The 2019 men’s Rugby Union World Cup is taking place – in Japan – this autumn.

If you are a sport-loving family, now is a good time to try to engage your children with reading for pleasure – through sport. Fiction. Non-fiction. Websites. Newspapers. Magazines. Whatever you choose, the Rugby World Cup can help. 

I am a children’s author who came to love reading through sport.
I now write sport fiction for a living. These are my ten top tips to encourage your sports mad children to read for pleasure.

1 Set the home page on your computer to a decent rugby website like www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union or www.rugbyworldcup.com

2 Get your children on form for the year with one of the guides to playing the game. Know the Game: Rugby Union is a great book to start with. Ask if your local library stocks it.

3 Deliver a newspaper’s rugby supplement to your child’s room on Saturday or Sunday morning to get them used to reading previews, match reports and other articles.

4 Buy them a copy of one of the popular rugby magazines, Rugby World or The Rugby Paper.

5 Read together a child-friendly player-autobiography full of statistics, pictures and childhood stories. Check first that the content is appropriate for kids. A popular one is by Jonny Wilkinson.

6 Play one of the fantasy World Cup games running in newspapers, requiring a close eye on who is injured and who has been dropped from teams. Another reason to read the rugby pages.

7 Discover superb fiction in libraries and bookshops : Rugby Zombie by Dan Anthony, Rugby Spirit by Gerard Siggins Pride & Penalties by Chris Higgins and my Rugby Academy series.

8 Leave rugby newspaper articles and match reports in regular places like on the fridge door.

9 Check out the RFU’s free literacy resources at www.englandrugby.com. Check out the other home nations’ websites too: www.scottisrugby.org, www.wru.co.uk and www.irisrgby.ie.

10 Try reading more yourself. You’ll enjoy it and your children will want to join in too

On June 6th we will be remembering the many brave men and women who were involved in D-Day, the daring invasion of Normandy when the Allies began the liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany.

There are several things happening locally and nationally that schools and families can do with to help their children understand those events of 75 years ago.

Here are some ideas of things you could engage with:

Watch the news. On 5^th and 6^th June there will be extensive news coverage of commemorative events in Portsmouth and Normandy, including the MV Boudicca sailing with 300 D-Day veterans from England to France on the same journey they made exactly 75 years before.

Get hold of a special edition £2 coin to mark the D-Day 75^th anniversary, featuring a map of the D-Day landing beaches. Something for children to hold onto and remember and maybe give to their own children on the 100^th anniversary of D-Day in June 2044?

Go to your local public library and check out some of the books about D-Day in the history section. Some books have amazing photographs in them and first-hand accounts. Most public libraries will have several books on the shelves about WW2 and D-Day.

Visit The D-Day Story, a fantastic museum in Portsmouth with a permanent exhibition that does a great job focussing the mind on the planning and actioning of D-Day. They’ll be hosting special events from 5^th to 9^th www.theddaystory.com/

Go online and search for D-Day links to where you live. The D-Day Story has an interactive map to help you do that: https://theddaystory.com/d-day-on-your-doorstep-interactive-map/. The Imperial War Museum’s amazing online collection allows you to search for images and recordings of the men and women who took part in D-Day and made it home to be able to tell their story: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections

Look out for films on TV, including The Longest Day, Saving Private Ryan and Storming Juno. The TV series Band of Brothers starts with D-Day and is very powerful. There will be documentaries on TV too. But make sure what you are watching is age-appropriate.

From 1^st to 9^th June the Imperial War Museum will retell the extraordinary land, air and sea story through their Second World War collection and three historic sites, HMS Belfast, IWM Duxford and the Churchill War Rooms, which experienced first-hand the events of D-Day. https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/d-day75

There will be events in towns and cities all over the UK.Some places will witness flypasts of significant aircraft. There will be parties. And many airmen, seamen and soldiers will be remembered in their home counties. Check out your local newspaper’s website for information.

Read Tom Palmer’s children’s book, D-Day Dog, about a boy who joins a school trip to Normandy where he finds out hard facts about the events of 6^th June 1944.Use D-Day Dog as a class read. There are free videos, activities and other resources for schools at https://tompalmer.co.uk/dday-dog/. You can contact Tom for free posters and bookmarks for all your pupils too.

Some of you might be going to France for your summer holidays.If so, why not travel via Portsmouth and stop for an hour or two to visit some of the key D-Day historic sites and museums in Normandy. Visit the Normandy tourist information site for more details: http://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/things-to-do/sites-and-attractions/d-day-and-the-battle-of-normandy-113-2.html

Check out my Guest blog over on A Library Lady’s webpage

D-Day Dog by Tom Palmer – The inspiration for the story

here

On 6^th June this year countries across the world will be commemorating the 75^th anniversary of D-Day, one of the most significant days in the history of Europe and the world, which marked the beginning of the end for Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime.

My new book – D-Day Dog – is about a boy who goes on a school trip to Normandy to find out about D-Day and to challenge his own ideas about war. It is also about the rights and wrong about using animals in war and is based around the true story of a dog that parachuted into the conflict on 6th June 1944.

I have created a range of resources that teachers can use in schools to work with – or without – the book to help children understand this enormously significant date. You can find them all at www.tompalmer.co.uk/dday-dog.

“An amazing exploration of war, both past and present, which answers difficult questions about why soldiers choose to fight and die. Stories from World War 2, the Falklands and the current conflict in Syria are woven together in this sensitive little book. ” Aidan Severs, That Boy Can Teach

I have made four short videos set at key D-Day sites in Normandy that are also settings in the book. Making the films at Omaha Beach, a statue of Dwight Eisenhower, Ranville Cemetery and in the open countryside of Normandy where many paratroopers dropped in ahead of the beach landings. Coming by 26 April.

Free posters and bookmarks that I can post out to schools for free – or that you can download.

I’ve written a guide to local and national activities that are going on to mark the 75^th anniversary of D-Day during the first few days of June. It is being hosted by the excellent www.thereaderteacher.com, also known as @MrEPrimary. Coming soon.

An activity for the D-Day 75^th anniversary this June 6^th. I have chosen some pages from D-Day Dog that you can download and print for free, then invite the children to create their own D-Day blackout poetry. Includes instructions for teachers, examples and a signed certificate for any children who complete the challenge.

While visiting schools I will be using a PowerPoint I have made to talk about D-Day, how animals are used in war and what inspires me to write books like this. You can download it for free here, whether I am coming into your school or not. Coming soon.

I am doing some public events during the spring/summer where I would love to meet readers, dog-lovers and history fans. In Halifax, London, Shrewsbury, Holmfirth, Edinburgh so far, but there may be more. Check out the Meet Me page on my website for full details.

I’ve made some book cover predictions sheets for the classroom, where children can work out what they think might happen in the book based on Tom Clohsey Cole’s brilliant jacket design for D-Day Dog.

Check out the D-Day Dog webpage for ideas about the rights and wrongs of using animals in war. The book features a boy whose love of war is challenged when he finds out that dogs were used and killed during the Second World War and other wars.

Download a document that includes ten questions to help children talk and think about war. Is it ever right to wage war? Should animals be used in war? This is aimed at Y5 to Y8 and should be used with teachers’ discretion.

Use D-Day Dog as a class read during the 75^th anniversary commemorations in early June. It’s a short novel at 20,000 words, suitable for Y5 to Y8. The anniversary coverage on TV should tie in well with the storyline about children trying to get their heads round such a significant historical event.

Thanks for reading. All the resources above are available free from www.tompalmer.co.uk/dday-dog. Those not published yet will be up by end of April. Please feel free to share them among your colleagues and networks.

Many thanks.

This coming November 11^th will mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.

The Armistice.

There are several projects and events taking place nationwide and locally. Tom Palmer – whose new book Armistice Runner is set during the last days of the so-called Great War – has chosen ten that might work for you and your school.

Find out about Danny Boyle’s Pages of the Sea commission to mark the Armistice: www.pagesofthesea.org.uk

Watch Peter Jackson’s film about the Armistice, created and freely available for schools to use this autumn. Aimed at 11 to 14 year olds. https://www.1418now.org.uk/commissions/new-film-peter-jackson/

Visit a local war memorial with the children. Find a local historian via your library who may be able to give a short talk at the war memorial.

Search https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections to hear interviews with men and women about their experience of the last days of the First World War.

Discover if you have one of the thought-provoking https://www.therebutnotthere.org.uk/gallery/ statues near your school.

Attend an Armistice Centenary in your local town or village. Many are listed here: https://armistice100.org.uk/events/.

Look at the free resources for schools at https://www.1418now.org.uk/learning-engagement/armistice/.

Go to your local archive or library to find out about First World War soldiers from your city.

Use Tom Palmer’s Armistice Runner – and his free literacy resources – as a class read this autumn. https://tompalmer.co.uk/armistice-runner/

Ring bells on 11^th November, joining millions of others worldwide as they mark one hundred years since the First World War ended.

I hope these ideas are useful. There are many more projects happening locally and nationally, so keep an eye out for more.

Tom Palmer’s new book – Armistice Runner – is about a modern day runner who finds out from her grandmother, who is suffering from dementia, that her great-great-grandad was a trench runner during the last few days of the First World War.

Tom has created a range of resources for schools to use to help children understand the significance of this November’s centenary of the end of the First World War.

All the resources are free.

One. Videos of Tom talking about the Armistice centenary in significant First World War settings in France.

Two. Poster packs and signed Armistice Runner bookmarks for all your pupils, delivered to your school for free. Please email me via this website.

Three. ‘Be a Trench Runner’ game for the school hall, where children are challenged to memorise information and run, to imagine what it was like to be a trench runner.

Four. List of ten national and local opportunities that schools in the UK can take to mark the Armistice centenary this November. https://tompalmer.co.uk/10-ways-schools-can-mark-the-armistice-centenary-this-autumn/ 

Five. A short non-fiction text explaining the Armistice in its First World War context. With a quiz based on the text.

Six. SPAG and comprehension worksheets based around the Armistice centenary.

Seven. Read Tom’s Books for Topics article about ten things to read about the Armistice this autumn. 

Eight. A look at how Armistice Runner developed from ideas in Tom Palmer’s notebook to the finished book. How a book is researched, planned, written, edited and published. 

Nine. News about public events where your pupils can meet Tom and hear about Armistice Runner this autumn.

Ten. Reviews of Armistice Runner from:

Book for Topics

That Boy Can Teach

Good Reads

You can find all the resources above at www.tompalmer.co.uk/armistice-runner. Some of the resources are not quite ready, but will be up there by the beginning of September. Feel free to contact Tom via this website if you need more information.

More here … https://www.tes.com/news/5-ways-schools-are-celebrating-world-cup

I’d like to ask for some advice from teachers, please. My plan is to use that advice to help me develop some resources that will work for schools this autumn. Thank you in advance.

This September I have a book out called Armistice Runner. It is aimed at children aged 8 to 13.

It’s about a modern-day girl called Lily who is a cross country runner. Through reading his diaries, she finds out that her great- great-granddad was a champion cross country/fell runner in 1918 and that he went on to become a trench runner in the last days of the First World War, performing a dangerous mission during the last minutes of the conflict right up to 11 a.m.

The Armistice is a central theme of the book. It is published on 6^th September, ten weeks before the centenary this November.

I am already working on materials that schools can use as they mark the centenary of the Armistice. There are videos of me talking from key Armistice sites in France already up. You can see them here: https://tompalmer.co.uk/armistice-runner/.

I will be creating more resources that I hope will be useful in schools, based on some of the materials you can see on my Over the Line webpage: https://tompalmer.co.uk/first-world-war-literacy-resources/. There you will find posters, stories, scripts, discussion questions and quizzes.

But is this what schools want?

I’d be very interested to hear what schools would like to help them work on the Armistice with their students. Your own ideas, but also things you have used in the past, particularly that are based around a novel to help children get their heads round a moment in history. I’ll be spending a lot of time working resources up over the summer, so your advice would be useful.

All the resources I create will be free to all schools – and anyone else – by the way.

One idea I have is that, if a schools uses Armistice Runner as a class read around the autumn, then I could offer a free half-hour Skype to that school.

What do you think?

Please email me any thoughts at info@tompalmer.co.uk. And please, also, pass this on to any colleagues you know who might be able to help.

Many thanks.

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