How to Build a Bookish Environment.
part one: reading in the early & middle years
We’re almost the entire way through October and I still haven’t published Reading in the Early and Middle Years! We’ve been hit by numerous bugs recently: my normally energetic 6 year old has spent the last few days napping on the couch and my daughter has tonsillitis yet again. But after nursing sick kids for the better part of a week, I am now feeling a scratch in my throat, so I thought I should send off this email before I succumb to sickness!
You might know me as a parent who talks about play and rhythms, my background is in teaching. And as a teacher turned private tutor, I have observed far too often, the disconnect between how reading is taught in schools and the outcomes.
Whilst teaching, I specialised in reading. I helped to establish a new guided reading programme, raised funds to revamp the library; introduced World Book Day to the school and hosted workshops for both teachers and parents. This was all due to my background: my MA dissertation focused on the impact of magazines on teenage girls whilst my PGCE dissertation centred on boys and reading.
I’ve been away from the UK education system for 10 years. Having lived in two different countries during that time, I have found myself shocked with what reading has become. Reading is pushed from a very early age: It starts with the phonics screening check in year one (when children are aged 6) and continues via SATS tests and the accelerated reader programme. In short, children are constantly being tested on their reading prowess.
My 8 year-old daughter loves reading: she is one of those children who always has her head in a book. But when we moved back to the UK, I noticed something - she didn’t want to read the books in the school library. When I dug a little deeper, I realised that it was because she gets tested on every single book she reads. She needs to take a test before being able to borrow another.
With that being said, I also know that my children’s school is doing a lot to foster a love for reading amongst the pupils. Children’s classics are a focal point of studies in English class. The literary displays around the school are incredible and definitely add the wow factor that help books to come alive.
I’m well aware that schools are at the mercy of Government mandates. I know the pressure put upon teachers and management to perform well. And I get why programmes like Accelerated Reader are popular. The programme itself is designed to monitor and manage independent reading. This is not me placing the blame on hardworking teachers. I’m writing this series because, despite all of the pushing and testing, the current system is not working.
According to research from The Reading Agency:
Half of all adults in the UK don’t read regularly for pleasure, and 1 in 6 –8.5 million – struggles to read at all.
Studies in the UK have shown that:
One in four children hasn’t reached the expected level of reading by the age of 11.1
Only 35% of 10-year-olds in England report that they like reading ‘very much’.
Nine million adults in the UK are functionally illiterate, and one in four British five-year-olds struggles with basic vocabulary.
The problem, as I see it, is a disconnect between what’s happening at home and what is happening at school. It’s not enough to simply learn the mechanics of reading via phonics at school. A love for reading needs to be fostered from an early age and that’s where us parents come in.
So What does it mean to raise a reader?
I’ve been thinking about the phrase ‘raise a reader’ a lot recently. Primarily, I’ve been pondering on what it means to be a reader.
Is it a person who reads high-brow literature?
A person who always has their head in a book?
Someone with a Booktok account?
Someone who reads hundreds of books every year?
According to the Cambridge dictionary:
someone who reads for pleasure, especially a person who reads a lot:
great/voracious reader He's a great/voracious reader (= reads many books), and always has a book in his hand.
avid reader of She's an avid reader of historical novels.
In this series, I’m going to share ways to help your child become a reader. We will define a ‘reader’ as being:
someone who enjoys books - either being read to or reading independently*
someone who picks up a book (of any genre) most days or everyday
*I’m also including audiobooks as part of this definition.
This Reading in the Early and Middle Years covers the following topics:
How to Build a reading-friendly environment (this email)
Your role in raising a child who loves to read
The first email in this series focuses on Building a Bookish Environment. I will be covering:
How to build a book collection - without spending all of your money on books
The physical reading environment
How to establish a reading rhythms
The impact of life experiences