National Share a Story Month
31 May 2022
To celebrate National Share a Story Month, boys throughout the school have been enjoying various book-related activities. The theme for this year is ‘Belonging’ and children have been encouraged to share the books that make them smile and feel a sense of belonging. From reading outside, to an author visit – there really has been something for everyone!
Nursery Storytelling
Our Little Beacons look forward to regular visits from our school librarian, Mr Brown. They carefully and quietly listen to a selection of stories he shares with them, and particularly enjoy discussing the books. Our boys were excited to choose a book to take home this half term.
Nursery boys were also delighted to have a surprise visit from our Interim Headmaster, Mr Detre, this month. He was our very special guest reader sharing the story of Mr Brave in line with our Early Years topic of the first half-term; ‘Mr Men’.
Reception ‘Read, Write, Inc’
Our Reception boys have been getting into their phonics programme, ‘Read Write Inc’, and completed some wonderful partnered reading work in lessons this month, taking turns to read a variety of sounds and words which were both familiar and unfamiliar. When our boys finished the book, they were questioned on their understanding, pointing and proving they could find the answers.
After the half term break, our boys will be writing dictated sentences independently, trying to include capital letters, full stops and ‘red’ (tricky) words. Excellent work boys!
Pre-Prep Author Visit
Our Pre-Prep boys were also lucky to have a visit from Joshua Seigal, who is a highly acclaimed and award-winning professional poet. He has worked in hundreds of schools, libraries and theatres around the world.
On his visit to The Beacon, Joshua spent time with each Pre-Prep Year Group, performing poems and inspiring our boys to create their own poetry. Joshua is a very engaging speaker and his sessions were filled with giggling and contributions from the boys. They were particularly entertained by Joshua’s deliberately incorrect versions of ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’, his stories about his family and his poems about his pets. Our boys created their own poetry in the sessions, with Year 1 and Year 2 writing poems using similes and metaphors. There was a lovely atmosphere and it was fantastic to see the boys so engaged with poetry.
Peer Mentors
It has been lovely to see our Year 4 boys grow in confidence whilst reading to the Year 8 Peer Mentors. As part of our Peer Mentors scheme, our boys guide and mentor our younger boys with their reading skills every morning in the Library.
Readathon
We were also thrilled to launch a Readathon for our Lower School and Middle School boys this term. The event will raise money for ‘Read For Good’, which is a charity who provide books and storytellers for children. All the money our boys raise in sponsorship will help ‘Read for Good’ to provide a regular supply of brand new books and a resident storyteller to every major children’s hospital in the UK.
Here at The Beacon, we encourage our boys to develop a love for reading at an early age, as well as instill the importance and power of storytelling.
To read more about National Share a Story Month, click here.
