Category Archives: My Books

Quick and Easy Plays for Primary School

Something I particularly enjoy is writing plays. I think it comes quite naturally to me as I am a very visual writer. During my career as a teacher and as a writer I have written a wide variety of plays for primary school. Many of these were for school Christmas productions when I was teaching. I have also had several plays published. I am particularly proud of Quick and Easy Plays for Primary School, which is a teacher resource of twenty-seven plays compiled into a folder.

Title: Quick and Easy Plays for Primary School

Written by: Anita Loughrey

Illustrated by: Catherine Ward

Published by: Hopscotch Educational

This lever arch folder, published by Hopscotch Educational, a division of the Mark Allen Publishing Group, contains twenty-seven differentiated and cross-curricular Quick and Easy Plays for Primary School with teacher notes and suggestions for making props and costumes.

The plays were written to be versatile, so they could be used for guided reading as well as being performed on stage. I have used this resource during school visits to encourage students to create and write their own plays. The handy ring-binder format allows the teacher to add their own notes, which is always useful in a teaching environment.

This folder contains plays themed around the following topics:

Childhood Experiences – friends, school journey, Victorian childhood
Traditional stories – fairy tales, myths and legends, fables
Stories form other cultures – creation stories, Chinese festivals, Christmas

Each topic contains three differentiated plays for the age range. As you can see, there are nine plays in each chapter. The first play in each set of three is the easiest and is suitable for younger or less able children within this age range. The language level and stage directions are much simpler than in the next two. The font size is also larger in the first plays. Here is an example of one of the simpler plays:

The third play in each set of three is the most challenging play with more complex language and more detailed stage directions. The font size is smaller in these plays. Here is an example of one of the more challenging plays:

There are six folders in the series, each written by a different author. Mine is aimed at ages 9-10, which would be Year Five.

To purchase a copy of Quick and Easy Plays for Primary School by Anita Loughrey directly from the publisher Hopscotch Educational, or your local bookshop should be able to order copies.

100+ Fun Ideas for Science Investigations

Over the years I have written a lot of teacher resources. 100+ Fun Ideas for Science Investigations in the Primary Classroom is one of my favourites.

Title: 100+ Fun Ideas for Science Investigations in the Primary Classroom

Written by: Anita Loughrey

Illustrated by: Pat Murray

Published by: Brilliant Publications

It contains over 100 exciting, fun classroom experiments in an easy-to-use layout to help teach scientific investigation in the primary classroom. The activities require a minimum of preparation and only the simplest of science equipment. Each activity provides opportunities for children to develop their skills of scientific enquiry.

All experiments listed in this book closely match the statutory and non-statutory guidelines and schemes of work for Key Stages 1 and 2.

With the aid of this book, the children are given the confidence and courage in order to thrive inside the classroom whilst having fun in the meantime. This therefore naturally promotes the development of key scientific attitudes applicable both inside and outside of the classroom. Group co-operation is also encouraged within the investigative activities, helping to enforce the importance of leadership and appropriate communication skills.

This compilation of exciting ideas for classroom experiments has been tested and approved by primary school teachers over a period of 17 years of education. You can be assured that the activities in this book will lay the relevant foundations for secondary education and support every child’s journey through education.

To purchase a copy of 100+ Fun Ideas for Science Investigations in the Primary Classroom by Anita Loughrey directly from the publisher Brilliant Publications or from your local bookshop will be able to order copies, or online at uk.bookshop.org, an organisation with a mission to financially support local, independent bookshops.

A Year in Nature

Today is World Book Day and I am busy doing virtual visits using my book Rabbit’s Spring Gift, which is beautifully illustrated by Lucy Barnard and published by Quarto Publishing.

This delightful picture book about friendship and the changing seasons that includes activities, crafts and discussion points to develop an understanding of the natural world. It is the ideal book for virtual visits throughout the Spring Term with reception and Key Stage One children. Rabbit’s Spring Gift is a tender and reassuring story of sibling rivalry and gift-giving. Rabbit wants to give her brother a thank you gift but her brother tries to out-do-her at every turn.

A virtual visit would consist of a 30 minute session to include:

An introduction about me and my books
A little background information about writing Rabbit’s Spring Gift
A reading of the book
A discussion about spring and the kinds of things they do during the spring eg. spring walks, spring art, planting seeds, etc.
A spring activity.
Q+A

The other books in the series are Frog’s summer Journey which was launched with Rabbit’s Spring Gift last March at the beginning of the first lockdown in the UK. Squirrel’s Autumn Puzzle and Fox’s Winter Discovery will be launched this Autumn. All these fantastic picture books would be suitable to do similar virtual visits throughout the year.

If you are interested in booking a virtual visit to help with distance learning or enhance the children’s education in the classroom please get in touch through my website to enquire about prices and availability http://www.anitaloughrey.com

Rabbit’s Spring Adventure

In 2012, I wrote a series of picture books based around the seasons which were part of the Animal Seasons series. They are published by QED and illustrated by Daniel Howarth. Season collage

You can listen to a reading of Rabbit’s Spring Adventure read by Jessica Zumhingst on YouTube. Jessica is a Kindergarten Teacher at North Park Elementary.

This year I have had the first two picture books also based on the seasons released just last month. They are part of a new series called A Year in Nature that compliment the previous series. They are also published by QED but this time they are illustrated by Lucy Barnard.

Book birthday

Today I have not one but two new books out: Rabbits’s Spring Gift and Frog’s Summer Journey. They are part of the A Year in Nature series of seasonal animal led picture books published by Quarto Educational (QED). The other two book in the series are released in September. The beautiful illustrations are by Lucy Barnard.

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Rabbits’s Spring Gift has a theme of sibling rivalry set around the concept of spring. Rabbit wants to give her mum a thank you gift, but her brother tries to out-do her at every turn. Take a look and discover if Rabbit can find the ideal gift. The book intertwines family relationships and the changing seasons.

Frog’s Summer Journey was inspired by the ‘grass is greener’ proverb and is set during summer. Frog is looking for somewhere new to live but none of the places he visits on the pond are just right. You can follow Frog on his journey and discover all the signs of summer on your way.

At the back of each book I have included seasonal activities, crafts and discussion points to help develop a child’s understanding of the natural world. these books could be used in schools, nurseries and at home to support topics on the seasons and animals. The gorgeous illustrations give the perfect ahhh-factor.

These books compliment my previous Animal Seasons series picture books also published by Quarto but illustrated by Daniel Howarth.

Here are the new books being modelled by my dog, Logan.

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You can find out more about me and my books on my website: www.anitaloughrey.com or follow me on Facebook: @anitaloughrey.author Twitter @amloughrey and Instagram: @anitaloughrey

You can find out more about Lucy Barnard on her agent’s website: www.advocate-art.com or follow her on Facebook @lucybarnardillustration Twitter @barnard_lucy and Instagram @lucybarnardillustrates

Book proposal

A few weeks ago on my blog, I talked about how a personal synopsis, or breakdown, of your novel can be a useful planning tool and map to help you complete your novel. See here. I mentioned that a synopsis for an agent or editor is slightly different and should be kept to an A4 side of paper. A book proposal for a non-fiction book is not the same as a synopsis. Today I thought I would explain how and why non-fiction book proposals are different.

books

When writing non-fiction books you do not necessarily have to finish the book before you submit your idea. If the idea has not been commissioned in-house you will need to give the publishers an idea of the layout of the book and why you are the best person for the job. In my opinion, the last bit is the hardest part.

Slushpile Challenge

Very recently, I was one of the winners of the July 2019 Slushpile Challenge. For the challenge we were asked to submit:

Outline of the book, including why you think there is space for it out there
Some market research on competing titles in the market-place, which might include publisher, pub date etc
Target readership, including (if applicable) any syllabus/key stage tie-in
Why you are the writer to tell this story
A sample of up to 2500 words of text (give or take) from your proposed narrative non-fiction title.

This is exactly the same sort of information you need to send to a publisher for a non-fiction book proposal, whether it is creative non-fiction or not. I suggest you use these headings to help you. In the outline of the book I usually include a chapter breakdown.

Many of my books are published by QED one of the many imprints of Quarto.

Quarto provide submission guidelines online, which give an excellent idea of what you need to include in more detail. Each division has its own editorial focus.

If you don’t know what publisher might be best suited to the type of book you want to write, it is a good idea to take a look at the Writers & Artists Yearbook. There is a version specifically on writing for children.