Babies on Board

As part of my tenure as Patron of Reading in SMGS National School in Inchicore, I have run a couple of sessions of Baby Bookclubs and it's been a hoot, or, more specifically, a roar.
Together with their dedicated grown-ups we have read about kings, queens and castles, about babies and about dinosaurs fierce, meek and fast.
Part of the session is spent reading together: we follow the text on the page as much as we wander from it to make connections with the toys we have in the room, to compare with our own skills (can you be very, very slow like the triceratops?), to manhandle the book or just pore over the images (and maybe do a bit of counting and name some colours, or, even better, find ourselves in the pictures).
The babies are in reality toddlers, with ages ranging mostly between 18 months and 2 and a bit, with the exception of a young lady for whom we are still counting in weeks (17 weeks old for session 1) and who is all eyes and ears: her fellow bookclubbers hold as much interest to her than the books and props. Last week, she was plied with a cloth book and spent half of the session engrossed in it. The other half she spent manipulating dinos like everyone else.
We shout, we run, we sing, we dance. Baby Bookclub is not a quiet affair. But we are engaged, we turn the pages ourselves when we are ready, we comment on everything, we learn (a tiny bit) of sharing and taking turns and we do some absorbing art at the end.

Even in those few sessions, I have seen some very rewarding sights, from the toddler who didn't really want to be there at 9 and didn't want to leave at 9.45, to the 2-year-old who had never quite taken to playgroup but was leading the way in Baby Bookclub.
It is also a chance to answer any questions the grown-ups may have, share reading tips with them and throw in the odd book recommendation. Book doctoring without the white coat!
I'm hoping to do more of these sessions in the new year and can't wait to see how our club members get on with it. For more, head over to my Patron of Reading blog, where you can see the very artistic craft we produced and some extra resources (dinosaur songs, anyone?).

Dinos everywhere!

Did you know the month of November was, in some places, dedicated to dinosaurs? They call it Dinovember and last week at Baby Book Club, we had our own dino day. We were reading the classic Dinosaur Roar by Henrietta Stickland and Paul Stickland with great gusto.

As we read, we looked at dino teddies and plastic dinos, comparing how they looked and felt to their painted pals on the pages of the book. We chatted about opposites and practised being fast dinosaurs, fierce dinosaurs and, of course, LOUD dinosaurs.
After some singing, we went on a dinosaur hunt. Those dinos are cheeky creatures, they will hide everywhere, even on blank sheets of paper! But they were no match for our babies and toddlers who found them all out thanks to the magic of wet crepe paper.

As promised to the grown-ups, here are the links to some very cool dinosaur songs. Enjoy!

 

 
The Dinosaurs Song by Big Word Club
The Dinosaur Song by Johnny Cash 
Running from a T-Rex and The Dinovember Song by Daddy Donut

Dinosaur in My Backyard by Hullabaloo

More songs over here!

Baby Book Club, take 1

 Last week saw the first meeting of our Baby Book Club.
Books for babies? Does that sound like a funny idea to you? Surely they're not that interested? Surely they'd rather eat the books than read them?
Well, let me tell you that these babies had a ball at their first book club meeting. We had half a dozen very young readers (and their grown-up) with ages ranges from 17 weeks (yes, 'weeks') to 2 and 1/2.
We spread out mats in our room, took out our book for the day and got ready to make some noise.

This week we were reading The Tiny King by Taro Miura, the story of a really small king who feels lonely and sad in his big castle until something exciting happens (I won't tell you what, go read it!).
We spent some time measuring ourselves against the king (we were all so much bigger!), looking for him in the big pages, marching around like his soldiers and fake-splashing each other as we were in the royal bath tub.

Then we sang for a while and finished the session with some art. We made brilliant crowns out of paper plates: the grown-ups did the cutting and the little ones decorated their crowns with colourful puffed maize. We all felt very regal (like kings and queens) by the end.
Thanks to all who came!

Patron of Reading!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have had the great pleasure and honour to be designated Patron of Reading for Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál Inchicore.
'What's that?' you say. 'Inchi-which?' you say.
A Patron of Reading is a writer who develops a special relationship with a particular school and becomes a sort of embassador for reading for pleasure.
In other words, we're going to have book-related fun. Though job, I know.
SMGS is a National School in Dublin 8 with about 300 kids and, as of now, 1 Patron of Reading. It is the only primary school in the Republic to boast one so far, so we are all super-chuffed. (Sheena Wilkinson is Patron of Reading for Trinity Comprehensive School in Ballymun, and Pauline Burgess looks after Millenium Integrated Primary School in Ballynahinch).
We're going to have bookish competitions, writing club for kids, writing workshop for the parents, Baby Book Clubs for the younger siblings, and all manner of excitement. Keep up with it all at https://smgspatronofreading.blogspot.ie/
If you want to find out more about the Patron of Reading movement, it's over here: https://smgspatronofreading.blogspot.ie/.

Welcome to the SMGS Patron of Reading’s blog!

The what?

You probably have never heard of a Patron of Reading before and that’s not surprising. While there are lots in the UK, there are only 3 in Ireland and SMGS is the first primary school in the Republic to have one!

A Patron of Reading is a school’s designated children’s author with whom the school forms a special relationship. The whole idea of the role is to create a buzz around books and reading, and to encourage reading for pleasure.

You can find out more here: http://www.patronofreading.co.uk/

What does a Patron of Reading do?

A Patron of Reading doesn’t deal in homework or phonics or spelling. The Patron is all about discovering fun ways to interact with books and reading. Think reading challenges, reviewing competitions, creative writing workshops, bookish treasure hunts and so on.

The Patron is here for everyone in the school: the children, of course, but also the teachers and the parents.

Who is the SMGS Patron of Reading then?

Your first ever Patron of Reading is Juliette Saumande. Juliette is a French writer and translator of children’s books living in Dublin. She has over 30 titles to her name, ranging from picture books to non-fiction, game books to novels and book apps, in French and in English.

She is part of the Writers in School scheme. She is actively involved in Children’s Books Ireland both as Reviews Editor for its magazine – Inis– and as a regular Book Doctor in CBI’s very successful Book Clinics.

She has a blogand a website.

As Juliette has two children in the school, you’re likely to find her in the yard every morning. Come say hello! J