helpful, especially when reinforced with rewards
and praise. This makes target setting entertaining.

Here Come the Boys
Bill Boyd looks at the
widening gender
gap in reading
The Boys’ Reading Commission findings
published in July 12 reveal that three out
of four (76%) UK schools are concerned
about boys’ underachievement in reading,
despite no Government strategy to
address the issue. Last year an estimated
60,000 boys failed to reach the expected
level in reading at age 11.
The all-party Parliamentary Literacy Group
Commission’s report compiled by the
National Literacy Trust reveals that the
‘reading gender gap’ is widening and says
action needs to be taken in homes, schools
and communities, with recommendations
including boys having weekly access to
male reading role models.
The problem with politicians and survey
findings of course is that:
a) they always want action but have no
idea what it should be
b) they want a quick fix when it almost
never exists and
c) they usually believe the solution lies in
introducing a new test, or the revision
of an old test, or a compulsory ‘reading
hour’ or some such, all of which are
only likely to compound the problem.
My own experiences over a long number
of years as a reader, a father and an
English teacher lead me to believe that
the problem is not so clear-cut as the
figures suggest, but nonetheless there
are some measures which can sensibly
be taken to encourage reading, especially
among boys.
Finding Positive Role
Models
One of the more constructive suggestions
of the Commission’s report is that boys
need strong male role models. There is
no escaping the facts that most teachers,
especially in the primary sector, are
women and many boys have no positive
male role models in their lives. Schools
should go out of their way to find strong
male readers in the community, whether
they are parents, local sportsmen,
community artists or whatever, and
invite them to conduct reading sessions
in school. I saw a suggestion on Twitter
recently that men should consider
volunteering to read to boys in their local
school, but the initiative has to come
from the school. Having created an ethos
where adult males seeking involvement
in their local school are often treated
with suspicion, we need to take steps to
redress the balance.
The Teacher as
Learner/Reader
Teachers – male and female – must
realise that first and foremost they
themselves have to be a reader and a
role model. Too often I meet teachers
who have hardly picked up a book
since they graduated from college or
university. They should be immersed
in books and reading, and it should be
a frequent topic for discussion. This
means that, apart from adult fiction and
current literature relating to their own
professional development, they should
constantly be seeking out and reading
books relating to the age group for which
they have responsibility. This will often
mean reading material which would not
necessarily have been their own choice
by instinct.
Finding the Right
Materials
In my experience, when it comes to
reading in schools, the emphasis is firmly
on the reading of fiction. There needs to
be much more of a balance. While fiction
of course is important in so many ways,
boys often favour non-fiction, and given
a choice when visiting the library will
overwhelmingly go for factual material,
yet when it comes to the serious study of
texts in the classroom, fiction wins out
every time.
We need to provide good quality nonfiction
material, including biography,
which will engage those who demand
the facts! (the Rising Stars Download or
Snapshots series are a particularly good
example of attractive non-fiction texts for
reluctant readers).
Teachers should also consider seriously
the place of comic books and graphic
novels, both of which play an important
part in in the development of boys’
reading but are often ignored, or even
more bizarrely dismissed, as an inferior
form of storytelling. Speaking as an adult
male reader, my own preference is to
read fiction and non-fiction texts more or
less alternately.
Take a look at the Literacy Adviser Book
Lists for 10-14 year olds at
http://literacyadviser.wordpress.com/ for
some suggested reads or find out more
about Rising Stars range of books for
reluctant readers at www.risingstars-uk.
com/reading.
Embracing New
Technologies
While many of us still prefer to pick up a
paper book, especially when it is a picture
book or one that has particular aesthetic
appeal, new technologies have resulted in
a revival of reading for many adults, and
the advent of the eReader presents new
opportunities for a new generation. Boys
love gadgets, so why not take advantage
of these new technologies to introduce
them to texts which they might otherwise
ignore. If you can’t afford a class set of
Kindles or iPads, buy one or two and
direct them specifically at those boys
who don’t think reading is cool but think
that machines are. The more gadgetry
the better. Repeat after me – playing with
gadgets and reading are not mutually
exclusive.
Rising Stars’ eBooks for schools can
be read on PCs or netbooks as well as
Kindles, iPads or iPod Touches. Find out
more at www.risingstars-uk.com/ebooks.
Timing is All
The thing about reading is that there is
a time and a place, and that time and
place is different for every individual.
I have followed some very interesting
discussions recently on the blogosphere
(see Kenny Pieper and David Didau in
particular) on the place of silent reading
in the classroom, the pros and cons,
the optimal amount of time to spend
and so on. This is a hugely complex
issue depending on so many variables,
including those already mentioned above.
One thing of which I am fairly certain,
and that is we are too often asking young
people – especially boys – to read at the
wrong time, a time which suits us rather
than them. Silent reading is something
which requires full attention and the right
conditions, which are extremely difficult
to replicate in a classroom. Reading
aloud, when done well and with the right
texts, can motivate and engage even
the most reluctant reader but moving
them from there to reading willingly on
their own is a different matter. Another
factor which is often overlooked is that
most boys need to be moving around and
doing something physical before turning
to more cerebral matters. I know that
most of my reading is done after exercise,
and not before it, when I find it more
difficult to concentrate. Perhaps there is
something to be learned here by anyone
planning a learning programme.
Reading Doesn’t
Have to Involve
Writing
One of the surest ways to kill an interest
in reading, especially among boys, is to
insist that every time someone reads a
book they have to write a review, or a
‘critical evaluation’. To develop a genuine
love of reading, young people need to be
encouraged to TALK about books, read
aloud and listen to extracts from the best
writers, and make recommendations to
each other. If you do want them writing
about their reading, make it less formal
and with a real purpose, such as a
discussion forum in the form of a class
blog or wiki.
Bill Boyd is an independent educational
consultant based in Scotland. He is a former English
teacher, senior school manager and Education Manager
at Learning and Teaching Scotland.
Find out more about him and his work at
http://literacyadviser.wordpress.com/
The Library as the
Beating Heart of the
School
The school library should be the learning
hub from which all else emanates, the
librarian a thorough professional and
integral part of the learning team, not
simply someone who issues books and
collects fines. Too often, when budget
cuts are being considered, it is the library
which suffers first. In too many schools
restrictive practices reinforce the notion
that reading is something for a privileged
elite, and boys are made less welcome
because they are seen as boisterous and
ill-disciplined. This can be witnessed
most often when a teacher and/or
librarian expects a prolonged period of
silent reading without first cultivating
the environment for this to happen. A
more productive use of library time is to
explore, discuss and work with individuals
to find the right connections – the right
book at the right time – a key role of the
teacher/librarian.
Finally, a word of advice. The world
moves on, times change. Perhaps it’s
time for people to revise and expand
their definition of ‘reading’ to include all
forms of reading, especially as it relates
to moving image, transmedia and webbased
texts. Who knows, when they do
this they might discover that in fact there
isn’t such a gender gap after all.

Love your library!
Bev Humphrey looks at the importance
of having a well-stock school library
Your school library is the natural hub for
encouraging reading for pleasure and should be
at the heart of every school. The environment
needs to look inviting and contemporary to
tempt your students in and the benefits of
having a dedicated professional staff member
waiting to welcome students are clear. But of
course if your book stocks are not exciting and
up to date then you will not be able to retain
the interest of those reluctant readers or to
feed the appetites of voracious book lovers.
In the past many children were taken to the public library
regularly by their parents , and this still happens for some but
sadly for lots of young people the first time they ‘meet’ a library
is when they go to school. Happily there are so many fantastic
series and standalone books published each year for the
younger market no school library need rely on outdated dusty
volumes – there is a book out there to capture every child’s
imagination – you just have to find it, simple huh!
The days of having no other distractions than a good book
are over and youngsters have so many demands on their
attention – texting, social media, gaming and television to
name but a few and there are some boys and girls that will
find thick books very off putting because they feel they
will never finish them. Shorter novels can therefore be
very popular and provide a way in to reading pleasure
for pupils that don’t want to commit too much time
to their reading. Hopefully feeding their appetite
for ‘snack reading’ and then suggesting further
reading in the same vein will encourage them
to develop their attention span and take on
longer books but if this takes a while it’s not a
problem – after all I think we all enjoy a quick
read now and then.
Graphic novels or comics are always popular
and there are so many fantastic ones
published each year that it is easy to find
books to feature prominently in your library.
They range from classic stories retold in a
way to engage today’s children to books that
combine fact and fantasy, always a winner with
boys (and girls) that usually stick to non-fiction
titles. Girls that like pink books are catered for
too, it’s not just boys that like graphic novels by any
means. Encouraging students to create their own comics and
then displaying them in the library for others to read creates
interest – who knows maybe you have a graphic star of the
future in your school!
Please don’t neglect non-fiction, information books are
perennially popular as can be seen from the constant demand
for Guinness World Records and engrossing titles can be
found for any particular topic or interest. Bug books, spiders
especially (shudders) always go down well and titles on popular
culture are a winner for some children. The non-fiction sections
of some school libraries are jam packed with books on the
topics that are studied in the national curriculum but if this is
the total sum of your factual books you are missing out on a
very powerful hook to get kids reading.
It is so important to make sure that you have plenty of high
interest low ability books available, if you are a 13 year old boy
and you struggle with reading you don’t want to be seen taking
out a classic reading scheme book and indeed you probably
wouldn’t enjoy reading such a book. Look out for books that are
targeted at this particular market. Series of books work
well because children enjoy meeting the same characters in each successive book
and like knowing the background story to them when they open a new title. It
seems most genre preferences are catered for with high/low readers, humour,
gritty realism, fantasy and those extremely popular vampire books so having
a good selection is essential.
For some young people the only play reading they do is when they
have to do so when confronted with Shakespeare and this is a great
shame. Struggling readers often greatly enjoy the group feel of
reading a play with friends and they will pay attention much more
when they are listening for their cues and enjoying hearing their
peers read aloud. Make sure you have up to date plays at all
ability levels in your library to facilitate this group reading,
the format of a play can make it easier to digest when solo
reading as well.
So now you have your library stocked with shiny new inviting
books how are you going to promote them to your students
Tapping into their enthusiasm for technology works
exceedingly well, even if it is only having a digital photo
frame on the library desk with pictures of book covers from
new acquisitions playing on a loop. If you are lucky enough
to have a screen in the library showing book trailers, either
found online or created by the boys and girls in your school
can cause books to fly off the shelves, young people love
moving images and showing book trailers can encourage them
to break out of their self-imposed genre boundaries. Allowing
your pupils to create a short film as a book review makes it much
easier to get some peer recommendations going – even if a young
person has loved a book it is often very difficult to get them to sit
down and write a review. The ebook revolution is gathering pace and
being able to provide reading materials in a digital form will become
increasingly important, this is something that schools are going to have
to explore very soon.
With a library chock a block full of wonderful books and digital carrots to
entice your pupils , reading for pleasure will become something that doesn’t
have to be thought about … it will just happen.
Bev Humphrey is a Literacy & Technology
Consultant and founder of the Write Path International
Collaborative Writing Project http://writepath.ning.com/.
Find out more about Bev via her website
www.bevhumphrey.com

I want to tell you a story
Roger Hurn explains
how to add impact to
your storytelling
There are lots of very good reasons why
we should tell our children stories, but
the main one is that everybody loves to
listen to a great story, well told. A good
storyteller can capture the listener’s
imagination and hold them spellbound
while he or she leads them into a world
where anything can happen. So, it’s
hardly surprising that storytelling is one
of the world’s oldest and most accessible
art forms, but the beauty of it is that it
costs nothing and everyone can do it –
and here’s how.
Firstly, you must care about the story
you’re planning to tell because, if you
don’t then neither will your audience.
The best stories to tell are the ones
you loved to listen to when you were a
child because that love will come across
in the way you retell them. Moreover,
folktales and fairy stories are good stories
to choose because they are made for
telling. They have clear action, strong
characters and a simple structure with
built-in memory aids like repetition. Of
course, you need to pick a story that suits
your listeners but
remember
most children of whatever age love a tale
that has a really bad character in it. They
all enjoy being scared by the villain just
so long as good triumphs over evil in the
end!
And don’t worry about remembering
every last detail of the story you’ve
chosen to tell because you won’t. If you
try you’ll either give up in despair; lose
the flow of the story because you’re
concentrating on the details and not the
story itself or end up repeating the story
in a mechanical, lifeless way. So, just
identify the bare bones of the tale. You
can do this by asking these questions:
H What are the important things that
happen in the story
H Who does it happen to and why
H What is the story really about
H Whose story is it
Then, when you’ve done this, make a list
of the ten most important words in the
tale. This will help you focus on what is
really important and you can use these
words as a skeleton on which you
can put the flesh of the story.
For example, in Jack
and the Beanstalk
the ten most
important
words
might be:
H Jack
H Cow
H Magic beans
H Mother
H Beanstalk
H Giant
H Golden goose
H Harp
H Chase
H Axe
When you’ve done this, try telling the
story out loud to yourself. As long as your
version of the story hangs together and
makes sense don’t worry about any little
details you’ve forgotten – they’re not
important. The only details that matter
are the ones that advance the story. And
don’t waste time on poetic descriptions
of people, places and things either. They
just hold up the action and bore your
listeners. A couple of well chosen words
are all you need to convey the terror of
the dark and shadowy wood where the
red-eyed monster with ferocious fangs is
waiting to pounce.
Now we come to something really
important – the opening lines of your
tale. This isn’t the ‘Once upon a time’
bit, it’s the actual start of the story – the
springboard you’re using to plunge the
listeners head first into the narrative.
So make it count by using words that
grab the listeners’ attention immediately
and hook them. Here are a couple of
examples of what I mean:
Both these openings are guaranteed
to have your listeners sitting forward
desperate to hear what happens next.
Then, once you’ve hooked your listeners,
don’t forget to vary the sound and
volume of your voice, the speed of your
delivery and your facial expressions when
you’re telling the main part of your tale.
Moreover, don’t be afraid to make use
of pauses and silences because variety
catches and holds your audience’s
interest. And use big gestures as this
will help keep everyone’s eyes focused
on you.
You also need to pay special attention
as to how you portray the characters in
your story because vivid characters really
bring a story to life. So, by using your
face, voice, gestures and the
way you move your
body, you will
make
those characters live for your listeners.
For example, stand up really tall and
deepen your voice for a giant. But hunch
up your shoulders, narrow your eyes and
speak in a harsh voice for a wicked witch.
Your audience will love it! But here’s a
word of warning. Don’t try and put on
too many voices as you’ll run the risk of
getting them muddled up in the heat of
the moment.
And, talking of warnings, here are some
other pitfalls to avoid when telling a story.
Be very careful if you ask your listeners
to join in when you’re in full flow as, like
M with James Bond, you’ll be giving them
a license to kill your story. And don’t ask
your listeners questions either as you
may not like or want the answers they
give you.
It is also wise to avoid
using props or
costumes
as these
have a
nasty habit of breaking or falling off at
just the wrong moment. Microphones
and special effects are also best avoided.
You’ll either deafen the audience with
bursts of unwelcome feedback or
disappear in a puff of smoke!
So, to summarise, you must find the story
you’re telling entertaining. If you don’t
then nobody else will either. Your opening
lines must hook your listeners’ attention
immediately. Don’t tell a story with a cast
of thousands, it’s too confusing. Chose
a story with a beginning, middle and an
end - preferably in that order as it’s a
structure that has worked since stories
were first told. Keep your story moving
and don’t bore your listeners with too
much description. Tell the story with
plenty of expression in your voice and
use your hands, eyes, facial expressions
and body movement to bring the story
alive. Oh yes, and make sure your story
has a clear and satisfying ending. Your
audience needs to know your story’s over
without you telling them.
And one last thing - make your
storytelling sessions special. You can do
this by simply turning off the lights and
lighting a candle. This creates a magical
atmosphere and the effect you achieve
by blowing out the candle when you
reach the end of your tale is truly
satisfying.
‘It was a wild, dark, stormy night and
Jimmy woke up with a start. Something
was coming out of his wardrobe…’
‘The creepy old cottage looked deserted
so, foolishly, Mary pushed the front door
open …’
Roger Hurn was a primary school head teacher
and has taught at every level from nursery through to
University. He is the author of the Mystery Mob series for
reluctant readers and has had over 90 books published.
Roger has travelled all over the UK and abroad sharing his
stories with children and teachers.

The
eBook
revolution
Jon Audain looks at how eBooks and
iPads can engage students in reading
Once upon a time in classroom far far away lived a book full of exciting
stories, twists and turns, heroes and villains. Books have been used
for many many years to support teaching and learning and for pure
enjoyment. Just like the tale of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the
development of the technology, and specifically mobile technology such
as iPads, have led to the written word developing it’s own past, future
and present as the table reflects below.
Past Present Future –
The book +
H Physical copy
H Ability to share and
huddle round a book.
H Various shops and
places to purchase and
take out books.
H Digital copy of a book
H Portable
H Text can be enlarged
H Able to bookmark
important pages
H Able to make notes on
the book
H Able to record your own
voice
H Links to extra reading
H Further activities
H Videos
H Pages can include
animation
H Sound clips
H Widgets can be
embedded into
pages with the ability
to display HTML,
Presentations, videos,
sounds, 3D pictures and
quizzes
eBook format
eBooks can come in different formats
from the industry standard of an ePub
through to ePDFs and Apple’s own
iBooks. Through the App store, iPad
users can download books from the
iBooks store but also download the Kindle
apps widening the range of books which
can be used.
Using eBooks in the
classroom
Schools are now beginning to explore the
potential of using eBooks. Here are some
ideas for using them in the classroom:
H Use the highlighters to identify the
characteristics of characters or main
events in a story.
H Explore books such as The Pedal
Lady or The Unwanted Guest from
Moving Tales. The story is narrated but
children also have the ability to record
their own voice. This is a great tool
for reinforcing reading aloud skills and
reading with expression.
H Younger children and beginner readers
can enjoy the timeless classics of
Ladybird reading books. These have
been updated and children can hear
the narration and then read it aloud
for themselves. There are also sound
effects embedded into the book.
H There are some beautiful picture
books such as Imagine a Night and
Imagine a Day written by Sarah
Thomson which can be used to
stimulate creative writing. The
accompanying illustrations are
stunning. Connect your iPad up to your
Interactive Whiteboard with a special
adapter and it can be used with a
starter lesson for creative writing.
H Explore the future of books by look
at the excellent The Fantastic Flying
Book of Morris Lessmore. Based on a
short film the book has been animated
and further activities placed within the
book from learning a tune on the piano
through to visual effects within the
pages.
Using an iPad to
support reading
activities
H If you have access to a mac computer
then explore iBooks Author. A piece
of software that enables the user to
create their own eBook.
H Explore other apps through the
classroom. Word Cloud enables
children to type in words to generate
a visual word cloud in the same way
as Wordle. Ask the children to think
of their main character and to type
words to describe that character. For
Jon Audain is an Apple Distinguished Educator, a
freelance trainer and a Senior Lecturer in Primary ICT and
Music at the University of Winchester. His latest book
‘The Grassroots Guide to Primary ICT’ will be published
next spring 2013.
example,
use Roald
Dahl’s Fantastic
Mr. Fox to describe his
character and his feelings towards the
three farmers.
H Ask the children in small groups to
record the story with accompanying
sound effects using a voice recorder
app.
H Explore the Book Creator app whereby
children can create their own stories.
These books can include photographs
that have been taken with the iPad
as well as text and sound clips. The
finished book can then be published
into iBooks for other children to enjoy
reading.
The future of the modern eBook on the
iPad certainly looks exciting with many
possibilities to push the boundaries of
what books should look like in the future.
Perhaps as well as the pictures being
conjured in our head they may also come
alive before our very eyes!

What works well –
case studies from
the classroom
Marie Buckland from
Oakhill First School
in Redditch describes
her experience of
using eBooks in her
classroom
Using eBooks with my groups of reluctant
Year 3 readers working at Level 1 has
been a real revelation. I find that the use of
technology motivates and engages reluctant
and struggling readers. Using mobile devices
enhances the quality of our sessions as the
children are so enthusiastic that they quickly
learn to use the technology in order to navigate
the books with ease.
I downloaded the Kids & Co. stories from
www.i-Stars.co.uk for my guided reading
sessions. They really engaged the children
through familiar but humorous contexts, and
within a term, both groups moved away from
slowly decoding word-by-word in a monotone
voice to reading enthusiastically with fluency,
expression and understanding of the text.
The illustrations were great for stimulating
good discussion about the possible plot of
the story and, enlarged on an a whiteboard,
provided great opportunities to teach specific
vocabulary related to the story by playing
matching games, using the highlighting
functionality and adding annotations.
One of the key benefits of eBooks is being
able to alter the size of the font on the screen
and therefore not overwhelm the reluctant
reader with toomuch text. I have also found
that eBooks help to improve children’s reading
fluency as key/high frequency words identified
in a pupil’s IEP targets can be highlighted (either
by them or me). This draws their attention to
the words and reminds them of their targets.
As well as leading to improved fluency,
members of the group now read with
more expression and greater variety in
their intonation, demonstrating improved
understanding of the meaning of what they
have read. The audio recording facility on the
mobile device was invaluable for helping the
children achieve this, as the children were able
to record, listen and evaluate how their own
reading sounded.
At the end of our sessions, the children are
always very enthusiastic and want to share
what we have done with the rest of their
classes. I am now really looking forward
to exploring how this renewed enthusiasm
for reading can be transferred to writing by
working with my groups to write their own
eBooks for younger children based on high
quality texts in familiar contexts.
www.risingstars-uk.com/reading