Teachers and children at Priory Infant School decided they loved World Book Day so much that they wanted to celebrate it all week!
English Lead, Sally Halford, said: “We wanted to give our children time to relax and enjoy some fantastic story adventures, so instead of packing all the excitement into a dress-up day on World Book Day, we planned a different event for each day of the week.”
Celebrations were kick-started the week before, when Adam Taylor from online bookshop, The Classroom, gave out free books to every child. Each year Adam sets himself the challenge of distributing World Book Day books to children in Kent. This year he will have distributed 10,000 books throughout East Kent.
On Monday the children came to school in their pyjamas and onesies and snuggled up with their favourite books. Classrooms transformed into Book Cafes and children enjoyed book ‘tasting’ with their favourite toys. Teachers surprised children at story time by swapping classrooms and sharing their favourite books.
On Tuesday children travelled around school to enjoy a story adventure based on a World Book Day story. Reception made huge ears and transformed into Elmer the Elephant; Year 1 became dinosaur palaeontologists and Year 2 morphed into superheroes and saved the planet.
Wednesday was all about crafting and making. Each class made a story sack for their favourite story. ‘Story sacks are so important: they really bring books to life for our children’ explained Sally Halford.
Highlight of the week was when author Tamara McFarlane and children’s entertainer Gilbert Giggles visited with a gaggle of dinosaurs in tow. They brought Dylan’s Amazing Dinosaurs to life in a riotous show full of laughter and lots of learning.
“They managed to cram so much into an hour,” said Reception teacher Jemma Gale. “We made up a sound poem, had a story and learnt loads of facts about dinosaurs, including how many teeth they have! The children loved it.”
Finally, to polish off a wonderful week of books and stories, each class held a book party. Children played story-themed party games, like pin the tail on the big bad wolf and went on bear and dragon hunts outside in the garden.
Parents had generously donated hundreds of books for a huge book swap in the school library, so every child was able to take home a present of two more books on top of their World Book Day book and book token.
“We know reading and books really do change lives,” said Acting Headteacher Jo Rogers, “and our teachers work their socks off to give our children a love of reading. It’s been such a treat this week to see everyone so excited about books.”