How do teachers integrate Reading for Fun into the classroom? 

We interviewed teacher Adam Samuel about reading for pleasure, their struggles with engaging children with books, and how they integrate Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun into the classroom to help.

Who are you and what do you do? 

My name is Adam Samuel. I am a class teacher at Abbot Alphege Academy.I currently teach a year three-four class.

I'm a jack of all trades in school. The beautiful thing about being a primary school teacher is that you do a bit of everything. So I'm also the computing subject lead and modern foreign language lead. So I'm not the reading lead, but I am passionate about reading.

That's the nice thing about being a primary school teacher is you get to share a love and a passion for multiple things with the children, rather than just one.  

How important do you feel reading for pleasure is for kids? 

So important! It's a way of creating new worlds and new experiences. A lot of children can get a little bit overwhelmed with the world and with life. Reading a book, having the opportunity just to lose yourself in someone else’s creation, someone else's world, whether it be, Julia Donaldson, or Rachel Bright and Jim Field, it's an escape. Children need to be given the opportunity to escape into these worlds in order to have a wider appreciation for life in general, and it develops a love and passion for books. 

What struggles do the kids in your class experience in reading for pleasure? 

Access to books. We have a nice library at school, and we have a local library, but one of the biggest struggles is maintaining that at home. We don't know what they (the kids) have at home and what their access is like. It’s also showing them how to engage with books and maintaining that engagement as well. It's quite easy for some children to get hooked on one genre, which is great, but also allows them an opportunity to broaden that reading passion.

Why can it be hard to instil a love of reading in young children? 

I think with young children, we're constantly battling the modern world. Technology is always offering new and exciting things for children to be doing, whether it's a new game to play or a new media platform to engage with. Picking up a book is probably the least of their interests. So I think it's important for us to find new ways of ensuring that children maintain their love and interest in reading.

Can you tell us about your experience with Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun? 

Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun is absolutely fantastic in ensuring that children maintain a passion for reading and are exposed to a wide range of texts. It's engaging. It's fun. And it crosses two worlds. It crosses the world of technology with the world of books. Today, it’s really important that we bring those two together. Otherwise, we'll just have kids lost in games, without developing essential skills, such as reading.

Why did you download the game in the first place? 

I first downloaded Teach on Monster Reading for Fun after seeing the success of Teach Your Monster to Read. I used it to support my phonics teaching when I was teaching in Key Stage One, and it was great to see the progress that the children were making. 

And then we got to a point where some children had gone as far as they could go. They were showing signs of being competent readers, free readers, and I wanted to give them something more without losing that engagement that they'd already built up with Teach Your Monster to Read. So, when I discovered Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun, I jumped at the opportunity to download it. 

I shared it with the parents, encouraging them to download it on their devices and letting them know if they didn't have a device that they can use their computers at home as well. That allowed those children who needed a little bit more, that extra stretch and extra push, the opportunity to continue engaging with the platform.

How does the game help you as a teacher with reading for pleasure?

Reading for Fun helps as a teacher because it gives children an engaging way of accessing books that's different to just going into the library or a bookshop. It's quite easy to get lost and overwhelmed by too many books. And what's nice with Reading for Fun is that it's a smaller number of books that they can engage with over whatever time frame they want. They get to do little jobs and little activities within the game that allow them to do more than just reading. So they are reading without necessarily always knowing that they're reading, so it's multifaceted, which is great.

The other nice thing about Reading for Fun is the fact that they earn the books incrementally, and they get to earn them as rewards and collect them in a library. So when they go into their home, you can see the books piling up on their bookshelves, just like they might at home. They can go into their bookshelf and select the book they want to read that they've earned as a reward for these jobs, which is really nice. 

How can Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun be used to help kids who are struggling to enjoy reading?

Reading for Fun can be really great for those children who struggle to read, because it offers them a slightly gentler way into reading. It allows them to approach reading at their pace without necessarily having the pressures of adults and the outside world, without us kind of breathing down their necks, if you like, to read and put that pressure on. It can be used as a reward, it can be used as a warm-up, it can be used as, you know, if you're on a long journey in the car or on a holiday, something to engage them and keep them focused. And it's educational, so it's a win-win. 

What are your thoughts on the inclusiveness of Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun?

I do have neurodiverse children in my class, and they engage with the game. They absolutely love playing it. They are often coming up to me asking if they can play the game, not always at the most appropriate of times! But when it is an appropriate time for them to do so, I obviously give them the opportunity to, because for some, that can be the difference between accessing a book or not accessing a book, and it gives them a kind of level playing field, if you like. They are equal to everyone else in the class, because they all access the same books. They're all accessing the same platform, but they get to it at their own pace, which is a bonus for them.

The option of having the book read out loud to you is great for EAL and neurodiverse students, as it allows them to hear the words being spoken that they might not otherwise be able to read themselves. And ensures that they are still able to access the text as a whole and not just pick out those words they recognise.

What did the children in your class enjoy about Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun?

The children in my class enjoy Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun, because it allows them to lose themselves inside the game while reading at the same time.

How do you use the game in class?

I use Reading for Fun as a warm-up activity. When the children come in at the start of the day, they can come in and access the game. I often use it to settle down after break or lunch. It's a nice way to gently bring them back in after what could be a nice, fraught break or lunch!

So yes, I use Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun as a transition piece, if you like.

Sometimes I say, no you need to do that one, or I want you to do that one. Depending on whether we're about to go into maths, do Teach Your Monster Number Skills. You know, just after lunch is normally reading, and I often encourage them to go for a book. However, some who I know benefit from the game approach, I allow to read using Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun.

What is the most useful feature for you as a teacher?

Reading for Fun allows, from a teacher's point of view, you to see when children are accessing the game, you can go on, and you can log in and see how long they've been using the app or when they last used it. So you can see if there's regular engagement, which is very handy.

It's also great to go around and see where they're engaged with the app. How many books have they collected? Are they just playing it for fun, or are they actually engaging? And more often than not, they are really engaging with it, which is great to see. You can see the pleasure they’re garnering from playing the game, which is also nice.

It's interesting because the bookshelf fills up, so you see it without even really needing to see it. You can see an empty bookshelf or a quite full bookshelf, so you can see the collection, which is nice.

And I like the fact that there are multiple genres on there. It's not just a fiction narrative. There are creative things like ‘how to make this’ or ‘how to draw’. There's a whole range of things on there which I quite like!

Do you have any other special tips for other teachers on integrating it into their classroom practice? 

My tip for other teachers is to download Teach Your Monster Reading for Fun, give the children some logins, and see how much they engage with and have fun with it. It will change your day.

Also download the login details for each child, stick it in the front of their read and record books. Send it home so that they can engage with it at home as well as at school.

Do you recommend that parents use the game at home, and if so, how? 

I would. It's a great way of engaging your children to read and exposing them to a wide range of books. It's also really handy if you want to distract your children with a book in the car on a long journey. Or maybe you're going away on holiday and you want the children to be quiet for a little bit, and it's a nice way of engaging them and keeping them occupied while you're out and about. 

It doesn't need to be used for long. Even just 10 to 20 minutes a day could be the difference between a child who is engaged with reading and a child who's not, and the child who's passionate for reading and a child who's not.

Play Reading For Fun online for free on desktop or purchase it through the app store. For pricing information, please visit our App Pricing Help Page.