Teach Primary Issue 19.5

www.teachwire.net | 69 full age range in a primary school and every group has embraced the story and produced some excellent work in response to it. The strong themes of big emotions, friendships, and resilience make it a great choice to help develop children’s speech, language and communication skills (SLC); it also provides the perfect starting point for opening up conversations around worries and anxieties. It is estimated that approximately 10 per cent of KS1 pupils have a W hat if, Pig? is an absolute delight of a book. It follows the adventures of Pig as he struggles to overcome his many wobbles and worries on a quest to throw the perfect party. Luckily, he has a good friend in Mouse, who understands that sometimes people just need a little bit of help overcoming tricky days, and that worries can seem smaller if you share them with a friend. I have used this book across the long-term language or communication need, with early years practitioners reporting that children are entering school with much poorer language skills than cohorts of years past. Good SLC skills are key for academic success, social development, emotional regulation, and cognitive development. Research has also indicated that a child who does not receive early support for weak SLC skills can go on to have reduced employment and life opportunities in the long term. Face up to big feelings and develop core speech and language skills with the help of Pig, Mouse and friends, in Linzie Hunter ’s joyful picturebook... BOOK TOP I C JO CUMMI NS Illustrations (c) Linzie Hunter T E ACH RE AD I NG & WR I T I NG Book topic KS1 Published by HarperCollins Children’s, 2021 Wha t i f, Pig?