First Chapter Friday

Most people have met someone who claims that they ‘hate reading’ but did you know that there are more than 130 million published books in the world? When you consider how many books there are to choose from, you can begin to see that people may not actually ‘hate’ books, but instead, have yet to find the right ones! There is so much to consider when choosing a book that it’s no wonder that sometimes children don’t know where to start…

At Avonwood, we aim to help children to learn their likes and dislikes as a reader. This begins with helping them to identify how to choose a book (and learning that sometimes we do judge a reading book by its cover!) and making sure that they are exposed to a variety of new books with varying authors, genres, themes, and topics. To do this, we celebrate ‘First Chapter Friday’.

Every Friday, we take time in classes to explore a new book. These sessions are sometimes led by an adult but are primarily led by the children. Each child will get the chance to be the ‘guest star’ during the year. This means that they will get to bring in a book that they have loved and share it with their peers. Our guest star will begin the session by discussing how they came to choose the book, before discussing why it is so important to them/had such an impact on them. They will then read the first chapter of the book to the class (sometimes even enjoying atmospheric music and lighting to make the sessions extra special).

First Chapter Friday is a time that children look forward to and cherish each week. It helps us to build a class community where children are able to discuss books, make connections, and bond with their peers who read the same books. Every book that is recommended to a class is added to the classroom reading display, meaning that there is a running record of recommended books for children to refer to.