We have developed this area of the website to encourage our pupils to read widely and often.
It contains links to websites at the bottom of the page that list brilliant books and awesome authors. We have also asked teachers and pupils to list some of their favourite authors and books.
At Four Marks we believe that children deserve a rich curriculum that encourages extensive reading of whole books and other kinds of texts. We believe that active encouragement of reading for pleasure is a core part of every child’s educational entitlement, whatever their background or attainment because we know that extensive reading and an exposure to a range of texts makes a huge contribution to children’s educational achievement.
We aim for all children to read for pleasure by the time they reach the end of their primary school years. Research shows that this is the single most important factor in helping to determine future academic success. We read widely and often in school, and as parents, we hope that you will read widely and often with and to your child. Even when a child can read with reasonable fluency, it is important to regularly share books with your child, and expose them to a range of literature that will broaden their horizons, and help them develop a love and thirst for reading that goes beyond the simple ability to read.
At Four Marks we aim to promote the concept of reading for ‘fun’, ‘enjoyment’ and ‘pleasure’ and we ensure that we include a range of ‘real’ books within the Curriculum for English, as well as carefully chosen books to help your child learn to read. We will also give children the opportunity for sustained reading from a range of self-chosen fiction and non-fiction texts from our school library.
Marjorie the cow is terribly excited. She's going to enter her daughter, Daisy, in the Baby Cow Contest. Daisy has been a very special cow ever since the day that she surprised everyone by hatching out of an egg! Marjorie feels sure that Daisy will win, hooves down.
But the other mothers are starting to talk... Daisy isn't quite like the other babies; she's small and feathery, and she can't even chew the cud yet. Is there something Marjorie should know?
Dresden, 1945. Elizabeth and Karli's mother works at the zoo, where her favourite animal is a young elephant named Marlene. Then the zoo director tells her that the dangerous animals – including the elephants – must be shot before the town is bombed. Unable to give Marlene up, their mother moves her into the back garden to save her… and then the bombs start to fall.
Their home destroyed, the whole family must flee the bombed-out city and through the perilous, snow-covered landscape, all the while avoiding the Russian troops who are drawing ever closer. It would be hard enough to do, without an elephant in tow…