Oldfield Brow Primary's Literacy Blog

17/3/23

Look at the wonderful books we're using this term in our reading lessons:

1/3/23

BOOK BUZZ

Thanks to all the wonderful parents/carers who joined us today for a whole school Book Buzz as part of Oldfield Brow’s Book Week. We welcomed close to 100 parents, who not only spent time sharing a love of reading with their own children, but also others in class.

27/1/23 

OLDFIELD BROW BOOK WEEK

Dressing up Day linked to fairy tales THURSDAY 2ND MARCH.

Parents/ Carers BOOK BUZZ SESSION - 30 mins at drop off time on WEDNESDAY 1ST MARCH.

We love reading at Oldfield Brow, and whilst books are not just for Book Week, we are not going to miss the opportunity to shout about the importance of reading for pleasure from the roof tops. We like to celebrate our own book week at the same time as World Book Day where people all over the world celebrate books by dressing up and sharing stories.

Due to the Covid Pandemic, we've not had the opportunity to share our Book Week with parents and carers as much as we'd have liked to, so, we're hosting a 30 minute Book Buzz session this Wednesday for parents and carers to pop in to the classrooms at drop off time to share a book with their child/children for pleasure. Please see the letter emailed on Friday with sign up details as only those who register will be permitted entrance on the day for safety reasons. We'd love to see you and feel free to bring along a favourite book or fairy tale.

This year, amongst a number of other fun activities to promote reading, we are sharing fairy tales. Do you have a favourite fairy tale? Many classes are also sharing a modern classic by award winning author Carol Ann Duffy: 'Lost Happy Endings' steeped in old folklore and fairy tales. Your children's English and Reading lessons may link to this during our special week.

2/1/22

READING RIVERS

On our return to school in KS1 and KS2, you will be making Reading River Displays once more, to share our love of reading (a wonderful return to school activity) and to show a visual representation of just how much we read collectively at home. You will contribute to a display (which can include drawings, photos, labels, etc) of all the text types that you 'flowed through' during the Christmas vacation.

To help you get started, why not bring in a list of everything you've read in to class - it does not have to be long, but you will have read more than you would at first think. If you wish (not essential) you can bring in a small printout or two of key books like the fabulous example below from an older pupil. Many of you have made these posters/ displays before and have an idea of what is involved; your class teachers may choose to make them slightly differently this time. No two posters will be the same. Examples of different text types can be picture books, Phonics Shed, recipes, food packets, emails, messages, texts, book recommendations on Padlet, books, comics, magazines, webpages, Bug Club, Read Theory etc and many more. 

22/12/22

100 BOOKS TO ENJOY...

Congratulations George!

George in Year 2 (pictured here with his teacher, Miss Liakata, and Mrs Chetwyn, our Literacy Co-ordinator) has read over 25 books from one of our OFB 100 Books to Enjoy lists and has been awarded a special 25 Certificate. We hope you all enjoy reading over the Christmas holidays. Why not take a look at your OFB 100 Books to Enjoy List at home for inspiration or to find a new author or two? Maybe you want to match George's achievement? Our book lists can be used to inspire your love of reading, however you choose to use them. If you've misplaced yours, you can ask your teacher for a new one or take a look at the downloads on this webpage. Every book from any of the lists counts towards 25, 50, or 100. If you move up a band and consequently a 100 book list, don't feel you have to read all of the books beneath your current book level unless of course there are books you cannot wait to read (there are wonderful books at all levels). We have lists for EYFS, Red to Lime Bands, then Brown and Grey bands and finally our most challenging Dark Blue to Dark Red Bands. If you're unsure which list is right for you or your child, your teacher will be more than happy to give you advice or recommendations about your next exciting read; in the meantime this holiday, the most important thing is that you enjoy reading for pleasure whether that's a new book, instructions on how to play a game you get for Christmas, festive recipes or a comic. Happy festive reading!

21/10/22 

SPONSORED READ

To celebrate and encourage a lifelong love of reading at home and school, we are running a sponsored read over half term 22/10/22-30/10/22. 
 
The project is being organised in conjunction with our local Usborne Partner, and all the money raised will go towards brand new books for our school. In addition to the sponsorship money, Usborne will also donate up to 60% of the total raised in EXTRA FREE BOOKS to the school. So, for every £600 raised, we will get an extra £360 in FREE Usborne books! 
 
We always aim to beat our last year’s target which was £1000 in sponsor money with Usborne donating an additional £600 of books for free if our target is met. This will give us a total of £1600 to spend on new books and resources for our children. 
 
Please help us to enhance our reading resources for pupils by encouraging your child to spend a small amount of time each day either reading to themselves, to others, or being read to. They can read books, comics, magazines, newspapers, menus, websites, recipes, poems, leaflets, instructions – anything with words!  For younger children in EYFS they can listen to the adult read their books and that still counts. 
 
The class who have the most recorded minutes will win an extra free book and a small treat! All children will receive a certificate for taking part. 
 
If you are able to support our sponsored read, please find on the reverse a sponsorship form and an extra reading log for your child if they wish to use it to record their reading.  Please send any money in a named envelope with the class name and the amount raised alongside the forms by Friday 4th November. 

6/10/22

HAPPY NATIONAL POETRY DAY!

https://nationalpoetryday.co.uk/celebrate-national-poetry-day/

How have you celebrated National Poetry Day? Have you shared a favourite poem with a friend? There are lots of ideas on the National Poetry Day website if you want to explore ideas further at home or share a poem or two.

In year 5 today, we enjoyed creating poetry linked to our current topic Vikings; to be more precise, we created Viking Preposition Poems.

Here are a couple from Oliver and Jacob:

The Fearsome Warriors

Across the lands of Valhalla,

Through the magnificent North Sea,

Above the sacred mountains,

Behind the abandoned village,

Along the damp cave,

Inside the powerful longship,

The fearsome warriors arrived.

The Brave Young Viking

Within the deathly Ginnungagap,

Next to the rotting corpse of Hel,

Behind the savage dragon of Nidhog,

Over the sacred Mountain Range of Jotunheim,

Into the Fountain of Mimir,

Across the rainbow bridge of Bifrost,

Through the doors of Asgard,

After the tragic death of Balder,

To the end of the world,

The quest took the brave young Viking.

28/9/22

CRESSIDA COWELL

What wonderful time Y4 & Y5 had today at Stockport Plaza at the launch of Cressida Cowell's new book - .  She told us lots about the heros in her new book as well as lots of tips for writing. We learnt about her childhood, with summers spent on an island off Scotland where she hunted for dragons in the cliffs. Wanting everyone to find enjoyment in writing, she showed us how her love of creating imaginary worlds began when on holiday every summer in Scotland, hunting for dragons! So utterly inspired, many of us spent the rest of the afternoon creating our own dragons which we'll write about tomorrrow. A few of us were lucky to be invited to meet her just before we caught the bus and managed to ask a few questions. 

Our pupils have been inspired to draw and write for pleasure, inspired by Cressida's childhood days of dragon hunting...

Well done Tallis and Lara (5RC) for sharing great examples!

20/9/22

READING CHAMPIONS

We're proud to announce a new award in our school celebration assemblies- the 'Oldfield Brow Reading Champion Award.' For each of our special assemblies, teachers will choose a pupil whose efforts or contributions have been notable.

16/9/22

A VISIT TO SEE CRESSIDA

Year 4 and 5 are in for a treat this month, as a school trip has been organised to see Cressida Cowell launch her new book - Which Way to Anywhere - at Stockport Plaza.

Cressida is perhaps most well known for her internationally best-selling ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ series but her latest series promises to be just as exciting. What if the fantasy worlds that children imagine, the maps that they draw and re-draw…what if they were real? This is the question at the heart of Which Way to Anywhere, an out-of-this-world new adventure series with unlikely heroes. Cressida is an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust and the Reading Agency and a Trustee of World Book Day. A Children’s Laureate, she has won numerous prizes including the Blue Peter Award 2018 for The Wizards of Once.  

7/9/22

THERE'S SO MUCH TO LOOK FORWARD TO

Welcome back to a new school year everyone! Your teacher's have selected some amazing books, stories, texts and poems to bring learning to life this year. We can't wait to get started. Here's what you can expect this term.

8/7/22

100 BOOKS - WELL 400 ALTOGETHER!

We're so proud to launch our new '100' Book Lists. We have created ‘100’ book lists of Picture Books to share; for Red to Lime Bands; for Brown and Grey Bands; and for Dark Blue and Dark Red Bands. They are separate from our phonics scheme, and as such not intended to be used as phonetically decodable readers, but we hope that by grouping them together in book bands, you will find it easier to find enjoyable reads at the level you are reading now. We use Book Bands throughout school and the list you have received today has been selected by your  teacher as the most appropriate for you at at the moment. We’re hoping that it gives an extra incentive for you to read over the Summer Holidays. We heartily recommend a trip to your local library or bookstore to begin to explore the ‘100’. Please see the Downloads for a digital copy.

A broad range of books, authors, classics, new releases and more has been selected and drawn together in the style of a collector’s booklet, so that if you wish, you can tick off books as you complete them with a signature from an adult. The booklets are for you to share together with family. You can use the lists as a challenge (to read as many as you can to earn certificates and maybe even prizes); for inspiration when you're looking for something different or new; to explore new authors or new releases; or to share your love of reading with each other. We will keep them fresh each year. There is definitely no pressure or expectation that you read all 100 unless you want to! For every 25 books from the lists in a given year, children will be given a special certificate and a special mention in assembly. For every 50 books read annually there will be an OFB Bookmark and if you manage to read all 100 in a year – there will be a celebration in assembly. We’re giving you a headstart by launching just before the holidays. Please ask an adult to date and sign for each book completed from today onwards. So how will your family use yours?

7/7/22

TRAFFORD 500 WORDS - OUR OFB COMMENDED WINNER

Congratulations to Miles in Year 6KB, who went through to the finals of the 500 Words Competition and represented Oldfield Brow. As a runner up he received a Commended Certificate. We are really proud! His work will be published in the Trafford 500 Words Competition Anthology.

1/6/22

GET CAUGHT READING

May was Get Caught Reading month. Congratulations to Chloe M in 5CS for becoming our first overall winner for her reading on a trampoline feat of excellence. There were many wonderful entries and of course our competition has mostly been about sharing our love of reading with one another. A huge thank you to all families who took part and got into the spirit of this fun competition.

25/5/22

STUNNING BOOK NOOK

Congratulations to 2EL for winning our inter classroom book display competition! All our our clasroom displays look fabulous, I'm sure you'll agree but Miss Liakata's quiet woodland retreat is incredibly inviting for those in search of a quiet read. 2EL have selected some exciting new books as their prize.

7/3/22

The Trafford 500 Words Competition

The Trafford 500 words competition 2022 has recently been launched. Last year, three of our pupils were runners up and got their work published! Oldfield Brow has signed up to take part again in this marvellous competition and recently took part in live lessons from Manchester University to support their creativity. Your child's class teacher may be making time for children to write a story at school independently, but children are also welcome to independently write a story at home too. Please email to your teacher.

We are all starting from the same point.

3/3/22

HAPPY OLDFIELD BROW BOOK WEEK!

Our celebrations culminated today in a whole school assembly where the much awaited judging of everyone's classroom doors took place and was decided by Mr Merrell. The Brief was simple: decorate your doors based on the theme of a book you are currently sharing in school. Congratulations to pupils in 4CD (and Miss Drabble of course!) who were worthy winners; they actually created book of work (Oldfield Brow Chronicles - linked to the famous Spiderwick Chronicles) and hung it on their door! Congratulations too to runners up 6KB! Every classroom's entrance looked truely spectacular and there was much chatter about reading and books all week!

Here are our fabulous doors. Can you guess their theme?

Children all over the school from nursery to year 6 have shared a special book this week and had the chance to get involved in a range of activities linked to it. From role play to poetry, everybody enjoyed the beautiful illustrations and talked about its message: the importance of re-using and recycling.

Here are some examples of our work and there will be more to follow:

Nursery

Year 5 

21/1/22

Over the Christmas holidays, children pupils across the school have created 'Reading Rivers' to show everything they have read over the vacation and that all reading practice is important from books to cereal packets. They look stunning, especially when Miss Drabble and Mrs Chetwyn decided to paint a giant river on the Year 4-5 floor to display your stunning 'reading' art.

There are equally stunning displays across the school. Well done everyone!

10/10/21

CONGRATULATIONS to our Commended Winners in the Trafford 500 Words Competition 2021. Pardis and Emily (now Year 6) and Lilliahana (now Year 5) all became commended winners in this exciting initiative set up during Lockdown. Many local schools competed and we're really proud of their achievements. The Anthology of Winners has recently been published and they received their copy in Assembly on Friday, finally seeing their work in print! Oldfield Brow has already signed up to join this fabulous competition again next year, so get your thinking caps on!

07/09/21

Welcome back to a new school year everyone! Your teacher's have selected some amazing books, stories, texts and poems to bring learning to life this year. We can't wait to get started. Here's a taster from just our first term. For more detail, please see our Reading and Writing Curriculum Maps in the Downloads.