Jill enthused teachers with her two – hour presentation at three Northland locations over a week towards the end of March.

10 minutes a day was her mantra for engaging students with either a shared book (mainly for Years 1 – 4) or poetry (any age) as they practised together reading with rhythm and pacy fluency, reinforcing their awareness of the role of punctuation, digging into inferred comprehension together, consolidating their word recognition and extending their vocab as they become aware of the richness of the author’s choice.

Jill suggested that reading aloud to the class was a free oral vaccine, bringing a good model, extending vocabulary (words heard often are easier to read), and developing their imagination as they visualise the storyline.

Teachers who attended in Whangarei, Dargaville, and Kerikeri were charged to search out texts that: engage their students, are relatable, have humour and action, make connections, embed values to unpick, capture their attention and model good writing.

‘If only we learned this in our training’ was heard more than once.