Lesson video

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Miss Madden.

I'm so excited to do today's lesson with you because it's all about reading.

And I love reading.

I really really do.

In fact, one of my favourite things to do in life is talk with people and young people about their reading, about the books that they enjoy.

So that's what today's lesson is all about.

So let's get started.

In today's lesson, we're going to start off by thinking about what is genre.

Then we're going to discuss the idea of reading for pleasure.

After that, we'll have some opportunity for self reflection.

And then you're going to create your own 24-hour reading log.

Don't worry if you don't know what that means, I'll talk you through it in the lesson.

What you will need in this lesson.

You will need an exercise book or some paper to write on that can be lined paper but plain paper is quite good for today's lesson.

Then you will need a pencil or a pen.

And you will need your brain to do thinking.

But in this lesson in particular, we're going to be using our brain to do remembering because it's all about your own reading and the reading that you've done today.

Press pause and go and get the things that you need now.

Okay, fantastic.

I hope you're in as quiet as possible and ready to learn.

So let's start off by thinking about what is genre.

Genre is quite an unusual word.

Let's practise saying it.

Genre.

Well done, let's try again.

Genre.

Fabulous.

Now, have you ever heard of this word? Do you know what it means? If you do, press pause and say it aloud.

Fantastic, what a good try.

So what genre means is a style or category of art, music or literature.

You may have heard someone say, what genre of literature do you like? Or if you were talking about a film, they might have said, what genre is it? Now today's lesson is all about reading for pleasure.

And so we're going to be talking about literature.

And when we're thinking and talking about literature, it can be useful to consider different kinds of genres.

So what genres are there? What different categories or styles of writing are there? Can you think of any? What I'd like you to do now is pause and jot down all the different types of literature that you can think of.

Press pause, off your go.

Okay, I wonder how many you thought of? Here are some that I thought of.

This is not all the genres there are.

There are so many.

And different people categorise literature and art in different ways.

But these are some that you might have heard of and that you might read.

Let's talk them through Biography.

So, a biography is an account of someone's life written by another person.

Often they're really inspiring.

Don't get it confused with autobiography, which is an account of someone's life written by themselves.

Then there's historical fiction.

So historical fiction is stories that didn't actually happen.

It's still a work of fiction.

It's made up, but it's based on events in history.

You might be a fan of this genre.

If you are particularly interested in history.

Lots of people really like reading historical fiction.

Then we have science fiction.

Science fiction is a genre.

That's about stories that aren't very likely to happen in real life.

Often they are set in the future and have a focus on science and technology.

I wonder if you've read any books that are science fiction.

Then we have mystery.

Mystery is a genre that involves a crime or problem or secret that needs to be solved.

Often this is solved by the end of the story.

You might have noticed that some of these genres could be describing literature, books, or television and film.

That's true.

So you might have a mystery story.

You might have a film that's a mystery and they will share different characteristics.

Then we have poetry.

So there are lots of different kinds of poetry.

It can be quite hard to summarise and generalise what poetry means but we could describe it where verses that don't need to rhyme are written to evoke, create a particular feeling.

I really enjoy reading poetry, especially humorous poetry.

Then we have traditional literature.

Fantastic.

So traditional literature is a genre in which stories are passed down from generation to generation, sometimes in written form and sometimes just told orally, out loud, like fairy stories.

Next we have fantasy.

Fantasy is a genre that is made up and includes ideas that can't happen in real life, often involving magical or supernatural elements.

Fantasy is a very popular genre.

And then last but not least, we have non-fiction.

You may have noticed that the other genres we've covered are all fiction.

They're made up.

So we have fiction and non-fiction.

So non-fiction means not made up.

There are lots of different kinds non-fiction book.

Often people enjoy reading information books, factual books about a topic that they're interested in.

So, of the genres I've described here, I wonder which your favourite is, or one that you have enjoyed.

I want you to pause and say it aloud.

Good choice.

When we're thinking about reading for pleasure any genre goes, you choose what you like.

So, now we're going to think about what reading for pleasure means.

What is reading for pleasure? Have you ever heard that phrase? Have you ever heard someone talking about it? Have a little think.

So, sometimes when we talk about reading we talk about reading for information.

If you're going to write a report, you might want to research and read the information.

If you're visiting a new place, you might want to read about that place so you know more about it.

Sometimes we read because a teacher or an adult asks us to.

But when we're talking about reading for pleasure, we mean the reading that you do that you just love.

That you choose for yourself, texts, literature that you want to read, and there's no right or wrong.

Only you know, the reading that you enjoy and makes you happy.

Reading is so important and reading for pleasure is so important because it helps encourage us to read more.

It helps to develop our vocabulary.

It feeds our imagination.

It can make us feel strong feelings, excited, happy, terrified.

It can help us understand how other people around us live and their experiences.

It can be relaxing.

Those are some of the reasons why I think reading for pleasure is really important.

What do you think? Tell me now.

I think that's a great reason too.

So when we're thinking about reading for pleasure we want to have a really broad understanding of what reading is.

I don't want you to think that when we read, it can only be this kind of book.

It's got to be long and with chapters that can be really fun and brilliant, but there's different kinds of reading.

So what does reading even mean? If someone said to you, an alien came to this planet and said, "What is reading?" What would you say? Press pause.

So reading is something that's quite hard to define.

And really what reading means is making meaning from some kind of decoding.

Often we mean decoding, as in reading the words, but we could also read a picture.

We have some picture books that don't have words, but we read the pictures.

We decode the images and we make meaning.

So reading is this process of making meaning.

But of course, that means there is so many different kinds of things that we can read.

So what can you read? What are all the different kinds of things that you could read? Could you press pause and write them down? Off you go.

Okay, I bet you've got a really great list and probably lots more ideas than I do.

These are some of the ideas that I had about things that you can read, but there are so many more.

You could read comics, picture books, instruction manuals.

For example, if you bought a new appliance like an oven or a complicated toy, you might read the instruction manual so you know how to use it.

You can read reviews.

I enjoy reading book reviews.

My son loves reading reviews about games.

You can read a chapter book or novel.

If you love cooking, you might enjoy reading recipes to give you ideas.

You can read emails from friends and family.

You can read the information held on websites.

There's so many different things you can read.

Now that you've seen my ideas, I wonder if you can note down any more.

Press pause and write them down.

Fantastic, what a great list you have now of all the things you can read.

So now we're going to do some self reflection.

This is an opportunity to think about the kind of reading that you enjoy.

I'm going to share some books with you that I know children enjoy.

And then in hearing those, you might think, "Oh, I'd like to read that book." But also you can think about the reading that you do that you enjoy and it's going to help us with that task later.

So, what do you enjoy reading? So many things that it could be.

First I'm going to show you some books and then you'll have a chance to write down books that you really enjoy reading.

You might enjoy reading novels and chapter books, fiction.

Stories that are set in a similar familiar settings such as Ghost by Jason Reynolds or like I said before historical fiction that might be set in the past, such as The Amazing Story Of Adolphus Tips by Michael Morpurgo, who's a very popular author.

Do you enjoy reading novels? You might love reading comics.

This is a very, very popular comic, The Phoenix, I highly recommended that.

But you've read other comics like The Simpsons or The Beano.

I know that children really really enjoy these.

Or perhaps you enjoy reading annuals about an area that you're really interested in such as football.

Here's the Match Annual.

Have you ever seen or read an annual before? Tom Gates, this is a chap.

This is a novel, but it's got lots and lots of pictures in it.

So it's almost like a graphic novel.

And and this is a very popular series and or book that I know children really enjoy.

Perhaps you've heard of Tom Gates.

Perhaps you've enjoyed reading them.

Now this is a graphic novel Roller Girl.

I loved this graphic novel Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson, I found it really, really inspiring.

It's about a story about someone who starts something new, which she finds really challenging.

But she gets then she overcomes these challenges.

Have you ever read a graphic novel? If you have, can you tell me now? Fantastic.

You might also enjoy reading nonfiction.

So here's an example of a nonfiction book about coding.

And this is a bit like an instruction book.

So if you're interested in coding, you might want to read a book about how to do coding.

I wonder if you've read any of those.

And here's another nonfiction book about animals.

Lots of young people really love reading about what they're interested in.

And here's an example.

So these are examples of texts that I know many children really enjoy reading.

If you had to choose one of these books that I've shown, which one would you choose? Can you point to it now? Yes, great choice.

Now, I would like you to write down any books or literature that you love to read.

Write down as many as you can think of.

Off the go.

Well done, what a fabulous list.

I wish I could see it.

Okay, now I'm going to introduce you to the concept of a 24-hour read.

Yes 24 hours, what is that? A day.

So the idea is what we read in a day.

Of course, we are asleep for some of the day.

I'm not sure when your day begins.

My day generally starts at about 7:00 am and then I'm away through the day and then I often go to sleep at about 9:30 pm.

It depends.

So this is all the reading that you do in 24 hours.

And we're going to think about the reading you might do in the morning.

At meal times.

Out of your home or at home before bedtime.

We're going to create a list of all the reading you do in the day, to show yourself and then if you want to show others all the different kinds of reading there are.

So let's just remember again.

What kind of reading could you do? You might be reading fiction, nonfiction, poems, comics, graphic novels, newspapers, magazines and websites.

Or eBooks, reading on a Kindle or reading on a computer screen.

Have I missed anything out? What do you think? Can you tell me now? You're right.

There's lots of other kinds of reading that you could do that I've missed off the list.

Manuals, text messages, emails, blogs.

Lyrics, you might enjoy reading lyrics for a song you love.

There might be adverts.

When you're walking down the street, you might see an advert at a bus stop.

Instructions, food labels, receipts after you've been to a shop.

If you have bought something your parents or carers bought something, you might want to be checking your receipt.

All these things are kinds of reading.

So what I want you to do is write down everything that you've read in the day.

This is going to be quite tricky because it's hard to remember.

And at the moment you're not at the end of the day.

You're in the middle or beginning of the day.

I don't know exactly what time it is for you right now.

So what I want you to do is write down everything that you've read so far today.

Not just books, but if you had some cereal and you read what was on the back of the cereal packet, note it down, each bullet points.

I wonder how many bullet points you will have.

So can you press pause and write down everything that you've read so far? Fantastic.

Was it hard to think of all the different things that you've read, perhaps you have to retrace your steps.

Now, I want you to keep this list out.

So at the end of the day, you can add to it and add all the extra bits of reading that you've done.

And this will become your 24-hour reading log.

You don't need to do this every day.

It's fun to do it just once to show yourself and show others, all the different kinds of reading you can do.

So we've done some different things in today's lesson.

We've talked about genre.

We've talked about reading for pleasure.

And hopefully you've reflected on the kinds of books and reading that you love to do.

You've thought about your own reading practise, self reflection, because when we talk about reading for pleasure, the most important thing is what you think.

And then you've created a 24-hour reading log.

And I'll be so interested to see what that looks like and all the different things that you might have read.

Congratulations, you have completed your lesson.

Happy reading.