Creative Ways to Teach Literacy: Ideas for Children aged 3 to 11

Shortlisted for the UKLA Academic Book Award 2013! Covering the essential areas of practice, this book suggests ways to make your literacy teaching as creative and engaging as possible. Children get the most out of their learning when it is exciting, and this book offers great ideas for classroom practice, whilst making careful links to research. Sections advise on teaching narrative, poetry and non-fiction, and each chapter contains case studies and ideas to try out in practice. The authors cover a broad range of topics, including: - exploring traditional tales - writing from experience - using playground games as a foundation for literacy - performing poetry. Written for teachers working with children aged 3-11 years, this book gives you the opportunity to develop children's literacy in enjoyable and interesting ways.

Table of Contents:
PART ONE: NARRATIVE Enhancing Children′s Writing - Virginia Bower An Exploration of Traditional Tales - Caroline Tancock Writing from Experience - Justine Earl PART TWO: POETRY Playground Games as a Foundation for Literacy Lessons - Sue Hammond and Karen Vincent Using Poetic Form: An Approach to Poetry Writing in the Primary Classroom - Susan Barrett and Virginia Bower Poetry is Slamming: Different Ways to Perform Poetry in Primary Schools - Andrew Lambirth PART THREE: NON-FICTION Inspiring and Enthusing Children as Readers and Writers of Non-Fiction - Michael Green Lights, Camera, Action...Take 9! - Tracy Parvin Enhancing Children′s Language Acquisition and Development Through Non-Fiction - Virginia Bower

About the Author :
Virginia Bower is a Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at Canterbury Christ Church University.  She teaches on both the undergraduate programme and on the full time PGCE English course and is also part of the team who teach the Masters in Language and Literacy.  Virginia is very keen to promote a love of literature in both children and university students and convenes a reading group for undergraduate trainee teachers where children’s literature is shared, studied and enjoyed.  She is currently undertaking a doctoral study focusing on supporting children with English as an additional language.

Review :
′It is pleasing to see this book, written by experienced primary practitioners, offering imaginative, practical ideas all of which are underpinned by sound learning theory. All primary teachers can benefit from the excellent examples of effective primary practice described′ - Prue Goodwin, Lecturer in Literacy and Children′s Books ′Covering topics ranging from: exploiting opportunities to write from experience, to poetry slamming in the classroom, to ′harnessing the potential of new technologies′ (Green 2011, pp. 70) the chapters provide the detail required for immediate classroom transfer, including references to relevant children′s books, websites and free teacher resources. However, read as a collection, the practice discussed provides more than a collection of creative ideas: many common messages and themes are revisited across the case studies meaning that readers potentially derive insight into the nature and principles of effective literacy instruction.′