As it’s World Book Day today, I feel I should put together a post of how we celebrated World Book Week (back in October). In Qatar, we do things a little differently and celebrated ‘Book Week’ for an entire week, engaging in book related activities! It was a lot of fun and really promoted a love of reading in the children (and staff).

Overview of Book Week

Just before I dive into explaining some of the activities, I’d like to share with you the overview of what we did, as a picture speaks a 1000 words, right? Also, this year we planned activities around a book PER Key Stage:

• Early Years engaged in activities based on ‘The Day the Crayons Quit‘.

• KS1 engaged in activities based on ‘Where’s Wally‘.

• KS2 engaged in activities based on ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory‘.

Gather a committee

Running a week like Book Week takes a lot of preparation, time and resources and it would have been impossible to run without the help of my committee. It’s important to have at least one member of staff from each age range in the school- Early Years (age 3-5), KS1 (age 5-7) and KS2 (7-11)- on your committee, in order to ensure the activities are suitable throughout the school. Make a whatsapp group, school email group, meet regularly to share ideas and most importantly share the workload! 5+ heads are better than one! By gathering a strong committee from different age groups within the school, the backbone to your Book Week has taken shape!

Activities we did: across all ages.

Below I’ll explain some of the activities we engaged with as a school to hopefully give you some ideas for organizing book week in your school!

Dress a potato as a book character

This activity was so much fun and caused major hype around the school about turning a potato into a book character. Children were encouraged to create these potato book characters at home and bring them into school to be judged on the last day of book week. A truly unique activity that made book characters come to life for children. It’s an activity that could be done in school either, depending on your preference. But a definite must for you to get involved with- we adored this activity!

Key Stage Reading Competition

What’s book week without a little reading competition! Displaying the totals on the classroom doors really encourages children to read! Simple but effective.

Book Fair

Inviting a book fair to come into your school during Book Week, is a nice way to encourage children to buy books, while they are motivated and encouraged to read. Our book fair this year had a wide selection of books for children of all ages. Each class was allotted a time to attend the book fair and buy a (or a selection of) books with their own money! I also bought some myself for the classroom because I just couldn’t resist!

Scavenger Hunt

As early years were focusing on ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ and KS1 focused on ‘Where’s Wally’, they engaged in a scavenger hunt of these characters. Children had to walk around the school (during their chosen time slot) and try to locate these book characters hidden around the school. (See below)

KS2 however had a ‘Book Cover Scavenger Hunt‘, where they had to follow clues to reach the prize at the end.

Author Visit

Fortunately, we were lucky enough for Robin Price to come in and visit us. This was a fantastic way to inspire children to have an interest in reading and also writing as he did a mini writing workshop with the children. The older children (Year 5 &6) were lucky enough to have an hour’s writing workshop with the author too which was excellent. Inviting an author to come in to give a talk to the children is a vital part of Book Week. It teaches and inspires them to write/appreciate how a book is written, which is a unique lesson in itself! Write or email children’s authors in your area and see id they would be willing to come in and talk with your children.

Bed Time Reading Event

This was an activity I read about online and fell in LOVE with it! Children basically bring their pyjamas and a teddy bear with them into school to change into. In the afternoon, the children are given a biscuit and hot chocolate while their class teacher reads them a story. It’s super cosy, comfortable and really promotes and fosters a love of reading for the children. Two thumbs up from us for this event for Book Week!

Book Week Character Display

In our school, we love a good display depending on the specialist week. During Maths Week, we create a Maths poster and stick it up on the walls of the gym. During Science Week, we create a Science poster and stick it up on the walls of the gym. So of course, during Book Week, each class made a character display and stuck them up on the walls of the gym. Each class is then allotted a time where they can go out, view the posters and try to guess the character each class has drawn. Teachers are specifically asked not to label which character they have drawn, so that children can guess. The class that get the most correct answers, win a prize! The posters were made on paper 1m x 1m.

Dress Up Parade

The dress up parade is definitely the sweetest, most exciting end to a glorious week. Children and teachers dress up as their favorite book characters and parade around the school to music, first thing in the morning. Teachers and pupils stand around the school and watch each class walk in the parade. Parents were also invited to watch (and join in if they wanted). TIP: create a clear path for “paraders” to walk through so that each class can be clearly seen and appreciated as they walk around. Truly a fabulous end to a fabulous Book Week!

 

Final Points

Book Week was thoroughly enjoyed by children, parents and staff through a wide variety of different activities to engage children with books. It took a lot of planning and preparation, but it reaped the rewards for sure. If planning a similar week for your school, ensure you:

• Gather a committee to help, support and plan with you.
• Create ‘sign up sheets’ for teachers to sign up to certain activities during the week (to make sure every class gets their turn).
• Create a checklist for teachers to have the week before it all kicks off, so that everyone is prepared and can ask any questions if unsure (see below).

That’s all for today on how we organized a fabulous Book Week. I hope this post helps you with your planning and organizing of your Book Week. If you’ve any questions or comments, please leave them below. Thanks as always.

 

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