Book Week launched with an assembly where students recited a pledge to read each day and night, then all classes received the gift of a specially chosen book for their class library. When asked at this assembly why reading and books were so important to them, the children’s comments included “you can learn things from them”, “they take you to places – places where you can’t normally go”, “you can have adventures”, “they put you to sleep (not in a bad way) because they relax you”, “you get to learn new words”, and “they can make you laugh”.
We played trivia-focused games based on the theme “Curious Creatures and Wild Minds” and many laughs were had by all. Did you know that hippopotamus milk is pink or that wombats have square poo? And that Vikings did not have horned helmets and that bananas do not grow on trees? We certainly learnt a few curious facts throughout the week.
This year, we put together our own book sale and it was fabulous to see the children discerning which books they would purchase and counting out their money to pay for them. The children really appreciated the wide selection available to them and the older ones realised the bargains they were getting. It was heart-warming to see so many of the children bring their new purchases to school the following day for our “find a wild or curious place and read” session.
What a magnificent sight it was to see nearly 400 children scattered around the school in all weird and wonderful places, on cushions and beach towels, under blankets, and even up a tree and in a tunnel, taking time out to relax and read a book.
For many, the highlight of our Book Week was our character parade. We had the Baby-Sitters Club executive team on site; Grug put in an appearance; Dorothy from Oz came along with the Scarecrow, the Wicked Witch and the Tin Man; Cinderella was ready for the ball, and the Fairy Godmother was around as well. Astronauts were about to head off into space; Matilda and Madeleine were there as was Gangster Granny, along with a whole range of other characters. As our parents and families were unable to come onsite to share in the excitement of the parade, we live-streamed it to them, and this was very well received by all to the point of it being requested to become a regular occurrence.
All classes decorated their doors with a Curious Creatures and Wild Minds theme. They were all so different, but all fabulous. Our impartial judging team of Snow White, Dorothy and Bob the Builder, viewed every door and were most impressed with what they saw.
We rounded off our Book Week by sending our curious and wild-minded staff members to different classes to complete a fun activity related to one of the CBCA shortlisted books. The children loved the presence of a different curious creature working with them and all threw their wild minds into the task at hand.
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