Monthly Archives: May 2013

Ella isn't your average girl. She dresses all in black, dyes her hair pink and will only answer to the name Midnight...

When she has to babysit her princess loving sister, she's less than thrilled, especially when she has to read her a bedtime fairy tale story!

All of a sudden, the two find themselves transported into a magical realm! Almost as if they have fallen straight into the story book pages...

What will happen in this world? Will the fairies be good or bad? Or even worse, will they make Midnight dress in pink?

Tom is forced to drag his little sister around the funfair, going on all the rides she wants and playing whatever games she chooses. Then his friends see him- so embarrassing!

Tom grumbles on, even when his sister wins a goldfish. She is delighted! They take it home and give it a new home in a glass bowl. Tom is still sore at having to look after her and begins banging the goldfish bowl. When the fish floats to the top, he quickly exits, leaving his sister to discover her poor pet.

Then Tom starts to see the goldfish everywhere, in glasses of water and the school swimming pool.

This scaled spectre wants revenge! Will the fish stop haunting Tom? Or will Tom be faced with the ghostly fish forever?

After the exciting announcement of ten new Ignite titles, our illustrators have been working hard to bring words to life.

Over the next few weeks, we will unveil brand new drawings of a whole host of characters!

The first creature let loose is...

The Snow Beast!

On the slopes of Switzerland, Dylan and Alex are going to conker Mount Doom! But the near impossible ski mountain isn't the only thing they'll have to face...

Newspaper reports say that there is a terrifying Snow Beast on the loose in the forests near the slopes!

When the boys decide to ski down the mountain, Alex has an accident. Will the snow beast harm or help him?

Do you think he could be friendly? Or is this beast all fangs?

Lara is tired of being second best next to her smarmy cousin Nathan. The town's annual writing competition is coming up, but she has no ideas! If only something would drop into her head...

Suddenly, she finds an 'egg thing' in the compost heap in her garden. When the egg starts making strange squeaking sounds, she knows she has to rescue it!

In the dead of night, there are strange lights from the garden. There are two even larger egg creatures standing on the compost heap! Is this an invasion? Or do they come in peace?

A well-established literacy strategy, guided reading has been prominent feature in many primary school classrooms for a considerable length of time.

Guided reading consists of a teacher working with a small group of pupils, normally around 6, for the duration of 20 minutes.  Depending on their reading level, the teacher then selects a reading book for the pupil, who then reads the book individually.

Within the strategy, children are grouped with peers that demonstrate similar reading levels; and the texts chosen are those that require little support but also present the opportunity to challenge and promote problem solving. Texts pitched at this level allow children to build both their confidence and literacy levels.

The most popular role of the teacher within guided reading is to lead the group by facilitating discussion and helping pupils with new and difficult words, rather than reading the text for the child.

Craig Allen, one of our fabulous authors, celebrated having one of his ideas selected for Ignite series 2 by going fishing.

A new scheme has been announced by English Heritage in which they are offering thousands of state schools free school trips to famous historical sites.

The scheme, funded by donations and legacies, will look to benefit over 30,000 children a year, with schoolchildren visiting iconic sites such as Stonehenge and Hadrian’s Wall.

A report from the National Literacy Trust has found that a reading campaign led by Premier League footballers has achieved significant success with participating pupils.

The scheme was launched in January 2012 and involved 472 primary schools and 232 secondary schools.

The focus of the scheme was to target and work with schools that were not reaching national literacy levels and had large numbers of children from financially disadvantage backgrounds.

Following her supervillain parents being captured and locked away in jail, Melody Doom is adopted by a family who couldn't be more different to hers...

Her goody two shoes foster family are a complete nightmare. They sing songs, wear bright colours and, worst of all, play charades every night! Melody knows she needs to escape, but how?

Hatching a plan involving her fluffy pink foster sister as a sidekick, Melody attempts to break into the jail and release her parents. But will the pony-loving princess give the game away? Find out in The Terrible Tale...

Here are the cool character drafts and drawings of Melody Doom and her foster sister as they prepare to bust into jail!

Do your pupils dig Melody's punky style? Or are they more proud pink fans?

Following the adventure stories of Ignite, from the hair raising to feel good, Badger Learning can reveal the hot new titles of a brand new series! The second series of Ignite will include:

Our Jimmy by Clare Lawrence
The Hamster Who Fell to Earth by Danny Pearson
Blackbeard's Treasure by Roger Hurn
The Princess and the Knight by Helen Orme
Silent Screen by Mike Gould
Snow Beast by Craig Allen
Chocolate Wars by Andy Seed
Night Wolf by Jonny Zucker
Alien Harvest by Melanie Joyce
Zombie Goldfish by Danny Pearson

With more wild and wonderful plots to keep even the most reluctant readers turning the page, this series of Ignite promises to be a lot livelier than a Zombie Goldfish!