Teach Reading and Writing Issue 19

www.teachwire.net | 25 Rashmi Sirdeshpande is BookTrust’s writer-in-residence. She’s an award-winning children’s author who writes a happy mix of fiction and non-fiction. creative writing across the curriculum. Or you might want to encourage pupils to dive into their own research, questioning what they see, hear and read, finding the best sources, and breaking down issues, events, and ideas to share with others. Factual books are a conversa- tion-starter – a launchpad. Where you take things is entirely up to you. I’ve visited enough schools to know that you know your pupils better than anyone. Ideas for using factual books in the classroom • Include non-fiction in the choice of books available for free reading. Choice is key. BookTrust has curated booklists to help. • Let students buddy up and choose factual books that they can explore and discuss together. • Create a ‘Fascinating Facts’ board where students can share the interesting things they come across in non-fiction books or in news magazines. • Use factual books to support children when teaching big themes: from climate change to navigating relationships. • Use factual books to inspire art,about a role model, historical moment or movement. Or to prompt pieces of creative writing such as poems and diary entries. • Explore the concept of activism through books and use it as a launchpad for letter-writing based on the big issues that affect children. • Follow BookTrust’s social media channels for more content from me around factual books throughout my residency (until the end of August 2024). BookTrust’s website also offers content curated for primary schools, including resources and ideas for encouraging reading for pleasure at home and in the classroom ( booktrust.org.uk ) . themselves a reader being drawn to a book... and then another and another. My love of reading and of learning began with factual books. So I get it. I really do. And that shift in thinking? It unlocks so much. Factual books can be incredible and much-needed levellers in an intensely unequal world. Through these books, children can learn more about themselves and others. They can travel through time and across the planet, meet heroes of all kinds, and they can be and do and wrap their brains around anything and everything. That’s a big promise, I know. A hard sell. But I believe it with all my heart. I’ve seen it, and I know many of you have too. Growing up is hard. The world is big and there’s so much to learn. But these children have you. And a whole wealth of knowledge at their fingertips. BOOKS FOR SCHOO L S A shift The best factual books will shift something inside a reader. After reading books about big issues, children may begin to see things differently. Perhaps they will begin to consider the world from new perspectives. Maybe something they weren’t sure about before suddenly seems so much clearer. Or they begin to have a better understanding of themselves and the people around them. Maybe they feel moved to bring about some kind of change within themselves or in the wider world. Or perhaps the shift is more subtle, but just as powerful. Like a child who doesn’t consider @rashmiwriting @Booktrust booktrust.org.uk