Our books this time reflect the good moods we’re in – it must be summer! Not only is one solely centred on how to do help people be happy through good deeds, but the other two books tell tales of…
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DEAR READER: BEWARE, THE CONTENTS OF THIS BLOG ARE GORY AND USUALLY ALWAYS END IN THE PROTAGONIST MEETING HIS OR HER MISERABLE END IN THE MOST HIDEOUS OF WAYS. We were recently asked to develop a poetry text-based teaching sequence…
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And surely as Spring arrives, so does a pile of new books to review…In our Literature review this time, we’ve picked some recently published books to share with you and this month we have a look at three books by…
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Some of the texts we find ourselves advocating the most are the ones which themselves have no words. Yes, all hail the wordless picture book. Often misunderstood, frequently overlooked, commonly mis-shelved, the wordless picture book is a genre difficult to…
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Over Christmas many of us, young and old alike, were enchanted by an advert for a well known store that told a tale of a bear and a hare. The tale was a simple but magical one, which explored essentially…
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At the Tree we are often asked to recommend books, not only for use in the classroom for Literacy sessions, (see our monthly Bibliotherapy column in Primary Teacher Update magazine) but also for children whose parents are stumped to find…
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So, the new primary curriculum is at last here. And apparently *whispers cautiously* this is the final version. After nearly a term of working with teachers on the revised expectations, we are starting to ascertain how much it will change…
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Looking for some new reading as the weather starts to turn colder? Well, look no further! In our Literature reviews, we pick some recently published books to share with you. This month we have some of our favourite author/illustrator collaborations,…
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This is a summarised version which is part of a longer article in October’s Primary Teacher Update magazine.http://www.primaryteacherupdate.co.uk for subscription details. One of the areas we support that can strike fear into the sanest of teachers can be the organisation…
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‘Nobody can tell you how to write, they can only tell you how they write’ was the opening gambit given by Patrick Ness at Waterstone’s Piccadilly when asked about how he finds the material he uses for his books. Indeed…
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Finished your summer reading already? Well, look here for some ideas. Every month or so we pick some recently published books to share with you. This month we have an offering from one of the ultimate author/illustrator collaborations, the latest…
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One of our very favourite things is when we are asked to organise an author visit for a group of schools. This usually coincides with being asked to develop a teaching sequence (a series of lesson plans that build upon…
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This is a summarised version of a longer article entitled ‘Teach Spelling in Context’ that appears in August’s Primary Teacher Update magazine. Go to http://www.primaryteacherupdate.co.uk for subscription details. In a rather significant month in education, the month in which the…
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This is a summarised version of a longer article that appears in July’s Primary Teacher Update magazine. Go to http://www.primaryteacherupdate.co.uk for subscription details. There is a myth amongst many in education that Grammar teaching in schools is somehow a new concept,…
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‘Reading for Pleasure’ certainly seems to be the phrase of the moment in education. In the last month alone we have been asked to work with groups of Literacy Coordinators from two different Local Authorities on the subject, and it…
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Each month we pick some recently published books to share with you. This month we have the latest offering from one of our favourite author/illustrator collaborations, and two very different books about boys in boats! ‘IF YOU WANT TO SEE…
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Last week, we were lucky enough to be part of a conference which was all about writing across the curriculum where we presented a piece of work on how to use film to develop non-fiction outcomes. After an entertaining and…
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Many of our blog posts have been confessional in the last year. Admitting to liking grammar was controversial enough (only in context mind you!) but then we spoke about how we used spelling as an opportunity to play with words.…
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