Year 4 Reading Page
In Year 4 we love to Read!
A message from Miss Taylor:
I have always loved reading and listening to other people read to me. One of the things that I enjoy best about reading is that I can picture characters and places that I have read about and I imagine being with those people or in those places. I also love to find out about things and reading books has helped me learn so many different things. When I was a little girl, I use to love reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carrol, and anything by Roald Dahl stories – especially George’s Marvellous Medicine. My favourite picture books are anything written by Julia Donaldson.
Some of my other favourite books and stories are:
Winne the Pooh stories by A.A.Milne
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
Blackberry Farm books by Jane Pilgrim
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
Dogger (and any of the “Alfie” stories) by Shirley Hughes
Reading is important to Mrs Chatterton.
I loved reading books as a child. My earliest memory is of reading books at bedtime and waking up in the morning having spent the night lying on books – I had gone to sleep reading…again.
As a child, I enjoyed reading books by Lorna Hill and Roald Dahl (Danny, the Champion of the World, George’s Marvellous Medicine), but my favourite author was Judith M Berrisford. I was enthralled by the adventures of her heroine, Jackie, and would totally immerse myself in the world created on the pages of that series of books. It was wonderful.
It is very hard to choose, but I would probably say that my favourite book was ‘Wind in the Willows’ by Kenneth Grahame. I find the awe, nostalgia and camaraderie captivating and the beautiful use of language to describe the countryside and its inhabitants makes me want to read lines over again:
“All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”
“The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spellbound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.”
- Leon and the Place Between, by Angela McAllister & The Ice Bear, by Jackie Morris
In the Autumn Term, our inspiring class books are ‘Leon and The Place Between’ and ‘The Ice Bear’. Staff and children enjoy reading our end of day story each day too. In the Autumn Term we read ‘The Dream Snatcher’.
Other books we’ve used in Year 4:
- This Morning I Met a Whale, by Michael Morpurgo
At sunrise, young Michael spots a whale on the shores of the Thames and thinks he must be dreaming. But the creature is real and it has a message for him – one that only an open-minded child can deliver to the rest of the world. During the Spring Term we used Michael Morpurgo’s fantastic book, ‘This Morning I Met a Whale’, to inspire our literacy. It also helped to inspire other aspects of our learning: coasts, in Geography, environmental issues in PHSE and using rubbish in art.
- The Glassmaker’s Daughter by Dianne Hofmeyr:
Daniela, the Glassmaker’s daughter, is grumpy and never smiles. Her father promises a beautiful glass palace to anyone who can make her laugh. People come from far and wide to try their luck in amusing Daniela. But mask makers, lion tamers and magicians cannot raise a smile from the princess. It is only when a young apprentice makes the first looking glass that Daniela learns to smile – at her own grumpy reflection!
- The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis:
Four adventurers step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia, a land enslaved by the power of the White Witch. But when almost all hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change… and a great sacrifice.
