1. We love reading! Reading Pupil Council
David – In December all of the P5s, 6s & 7s were asked to answer some questions about their views of reading in Crookfur. There were eight questions which pupils were asked to think about. They worked in groups and did a ‘walk about talk about’ to gather everyone's views. The pupil council worked together to summarise what everyone said.
Logan – The pupil council used their answers to create a Powerpoint about how they think everyone can work together to make Crookfur better readers, and inspire more pupils to love reading

2. How can we improve our class libraries?
Attractive libraries with a theme
Daily Library monitor
More comics
More graphic novels
Tablets and audio books
Mark – The first question that we asked was: How can we improve our class libraries? The pupils said that they wanted class libraries to look more exciting and attractive. They thought that by making a theme e.g. linked to topics like space, rain forest or under the sea would help. There was also a suggestion that class library monitors would make sure libraries were organised and tidy.
Anna – Many pupils felt that libraries would be better if there were more Comics and Graphic Novels as these would appeal to many pupils in the class. It would also be good to have tablets and audio books much more available; sometimes it’s good just to listen to a story. Pupils enjoy time to read for pleasure in their classes. They suggested getting rid of any books that are old and tattered, as it is much better to read a book that is in good condition.

3. How could reading homework be more interesting?
Go to the library
Choose your own book
Using leaflets
Read information
from websites
Read magazines
Brooke: Pupils thought that some homework tasks could include going to the library to see different books from the ones in school. Sometimes it’s good to choose your own book and not always the one the teacher chooses for you.
Aliyah: Homework task could be more interesting if we were given tasks to read and understand information in leaflets, websites and magazines. We thought if that was linked to our topic it would help us learn more and understand more things. We could develop our reading skills and increase our knowledge.

4. What reading skills do you use in class?
Thinking Reader
Skimming and Scanning
Flexible brain
Predicting
Clarifying
Kiera: We are very good at being able to use many reading skills. “Thinking Reader” is evident in all classes and pupils are confident in talking about skills before, during and after reading. The skills of skimming and scanning are used very well to help understand and find answers in the text.
Erin: Everyone knows how important it is to have a ‘flexible brain’ as you read on through a text. This means you think about lots of things when you are reading and that you can change your mind as you read on through the text. People are getting better at going back to the text and finding evidence for their answers. Many pupils identified the skills of predicting and clarifying as being helpful in understanding text.

5. What can we all do to improve our reading targets?
Spend more time reading
Use a dictionary
More comprehension
Use Thinking Reader
Prizes for good reading
Laura: We all want to be better readers and the next question was ‘what can we do to improve our reading target?’ It’s obvious that more time reading will help but many pupils need some guidance on finding books or other materials that motivate them to read.
We feel that improving our vocabulary would really help improve our skills and that would improve dictionary work. Someone mentioned that McDonalds were starting to give out books instead of toys with Happy Meals. We wondered what we could do.
Ross: One idea was to have prizes for good reading, or different ways to promote books or authors in the class. The Book Swap that we used to have was good and we wondered if we could bring it back. A lot of our homework is spelling and reading for pleasure, it would be good to have more comprehension or tasks to use ‘Thinking Reader’ at home.

6. What do you think teachers could do to help you improve your reading?
Practice reading more
Use different genres
Positive feedback
Rewards: reader of the week, competitions
Paired Reading
Andrew: Most of the things pupils wrote for this question already happen. The Pupil Council talked about this and felt it would be good if teachers gave more opportunities to practice reading in different areas like science and topic.
Jamie: We think it would be good to have a reader of the week in class and maybe to have competitions or events like the summer reading challenge in school. We like paired reading and wondered if more people could be given the chance to do it!

7. What kind of feedback helps you with your reading?
2 stars and a wish
Your work displayed on the wall
Celebrating your work with the Head Teacher Peer assessment
Plus points / Privileges
Aliyah: Feedback helps us improve our work and these are some of the things that help to improve our reading comprehension. Pupils like getting 2 stars and a wish as it helps them to know what to work on. We like having our work displayed on the wall and also like to have things displayed to remind us – like steps of ‘Thinking Reader’.
Anna: Pupils enjoy sharing their work with the Head Teacher and with each other. That helps to keep pupils motivated and keen to improve their learning.
Pupils like earning plus points and privileges when they try really hard with their work. It helps us to learn when we are involved in assessing our work.

8. What books would you like to see in school?
Diary books
Funny books
Well known authors eg Roald Dahl, David Walliams, Anne Fine
Horrible histories / Science / Geography
Comics and Graphic novels
Erin - Many pupils enjoyed choosing new books for their libraries and were glad the Parent Council gave money for books in every class.
Kiera – Here are some of the kinds of books that P5-P7 said they would like to see more off in schools.

9. What do you do out of school that helps you to be a good reader?
Sumdog
Summer Reading Challenge
Reading to family members
Reading to younger siblings
Reading competition with family
Jamie: This question helped pupils think about the kinds of things they did out of school to help them be a good reader. Many of us play Sumdog for maths, but did you know you can also use it to develop reading skills?
Andrew – Some pupils mentioned activities they did at home with their families. The Pupil Council thought it would be good to help everyone in the family to read and not just when you are in P1 or P2.

10. Enjoy Reading! Parents Teachers Pupils
Erin: We hope you have found this information really interesting. It should give you a very good idea of what pupils in P5-P7 think about reading and how we can continue to improve our reading skills. We have tried to capture what pupils, parents and teachers can all do to help.
Laura: We have also thought about the importance of developing reading skills at language time, in other areas of the curriculum and out of school.
Whether you are a pupil, a teacher or a parent we would like you to think of one thing you could do to help us all become better readers.