Conway Book Week 2016
At the end of June, we hosted our own book week to promote the love of reading by offering opportunities to share books with other children and the teachers, as well as with an accomplished author and illustrator. Throughout the week, each year group explored a different famous children’s author as part of their reading and writing lessons, along with a variety of other activities.
The week started with the Big Read whereby the whole school shared books in a variety of ways at the same time; in class with a mystery teacher sharing their favourite book, in small groups with a member of SLT or with a buddy reader (children in year 1 and 2 became reading buddies with children in year 5 and 6).
We also invited James Campbell, author of the ‘Boyface’ series, in to complete workshops with years 1 to 6. He shared different stories, poems, anecdotes and jokes. He also completed a book signing event after school, whereby children could buy his books, have them signed, speak to James and have a photo taken if they wished.
Furthermore, we invited Charlotte Firmin, illustrator for Terry Dreary and other famous books/ authors, in to complete workshops with years R to 2 as well as complete a demonstration for our Book Club after school. Charlotte created year group Big Books; together, Charlotte and the children, created their own story with illustrations. The children also had the opportunity to finish the book back in the classroom with their own illustrations.
By the end of the week, the children had a greater understanding of the process of creating a book, including the text and the illustrations. They had also expanded their knowledge of different children’s authors and had the opportunity to explore different books in a variety of ways, keen to discuss and choose their next read!