We have had a stimulating and very enjoyable Book Week with a myriad of different activities taking place; class book studies, story writing, story baskets, book making, designing book covers, drama and poetry, and classroom doors decorated to represent the chosen book from each class.
Throughout each day children have had opportunities to cosy up with a book or listen to a teacher or parent animatedly bringing to life some excellent children’s fiction. Our older children have also had a positive experience reading with our younger students, excelling in using their voices to animate the stories and enthralling the little ones completely.
Of course, a highlight has been today’s Character Day where all the children and staff have come to school dressed as characters from books. Our usual students disappeared to be replaced with a colourful assortment of characters from traditional tales, modern fiction, myths and legends, science fiction and some “original – student invented characters. The teachers too were unrecognisable with giants, witches, caterpillars and Miss Niki was even transformed into The Queen of Hearts, but this proved a little too scary for some of the Nursery children who started crying when they saw me! Thanks to all our parents for the huge effort and creativity that went into preparing costumes and face paint – we were very impressed!
This was a great week and, while lots of fun was had, the core purpose was to promote the value of books and reading. Children gain so much from reading. It takes them to new places, opens up their imaginations and presents new ideas to enrich their experience. It extends their vocabulary and knowledge of grammatical structures and helps them develop good study skills. It is also clear that children who read for pleasure carry the intellectual benefits with them far into adulthood. If we get children into good reading habits when they are young, they are more likely to continue to be enthusiastic readers throughout their lives and this can only be a good thing! And while we as adults might prefer traditional hard copy books, it is also important to recognise and accept that new technologies, such as e-readers, can offer easy access to books and newspapers, especially when living overseas, and are a great way to get children reading. All reading is good!
Thanks to all the students and parents for your engagement and support in making this a great week of exciting learning for all our students.
