Poetry Frames for Schools

Hello teachers! 

70 poetry frame sheets to browse and buy! 

I've dedicated two pages here to the display of my 70 poetry frame designs, available for ordering @ 25p each (GBP). Click here or here to view.

About the sheets - I designed, illustrated and produced the writing frames myself, so don't expect perfection! All of them have been tried and tested, some many times, in my workshops in schools across the UK. All are based on topics, with clear, attractive presentation  to get kids fired up to write. Results have been rewarding, with teachers frequently asking for copies, so I'm now displaying this selection (I have many more!) for teachers everywhere.

Key stage relevance - mostly Reception and KS1 - lower KS2.

Size, colour & format - A4, black-and-white, PDF. (No watermark on your version!)

Ordering - I have no online ordering system, but if you email me your requests and pay via PayPal to katewilliams.poetry@gmail.com (or post payment - address provided on request), I'll email you your chosen sheets to download.

Happy summer hols!

Kate

Email: katewilliams.poetry@gmail.com

Cloudy Sky Metaphors

More tips and ideas for classrooms

Language-stretching skies!

How to turn a dull day into a fascinating focus for literacy and creative development - in any spare minute of the school day!

Where I live (south Wales) it's a dull, cloudy day today. But actually, it's not so dull when you come to think about it, and describe it! Here are some thoughts of mine. You might like to use a couple as prompts for a class list:

Cloudy Sky

'Describing words': 

Grey, heavy, dull, dreary, lifeless, colourless, overcast, sultry, hazy, muggy, murky, dark, drab, insipid.

Personified descriptions:

Gloomy, sad, miserable, melancholy, sulky, moody, scowling, frowning, sighing, sobbing (if raining), angry, tired, drowsy, lethargic, languid, down-in-the-dumps, glum, sluggish.

Metaphorical terms: 

Woolly, iron, metallic, steely, soggy, porridgy, soupy.

Compound adjectives: 

Slate-grey, steel-grey, bruise-blue, stormy-sea-murky, rotten-cheese-rancid, churchyard-gloomy, forest-murky, mud-brown, skull-white, glare-bright, wet-flannel-heavy, blanket-thick, veil-close, cloak-dark, sorrow-heavy, misery-guts-gloomy.

Metaphors, stating what the sky is:

A soaking flannel, a soggy rag, a moth-eaten blanket, a hanging veil, an angry god, a sulking giantess, a clown on strike, a glaring monster, a dragon's sigh, a clump of cotton wool, a sad story, a bruise, a bully, a lazy-bones.

Kennings (two-noun compound phrases, conveying figurative images):

Game-wrecker, fun-spoiler, sun-stopper, gloom-caster, land-darkener, light-drainer, shiver-giver, misery-maker, kill-joy, window-closer, door-shutter, curtain-drawer, enemy-maker, wind-waiter.
______________________________________________________________________

Lists to poems - to nonsense poems?

Children could draw up lists under different categories, then mix and merge as they wish, to form a poem of whatever shape or form they want. They could also be invited to add to the fun by concocting new words out of those on their lists - adding, mixing, chopping and changing (e.g. drabsob, moodmurk, glumslump, misery-mug, slug-porridge). A bit of experimental word nonsense would serve to lighten the tone (while also developing linguistic dexterity).

How about a blue-sky antidote afterwards? Illustrations would be fun and effective, too.


Kate

Poetry Workshops on Skype!

Calling all schools! 

Poetry Workshops on Skype

Hi, this is to let you know that I'm taking my workshops online, to reach out to schools in all areas! 

I've taken my passion for poetry-writing into about 1,500 schools in the past 15 years, travelling throughout Wales and most of England, but travel costs push up fees, and journeys take up time and energy, so from now on, I shall be offering this exciting new option of world-wide-web workshops as an alternative! I'll still be offering my usual, in-the-flesh, workshops too.  

I'm taking bookings now for on-screen workshops with children aged 4-11, starting Monday, 22nd June.

Fees: 

30 min. interactive input on one of my themes (listed below) or
30 min. presentation about poetry-writing, to include 5 min. Q+A session (Juniors only):

£40 + VAT* (*VAT reclaimable except for certain independent schools).

To book:

Booking is via my agent Shelley Lee at Authors Abroad. Please contact her direct on shelley@caboodlebooks.co.uk .

To include:

Poetry frames as applicable (see examples), support poems and pictures.

For further details of my workshops, including content and feedback, please see my other website: poemsforfun.wordpress.com, Workshops page.

Themes available for Skype poetry sessions:

Creepy Crawlies
Seaside, or for Juniors: Sea & Sea Monsters, Under the Sea, Stormy Sea
Wild Woods
Jungle
Space
Castles
Town at Night
Busy Street
Dragons
Giants
Windy Day
Autumn Leaves
Birds
Sky
Christmas Colours (or Winter Colours)
Spring Colours
Spring Animals
School Sounds

(I don't offer morality-based themes, as secondary aims can cramp free thought and creativity, in my experience.)

Kate

Kate Williams
Email: katewilliams.poetry@gmail.com

Mini-beast Cinquains

Poetry-Teaching Tips
This blog offers tips and ideas for poetry-writing, literacy development and creativity nurturing. It is principally for teachers, but may also be of use to parents, carers and others.

Mini-beast cinquain examples

Following my last post, here are two mini-beast, or creepy-crawly, cinquains I've written as examples. Views on cinquain rules seem to vary, and we must remember they're simply devices for expressing ideas through words, not laws laid down by gods! Follow, adapt or link in with the approach as you wish.

Butterfly
delicate, dainty
flitting, wandering, waltzing
adorner of summer skies
delight


This could be presented as a riddle, with questioning title like What am I? and a one-word metaphor for line one, like Insect or Floater; similarly with the next.

Slug
slimy, fat
feeling, feasting, flattening
devourer of garden flowers
pest



Happy image-building!

Kate

Mini-beast cinquains

Poetry-Teaching Tips
This blog offers tips and ideas for poetry-writing, literacy development and creativity nurturing. It is principally for teachers, but may also be of use to parents, carers and others.

Cinquain

This is a 5-line poem, as implied by its first four letters, i.e. cinq - French for five, as children may be interested to learn.

The poem depicts a subject in a different way on each line. There seem to be various different accounts and contradictory examples of these. Here's my usual interpretation,
accepted for anthologies:

1. Subject of poem (or synonym for) (1 word)
2. describing words (2 words)
3. doing words ending in ing (3 words)
4. description or metaphor depicting a feeling/effect it evokes (4 words)
5. one-word metaphor

Help your class think up cinquains with their favourite creepy-crawlies.

Examples coming soon.

Don't let them worry too much about keeping to the set pattern. As mentioned, there are many variations. They might like to look some up or invent their own. Besides, it's the fun of experimenting with language that is of most value.

Kate

Writing Kenning Poems

Kennings

Kennings are mini descriptions of things, using two nouns together to make a compound phrase. These usually present the subject in a particular light, or highlight one of its aspects or characteristics. They have been described as condensed metaphors. The two-word term often depicts or alludes to some activity that the thing - whatever it be - does.

Examples

postman (post man = man who delivers the post)
woodpecker (a thing - bird, in fact - that pecks the bark of trees)
train spotter (someone who watches trains)
music maker (someone who plays an instrument)
people carrier (a brand of car that accommodates several passengers) 
star gazer (someone who studies the stars)
skyscraper (building that seems to touch the sky, i.e. very tall building)

Kennings for the classroom

My current theme is creepy-crawlies so let's see how we can apply kennings to them.
If you're a teacher, how about some fun with creepy-crawly kennings for your class?

Warm-up prompts and questions 

First, discuss with children the different appearances, habits and movements of various insects and other mini-beasts. Focus in on characters or personalities they may seem to possess. For example, a butterfly might seem dreamy or gentle; a slug, lazy, a ladybird, humble or shy. Ask: what do the different creatures do? How do they find their food, get around, keep safe?

Now ask some crazy questions, like these, perhaps. If they were human beings, who might they be? Prompt for story and cartoon characters, people in different careers or roles, famous or historical figures. What would they be like and what would they do?

Kenning time

Nominate a creepy-crawly and help children think of ways to describe it in two words, both of them nouns. These could be accurate depictions, or exaggerated or fantasy ones.

Let's try the butterfly. Think what it does. It sails through the sky. Okay, so it's a sky-sailer, perhaps.

Here are some other examples of butterfly kennings:

garden-adorner
summer-heralder
mood-brightener
flower-lover

Here are some for a spider:

web-weaver
prey-trapper
shadow-lover
wall-climber
shock-giver

When children have jotted down and read out a few, ask them to extend their phrases with embellishments.

Poem time

Now let children make up a poem about any such creature, incorporating some kennings of their own, simple or embellished.

Meaning and origins

They might like to look up the word and discover its ancient origin and links with the word 'know' and its older version 'ken'.

More poetry-enriching ideas to come soon.

Kate

Poetry Frames

Hello teachers!

I have 70 poetry frames available on assorted themes, for KS1/2 (or age 4-11), illustrated, graded, child-friendly and creativity-spurring.

Most of the designs are for the lower end of the age/ability range.
They have all been tried and tested successfully in schools.

Prices (in UKP) 20p each, including a separate page of tips and ideas for use. 
Minimum payment: 60p.
Order via email: katewilliams.poetry@gmail.com 
Payment via PayPal, quoting the email above.
Choose from the numbered list, email me your choices, and I will email you the sheets as downloadable PDFs.

Used with rewarding results

I designed the sheets for my own use in my poetry workshops for schools. Teachers express enthusiasm for them on my school visits, often asking to photocopy them. Children tell me they love them - in fact it's sometimes hard to persuade them to stop writing at the end of the lesson!

The sheets motivate young writers to put pen to paper and to write expressively, while leaving a little space for more independent writing.


Tip

I recommend a good half-hour's warm-up to the exercise first (see my other website, Workshops page, for how I do this), and encourage abler writers to extend their output wherever they can fit it on the page, or on the back, or, of course, on a fresh sheet of paper. They might prefer to draw their own illustration, and re-style the whole poem in their own individual way too, as a second creation.

Once downloaded and printed out, they can be adapted (with extra/fewer lines, for instance) to suit any specific needs or lesson plans. 

See Poetry Frames for list and samplers. 

If you want more information about any on the list, please let me know.
Here's an extra example.







Happy poetry-writing!

Kate

Creepy-Crawly Poems (3)

Butterflies and more

I've been offering a few tips, in these last few posts, for preparing the way for mini-beast poetry-writing with children. To recap, it's obviously a great start if children can go outside and find some insects and the like for themselves, and then show, share and discuss with peers and adults, studying them more closely too, if possible.

Observations make building blocks

Even if children don't write anything down, they will have equipped themselves with a host of new concepts and - hopefully - words to describe them too. Perhaps they've stopped to notice for the first time some unique feature of a particular insect - say the intricacy of a butterfly's wing. Perhaps they've pricked up their ears at the word intricate too, said by playmate or adult. Perhaps they've made up a word of their own for the little creature, or how it moves. All are valuable steps to creativity and much more, of course.

For children who are keen to have a go at a creepy-crawly poem, here's another creature to consider: the butterfly. The picture poem above is limited in scope; some writers might like to draw their own, bigger, or with more space around, for extra writing.

Language-building

Describing words

Prompt for words to describe butterflies the children have seen, delving for the more precise, vivid, interesting or unusual. Here are some suggestions:

light, graceful, decorative, delicate, peaceful, soundless, papery, pale, colourful, dainty, fluttery, serene, calm, patterned, ornamental, free, floaty, gentle.

Similes

Ask: how light? As light as fluff? (Or a scrap of silk, a chick's feather, a petal?) Or pick a different adjective to work with.

Now show children how their simile ideas can be inverted, or turned round the other way, for neatness. Here are some examples:

chick-feather-light, tissue-papery, leaf-fluttery, flower-colourful.

Now show how they can be extended, as here:

as colourful as a beautiful summer rose in the sunlight;
as soundless as the drifting white clouds above.
Let them write one or two ideas down before they forget, either on their picture poems - assuming they're using a picture format - or on scrap paper.


Movements

Encourage children to be butterflies, flitting high and low, left and right, landing on a flower and resting, wings together, now sailing off again. Be one yourself too!

What was that butterfly doing? Flying? Yes, but what sort of flying? you ask. Draw up a list, either just verbally or jotted down for reference. Here are some suggestions to prompt for:

flitting, dancing, twirling, gliding, soaring, sinking, tipping, tilting, drifting, pausing, sailing, waltzing, pirouetting, skipping.

Settings

Ask: where does it fly? Encourage thoughts about its setting, real or imagined - the sky, greenery, flowers, street, cliff-top, forest... Where will it go? A little fantasy would be fun. (So would a world of it! That's up to your young writers.)

Celebrate!

How about a celebration of the finished creepy-crawly poems? This could take the form of dance, song, pictures, costumes, collages, or simple readings of the verse to class, friends, carers or family.

Adults might enjoy the activities too!

Creepy-crawly kenning ideas coming soon.Kate

Creepy-Crawly Poems (2)

Snail poetry

Following my last post, here's another poetry frame, for any children inspired by snails.

'What? Inspired by snails? That sounds like a contradiction, you may say. But actually, when you stop to think about it, there's a trail of snail wonders to be tracked down.

What's so special about snails?

For starters, they're little characters to the human eye, with their cheery-looking, head-up, slow-but-sure manner and their comical in-out antennae!

Then there's their extraordinary sucker feet to consider - so odd and ugly-looking, yet so brilliant! If only we had such inbuilt skates to slide on, we could shoot merrily about all over the place, never having to  worry about stiff knees or weak ankles, tired legs or expensive shoes! No wonder they look so serene, sailing over that rough, stony path, leaving nothing but a delicate, silver trail in their wake!

And the shell?

And then, there's their house to consider. Cosy? Compact? Convenient? I'll say so! Yet fragile as china and delicately speckled as a falcon's feather, I could say too. But what will your children write about their snail? Will they be ending their poems with a snail/trail rhyme, I wonder?

My next poetry frame will be a butterfly, though I'm sure your children can draw their own, and will have a lot of fun doing so. We'll be looking at kennings too (a poetic form, not a minibeast).

The poem

The picture above is intended to be a poetry frame, in fact, to be written inside and out. If more space is needed, paste onto a larger sheet. More frames available to order, now just 20p per sheet (notes included). See Poetry Frames page for list and examples.


Kate

Creepy-Crawly Creations

Observing and describing activity - nature-based

Here's an activity for children at home or at school, involving fresh air and sunshine, exercise and observation, and a picture poem to write and colour.

Hunt for minibeasts

Take children out into garden, park, school grounds, woods, or other natural space, and hunt for creepy-crawlies.

These might be flying ones, such as:

wasps, bees, hornets, flies, horseflies, butterflies, crane flies, dragonflies, midges or gnats;

or crawly ones, such as:

spiders, beetles, ladybirds, crickets, grasshoppers, centipedes, millipedes, worms, snails, slugs or caterpillars. 

Watch and describe

Together, watch their movements, study their shapes and colours, consider what their purposes and destinations might be, and how you feel about them. What characters they might have if they were human?

Describing words

Help think up words to describe them. Here are some possibilities to prompt for:

fragile, frail, delicate, dainty, bright, colourful, spiky, shiny, creepy, crawly, fast, slow, graceful, elegant, cumbersome, ugly, gentle, menacing, dangerous, harmless, tiny, minute, camouflaged, dazzling. 

Moving words

Let's find some moving words for the little creature too. Here are some suggestions:

dashing, darting, flitting, flapping, fluttering, gliding, sailing, drifting, spinning, whirling, creeping, sneaking, lurking, hunting, waiting, pouncing, sliding, slithering, hovering, floating. 

As you can see, the list of possibilities is endless.

Now drop the activity and leave children to explore and discover.

Poetry opportunity

Later, indoors, put out paper, pens and coloured pencils, and perhaps a giant picture of the creature you saw (sketched by you?) to write on and colour (round the words). 

Writing tip

Prompt for some enrichment of their words. If the creature was delicate, was it 'delicate as a petal' or 'petal-delicate'? (Or 'snowflake-delicate'?) If it was gliding, how was it gliding? Gracefully? Dreamily? And where? Through the sky? The what sky? Clear? Fresh? Misty? 

Could you push further? Could you prompt for a simile? Was the ladybird just shiny, or 'shiny as a tiny, bright bead' perhaps? Did the dragonfly just dart, or did it dart 'like a gleaming arrow' or 'like a bonfire spark'? (They will have different simile ideas, of course. These are just examples again.)

Here is a picture poem frame designed for young children, as an example. More later. For a list to order from, see Poetry Frames page.

Kate

Half Term Teaching Fun

Three games with the words: 'HALF TERM'

Here are three word games for stretching children's language through play, either at home or in the classroom. They also offer an absorbing way of filling time on a dull day at home or spare time at school.

1. Words out of the words

Write 'H A L F  T E R M' across a sheet of paper, landscape way, with generous gaps between the letters. Underline it, and draw vertical lines down between each letter to make columns under each for listing words starting with that letter.

How many words can your children (and you?) make out of those two (apart from half and term) ?

For at least two players, of similar reading/writing level, or one being a supportive, non-competitive adult.

Method

Help children to follow a consistent method. The best way is to start with the first letter, H, and list below it all the words they can think of beginning with that letter that can be made from it and the other letters. No letters can be used twice in one word.
If ability levels of players range considerably, challenge abler players to find words of 3 (or 4) letters or more.

Allow 5 to 10 minutes. Then players count up their lists and total them to see who has found the most. 

Take turns to read out a column each. The other players must shout 'Snap!' when a word corresponds with one on their list and all parties with the word have to cross it off. 

Finally, everyone counts up the words they have left on their lists, i.e. the unshared, uncrossed off ones. Whoever has the most is the winner. 

Examples

Here are some word examples to guide strugglers towards: 

Hat,    Art,     Leaf,    Tram,     Elf,     Raft,      Me
Heat    Arm    Lame     The       Eat      Realm    Melt

2. Mix and Make Nonsense

This is a light, amusing game in which players switch the letters 'HALF TERM' around all different ways (using some or all) to make new, make-up words. 

To make the game easier, and more fun, write out the letters, large and clear, once for each child, colour-coded for each, on squares of card, cut them out and let the children line them up whichever ways they like, presenting their new words on table or floor.



Examples (using all the letters)

LAFTHERM
MELFRATH
TRALHEMF
FLATMEHR

But what do they mean? Ah, that's for you and the kids to decide.

3.  Nonsense poem

And now, what about a nonsense verse, to include one or more of those crazy creations in game 2? It might start along these lines, perhaps:


The Laftherm lived in a tralhemf tree.
He...


Enjoy!


Kate

Ideas for late spring poetry

Spring trees

Through my window, sunlit trees are tempting me outside. Swaying ever so slightly in the summer breeze, they catch my eye like waving hands or smiling faces.

Outdoor play

Alas, outdoors and laptops don't mix, at least in my experience, but children should be out there, drinking up the sunshine, the fresh air, and the sensory delights of nature and the elements.

Take a look at that tree

If you're a teacher, parent or carer, how about pointing out a tree, shrub, grasses or whatever summer vegetation you can find, and sharing its grace, colours and movements with your children.

Describe

Feel, watch, listen, sniff your chosen wildlife feature. Does it hum in the breeze? Does it feel silky, or perhaps rough, to touch? Does it glisten or twinkle in the sunlight? Swap and share thoughts.

Catering for the cynical

If it's a dull day, or your children are not turned on by that little shrub, turn the chat around and make it funny. Talk of the downside of plants: the dreariness of a yet-to-blossom shrub, or an overgrown bush of thorns stuck bang in the way of the path! Make up a silly name for it. Think of crazy things you could do with it. But hopefully, they'll love it, especially when they really stop to notice.

Activity value

What sort of an activity is that for a child? you may ask. Well, it's actually several at once, each valuable as a skill-developer and experience-enhancer: observation, evaluating, sharing, describing, summing up feelings and views through words and ideas. With any luck, it was a positive experience, luring your child back out in the sun and fresh air tomorrow! Besides, we haven't quite finished.

Creative follow-up?

Now, how about a sketch of that scene too, complete with caption, for the mantelpiece? And a verse, in an arc, over the top?


Kate
 

Sharing time

One of the best ways to nurture children's creative development is to share thoughts with them.

Chat is good!

Swapping ideas with family members, friends, teachers and other people they respect, is both valuable and enjoyable for children. Their fresh, open minds are always glad to gulp down new views and perspectives, and they love to express their own ideas too, and witness the interest on the face of their listeners. In the process, they also develop the knack of selecting words, building sentences and presenting their viewpoints - essential life skills. And here we are at half term: the perfect opportunity to discuss, discuss and discuss!

Which, why, what if...?

So if you're spending time with a child or more this week, you'll be doing them a huge favour by striking up conversations about anything and everything under the rainbow - and why not the rainbow too? What would it feel like, to fly through? you could ask; which colour would you choose to lie back and rest on? If the wind got up, and swept the rainbow away, where might you end up?

Debate the facts!

Or on a more realistic level, but keeping to the rainbow a minute, you could test their understanding of how rainbows are caused, or just swap opinions as to its most beautiful colour. Is it going to rain? Have you ever been soaked through, you could ask? Really? What happened? How did that feel? What's your favourite weather?... and so on. Or swap views about global warming: is it entirely a bad thing? Can it be slowed down? What has caused it?

Down on paper! 

Perhaps it's a bit of a dull evening. Suggest writing a story about a rainbow adventure before bed? Or a letter to the paper about global warming? Or a poem - in the shape of a rainbow - for the teacher? Too much like hard work? A rainbow picture, then, with a special word stretched over it - streaky, melty or shimmering, perhaps, or words to describe its sweeping, arching shape, or its mysterious way of appearing, hanging, fading.

Well, I've got rather hooked up on this rainbow, but of course any topic, especially an interesting, open-ended, or many-sided one, would be wonderful. You (if you're the adult) needn't say much. You can play prompter and listener. 

Kate

Blackbird poem

Here's another poem for the Spring Bank Holiday, from my book, Wildlife Poems.

It's drawn from glimpses of the pair of blackbirds in our garden.

If you're a teacher, parent or carer, perhaps your children would like to make up a poem about a nest-building bird too.

Busy Blackbird

Skids about the garden,
never stops to rest,
stuffing beak with shreds and bits - 
never mind what's best.

Flaps off over treetops,
dropping stalks and sticks...
back again - more hops, more bits:
blackbird building nest.


From Wildlife Poems.
Hope your spring bank holiday is being duly springy!

Kate

Spring Bank Holiday

Here's a poem to celebrate spring.

It's from my book, Wildlife Poems.

Perhaps you, or your children if you're a parent, carer, or teacher, might like to write a poem in the same style, or similar, keeping the pattern simple.

Anticipating

Eggs
are opening;
hives
are opening;
dens
are opening;
doors
are opening;

wings
are opening;
eyes
are opening;
beaks
are opening;
jaws
are opening:

spring
is opening.

Summer
is waiting.


From Wildlife Poems


More spring poems coming later.
Meanwhile, have fun with your own!

Half Term Word Games

Parents and carers, you'll have your work cut out this week, keeping your children occupied and happy, I expect! But it's also an opportunity for fun, finding out, free thinking, family time and a whole lot more out-of-school experiences. Holidays offer great potential for nurturing, learning and development in all ways - including language.


Here are 3 ideas for home language fun. They can be played while wandering through a park, rambling through the countryside, relaxing on the beach, or sitting round the kitchen table.

1) How many F's for Flower? 

Choose an item you can see and think up words to describe it that start with the same letter. 
Here's an example:
Flower: fragrant, fresh, floaty, flame-shaped, fragile, floppy, frail, fluted, fire-bright, feathery.
What's the score?

2) What rhymes with...?

Choose a simple word, such as Tree. How many words can you think up that rhyme with it? 
Examples: tea, free, pea, me, three, he, she, be, bee, key, agree, brie (cheese), knee.
Now make up a verse with those words.

3)  Limericks

These little rhymes start with a rhyming couplet, and finish up with another line that rhymes with it, but in the middle there's a different, shorter rhyme - or a rhyme within the line.

Aim for simple rhymes, and start with 'There once was...' or 'There was...'

Here's an example:

There once was a boy called Sam,
Who loved to eat toast and jam.
But he didn't like cheese, or carrots or peas,
And he simply couldn't stand ham.

If this is too hard for your children, just try the first rhyming couplet together. 


Now they can write out their lists and rhymes, decorate, and display!

Enjoy your half term!
Kate

Half Term Word Hunts

Hi again, and happy half term if you're in the UK, or anywhere else currently enjoying a school break!

If you're a parent, this is an ideal opportunity to spur your children's reading development. Here are some suggestions. Pick and choose to suit your child's age, reading level, interests and opportunities:

1.  Point out car number plates and prompt for their letters, or the sounds they make. Do they combine to make a funny-sounding word, or a real one? Do any of the letters match the initials of any family members?

2.  Ask your child to read out information on packets, cans or bottles for you, on shopping expeditions or at home. You could ask for the ingredients, cooking instructions, serving suggestion, 'Best before' date, or specified flavour.

3.  Going on holiday? Involve your child in map reading or checking road names, signposts or directions on your 'sat nav' system.

4.  Pick up a free newspaper or 'What's on' and ask your child to check an item of information in it. (This could be anything from the headline to the weather forecast or TV listings for the day.) If not ready for this level of reading, help him work out one of the more child-appropriate headlines, or to spot a word or letter they've come across elsewhere.

5.  Out and about in town?  Play 'I spy' with a chosen letter or word. The word might be 'Menu', 'Danger', 'Open', 'Push', or 'Exit', for instance. For more able readers, check and discuss the menu contents as you pass, or look out for longer, more challenging words like 'Restauraunt', 'Pedestrians' or 'Information'.

6.  Read a book, story or poem aloud to your child, sharing a word or two, or taking it in turns to read.

7.  Read yourself! There's nothing like setting an example to encourage your children to do the same!

Tip - obvious, of course, but not always when one's trying to do eight things at once to a deadline: act natural, showing interest in the subject on your child's level; you're not their teacher (unless you're one of the rare exceptions!), and he doesn't want a lesson from anyone in his half term break - least of all from a parent!

Have good week!

KateMore @ poemsforfun.wordpress.com