Time to Read

TIME TO READ To help your children improve their literacy skills during this time of home working, we’ve collated a few resources and links that we hope you will find useful and fun:

JK Rowling – The Ickabog JK Rowling has released her new book, The Ickabog online for free! Read all about this new Small Town Superheroes The BBC Bitesize Small Town Superheroes have imaginary land as JK Rowling releases a chapter an urgent mission for you! Join them as they online each weekday between 26 May and 10 solve the problems and mysteries that occur in June. For a chance to have your illustration to Small Town. You’ll need to use your KS1 English appear in JK Rowling’s book enter the skills to help the heroes complete all the illustration competition missions.

The Summer Reading Challenge James and the Giant Peach with Taika and The annual event for children aged four to 11 is Friends running from 5 June to September to keep Oscar-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi has children reading over the summer. With a theme teamed up with the Roald Dahl Story Company of “Let’s Get Silly”, the website will host virtual to perform Dahl’s classic book in 10 instalments events with celebrities and authors, games, to raise money for health workers. Actors quizzes, and downloadable activities, all to including the Hemsworth brothers, Eddie encourage children to read whatever makes Redmayne, Meryl Streep, Benedict them happy. Cumberbatch, Lupita Nyong’o, Mindy Kaling and

www.bitcni.org.uk

Ryan Reynolds are performing different roles, are reporting increases in online book lending with Waititi as narrator. of up to 700%.

Julia Donaldson and Friends Every Thursday at 4pm BST the Gruffalo author broadcasts a show for families on her Facebook Puffin Storytime: page. Children’s publisher Puffin is offering regular

readings and draw-alongs from its list of authors

on Mondays and Fridays at 3.30pm BST. It has Authorfy also launched a Puffin podcast with comedian The website is offering daily 10-minute creative and children’s author Humza Arshad, packed challenges for children from writers including with “laugh-out-loud stories, games and jokes Abi Elphinstone, Anna James and Lucy Worsley. guaranteed to give you the giggles”.

BookTrust Home Time - Digital Hub Letters from Lockdown #UnitedByBooks The Children’s Bookshow has launched a This hub is packed with reading advice, ideas, project where authors and illustrators are activities and resources. From 6 April the Northern sending handwritten letters to children in Ireland page will be live which will feature local lockdown to inspire them to write their own. authors, illustrators and initiatives to help showcase Names including Quentin Blake, Posy local talent. Simmonds, Roger McGough and Costa children’s book award winner Hilary McKay are BookTrust and BookTrust NI Facebook among contributors. A new letter will be posted Enjoy storytime with free online books and videos, online each week day. play games, win prizes, test your knowledge in book-themed quizzes, or even learn how to draw Puffin Festival of Big Dreams some favourite characters. Facebook will allow An online book festival running from 8-14 June, BookTrust to share the work that authors and with authors and illustrators including illustrators post online so you can keep up to date with what’s going on. Jacqueline Wilson, Robin Stevens, Nick Sharratt

and Nadia Shireen running writing BookTrust masterclasses and draw-alongs, with each event Bookfinder – looking for brilliant books? Explore themed around dreams. suggestions of great reads for every age from 0 to 11 and use the Bookfinder tool to find books by age National Shelf Service and theme. UK librarians have launched a live daily YouTube broadcast at 11am BST featuring Place to Wonder book recommendations for children and Immersive storytelling and theatre for children and families, at a time when some library services their grownups, designed to lower anxiety and increase wellbeing and connection.

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In partnership with Save the Children JK Rowling – Harry Potter At Home #SaveWithStories is offering stories on Instagram, J.K. Rowling and her Wizarding World partners have read by some famous faces to provide fun and launched Harry Potter At Home today to help education to kids and parents currently staying children, parents, carers and teachers confined at home. Also on Facebook home during the Covid-19 outbreak. Walt Disney Co. Barnardos Follow Walt Disney on Twitter and each day they will Barnardos have four short bedtime books for little have a friend from the Disney family share one of ones to listen to their favourite stories.

National Literacy Trust – Reading Miles Global Oxford Owl Challenge E-book Library and Phonics Guide It’s not that easy to travel at the moment but we are thinking about people all over the world. Why not read your way around the world with the Reading YouTube – Story Teller Miles Global Challenge. Collect 500 reading miles Listen to the stories read by some well-known voices for every 10 minutes you spend reading, either alone and follow the words or with a parent, carer, or your brother or sister. You could even video call your relatives and read aloud Audible to them. Collect reading miles in a special reading 30-day free trial for all children’s books passport on your very own reading world tour - a whopping 33,000 miles (or 11 hours) in total! Oliver Jeffers #stayathomestorytime Mon – Wed – Fri at 7.00pm Libraries NI and www.oliverjeffers.com/books#/abookaday Access lots of free audiobooks Elevenses with David Walliams Ladybird Books free audiobook from 23 March at 11.00 am, for the Connect the world with the words that matter, next 30 days through books that spark thoughts, dreams, conversations and learning. World of Stories World Book Day’s World of Stories, where you can Floella Benjamin’s Storyland listen to audiobooks of your favourite books. Watch Floella Benjamin’s Storyland YouTube channel #playschool World Book Online Download the World Book eBooks app on your Journey with Story devices now read anywhere you want. Global Player have released Journey with Story - A storytelling podcast for kids See astronauts read from space Reading to kids is wonderful and everything but #SaveWithStories reading to kids from space is super awesome.

over the phone or on a video call. Because even Accelerated Reading when we're apart, stories can be a virtual hug. Lots of great material for independent, self-directed reading. Irish Times Recommendations Books to help children cope in crisis myON To help support teachers, students and parents to The British Library is encouraging you to make 'Keep the UK and Ireland reading', myON are your own miniature book. A number of children’s offering access to thousands of enhanced digital authors have created their own to inspire you – here books through myON and articles from myON News. is Axel Scheffler’s miniature book. Alex is an illustrator and animator best known for his cartoon- Metacognition like pictures for children's books, in particular The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child. He has also How Can Thinking About Thinking Help Children authored/illustrated the Pip and Posy series of books Learn? Take a step back and consider a child's for children. Please send your photos or videos of perspective of an activity. Ask kids WHY we might your creations to British Library Learning Twitter be doing an activity the way we are doing it. Ask account. WHAT they think is the easiest and hardest parts about it. In short . . . get kids thinking! (attachment – Metacognition) Take part in the Create a National Book Token Design competition. When schools open, young Ladybird Books designers and their classmates will each receive a Every single day during lockdown, Ladybird Books is £10 National Book Token to inspire them to choose sending a pair of matching books to a separated duo their next book. Competition is open until 28 June so they can still settle down for story-time together, and there will be a winner each week.

WATCH ONE OF OUR LATEST STORYTIME READINGS BELOW . . .

CLICK HERE to watch Tim CLICK HERE to watch Claire CLICK HERE to watch Samantha McGarry read Shifty McGifty & Gordon read The Gruffalo, by Porciello read Dream a Little Slippery Sam by Tracey Julia Donaldson Dream – her own book Corderoy

To find out more about our Time to Read programme, or to volunteer for the new school term, please contact: Ciara Mulgrew, [email protected] or Sarah Quinn (if based in Derry~Londonderry) [email protected]