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Download a copy of the latest Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) report here

We have pulled together a selection of online stories and learning activities to help you while you are learning at home. We will update this page each week, so keep checking for new things to do.

Online Stories

• You can find lots of lovely interactive books to read online at BookTrust
• Books for Topics have compiled a host of online story times for children to access freely from home. And what’s more they are all read aloud by their author or illustrator at Storytime Online
• Listen to Maz Evans, one of our favourite authors, talk about her new book VI SPY
• Read the first chapter of The Ghost Garden by Emma Carroll; another one of our favourite authors!
• Listen to online sessions from well known authors like Frank Cottrell Boyce as part of the Stratford Literary Festival Authors For Schools project
• Author Piers Torday will be hosting Lockdown Storytime every weekday at 2.30 p.m. on his YouTube channel.
• Head to BookTrust Home Time for lots of fun book related activities for the family to enjoy.
• Author S F Said will be hosting a live twitter chat every Tuesday from 2.00 – 3.00 p.m. use the hashtag #whatSFSaid You can also watch SF’s session from Barnes Childrens Literature Festival here
• Tune in every day to the National Literacy Trust Virtual School Library to hear a new instalment from their author of the week.
• The Bookwanderers Club  is back every other Friday at 10am and will feature three different author segments as well as a reading round up and a bookseller top tip.
• A Library Lady blog has updated her very comprehensive list of resources to help children enjoy books at home.

Learning Activities

• Learn at home with lessons by special guest teachers at Bitesize Daily  on BBC iPlayer
• Daily lessons will also be broadcast on CBBC and BBC2 from Monday 11th January. Find out more here
• The National Literacy Trust Words For Life page has lots of activities to help parents, children and young people improve their language, literacy and communication skills at home
• Parents, pupils and teachers can access free video lessons and resources at Oak National Academy
• The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) have a bank of free teaching resources available to download from their website
• CLPE also have a bank of author, illustrator and poetry videos ideal for home learning  
• Read the latest DFE guidance on remote education for teachers here

Wellbeing

• Keep children safe online with this free app from National Online Safety
• Join The Princess in Black in the fight against Coronavirus!  
• Listen to Winnie and Wilbur Stay at Home by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul on YouTube
• You can find lots of easy art projects to try at home using materials from your recycling at ArtJumpStart
• Become a fake news detective and try out some fun activities with the NewsWise family resource pack
• Visit BBC Bitesize for some useful tips for parents on managing your own wellbeing during lockdown
• The National Literacy Trust has a range of free resources for parents and carers to support this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week on their website.
• BBC Teach also has a range of resources for primary and secondary teachers to support Children’s Mental Health Week

You can find more of our links listed here

The 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award goes to Natasha Farrant’s charming adventure, Voyage of the Sparrowhawk, which sets two children and their teacher on an epic sea voyage across the Channel in the wake of the First World War. Available to borrow or download from School Library Service.

October is Black History Month in the UK, an event which has been celebrated nationally for over 30 years.

Black History Month in the UK was originally founded to recognise the contributions that people of African and Caribbean backgrounds have made to the UK over many generations. Now, Black History Month has expanded to include the history of not just African and Caribbean people but black people in general.

We have pulled together some useful links to help you celebrate Black History Month throughout October and beyond;

CBeebies Newsround  page looks at the origins of Black History Month; the history of black people in the UK; the Black Lives Matter movement and British children’s experiences of racism in the UK today

You can find a video of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech on the Culture Street website. Plus, a look at Nelson Mandela’s life in graphic novel format, links to the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool and lesson plans for the transatlantic slave trade.

This short article from BBC news looks at the unveiling of a stone commemorating Liverpool’s first black resident and Liverpool’s links to the transatlantic slave trade. 

National Archives has put together a virtual tour of six Liverpool landmarks with links to the slave trade.

This article from the Liverpool Echo looks at lifeguard James Clarke, the first black man to have a street named after him in Liverpool

The Core Knowledge website includes a teaching pack on the Abolition of Slavery for year 5 pupils

Booktrust have produced a reading list of historical stories from Black History around the world.

National Museums Liverpool explores stories, interviews and features on Liverpool’s Black community. They are also hosting a virtual classroom on understanding transatlantic slavery for KS3 students. There is a cost of £90 for this workshop.

Plus we have updated and expanded our own book collections to support teaching Black History Month in schools.

We will update this page throughout October with further links to useful resources.

This autumn, every Reception aged child will receive a free copy of The Runaway Pea by Kjartan Poskitt and Alex Willmore, as part of the Time to Read (TTR) initiative from Booktrust.

It’s time for tea! But one little pea decides that he does NOT want to be eaten, thank you very much. It’s not time for tea; it’s time for an adventure!

The Runaway Pea is a lovely funny story to read together, with lots of playful words used in the well- paced rhyming text. There are lots of things to talk about, from the detail in the pictures (my grandson loves the one were Runaway Pea gets his bottom burnt in the toaster!) to the range of emotions the pea experiences on his journey.

From 19-25 October Time to Read will be sharing online picture book readings every day at 5.30pm. starting with a reading from the author of The Runaway Pea on Monday 19 October. Look out for the link here

TTR aims to encourage children and parents to share stories together at home. Shared reading plays an important part in both a child’s personal development and their wellbeing. Plus, research shows that a child who reads for fun will do better in all subjects, even maths.

Co-ordinated by School Library Service, the TTR packs will be delivered to every school in Knowsley during the autumn term. Look out for yours….

We have put together a special collection of age appropriate picture books and information books about germs and viruses, worries and hopes, fears and happiness to share with young children. You can order your pack via the website here or by e-mail here Plus, if your school has an SLA with us, you can now access our e-book platform at no extra cost. Contact Pauline Threlfall to get started.

There are lots of great resources out there to support children who are returning to school. We’ve pulled together some of our favourites to help children re-adjust and understand why life is so different for us all at the moment. And they’re all free!

For Nursery, Reception and Year 1 children

• While We Can’t Hug is a lovely animated picture book by Eoin McLaughin and Polly Dunbar.
• Picture book Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Halls and David Litchfield has been released by Walker Books in conjunction with Save the Children’s Save with Stories campaign.
• Let Dr Dog help explain Coronavirus to young children with this free e-book. Available to download here
• Everybody Worries by John Burgerman is a rhyming picture book for children who are worried about Coronavirus
• Check out these free digital books from the Open University suitable across the age ranges

For Year 6 children

• What is Covid-19? is a PowerPoint which explains Coronavirus and how to stay safe for Key Stage 2 children
• What is Coronavirus?  is a Daily News PowerPoint to help teachers answer questions about the virus and discuss what children have seen in the news. For Upper Key Stage 2 children.
• Publisher Nosy Crow have produced a Coronavirus booklet for Key stage 2 children, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
• Check out these free digital books from the Open University suitable across the age ranges

For Key Stage 3

• Science in the News: Coronavirus links the news with KS3 and GCSE Biology learning about infection and response

For Parents and Carers

• Author Eloise Rickman shares some top tips to help children return to school
• Find out how your child can take part in this years’ Summer Reading Challenge
• My Hero is You is an international story developed for and by children. Designed to be read by teachers and parents to help children understand Covid-19

For Teachers and Librarians

• Visit the Summer Reading Challenge School Zone to support pupils to take part in this year’s Silly Squad SRC
• Liverpool Learning Partnership have produced some excellent resources to support  settings to prepare for pupils returning to school. You can access their padlet here
• Liverpool Early Years Home Learning Support have developed a great padlet to support learning in hubs and home learning.
• The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) have compiled a bank of resources for Year 6 children returning to school and continuing to learn from home
• CLPE have also produced a free whole school unit of work base around Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers. register your interest here Plus teaching notes for The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad. Plus, a bank of free resources to support teaching literacy across the key stages
• This National Literacy Trust blog looks at ways to support children returning to Nursey and Early Years settings.
• NLT have also developed activities to help Year 6 children returning to school
• CILIP have produced some excellent guidelines for the re-opening of school libraries here
• The School Library Association have recorded a webinar on re-opening your school library after Covid-19.  You can watch here

The shortlist for the Diverse Book Awards 2020 has been announced. Set up to showcase the talent of marginalised voices, the DBA highlights the best of the diverse voices published in the UK during 2019, both traditionally and self-published. Take a look at the shortlist here

The shortlist for the Teach Primary Book Award 2020 have been announced. Chosen by authors, literacy experts and reading champions, the award highlights titles that not only children will love to read but which support learning both in the classroom and beyond.