Schools across Eden celebrated World Book Day today with events aimed at promoting reading skills among young people.
Brunswick School held a competition for pupils to take the most unique photograph of themselves reading a book, with prizes being awarded next week. They are also giving every child in the school a new book to keep.
Sam Waugh, acting head of Brunswick School said: “Being an infant school, reading is one of the most vital skills they learn when they are with us. It’s a life skill that is really importantly for pleasure and enjoyment.
Shap Church of England School couldn’t confine their celebrations to just one day and instead hosted a world book week with a theme for each day.
These included a laugh out loud day which featured a class joke telling competition and compiling a school joke book, as well as a recipe book day and illustrators day.
Katie Chappell, the acting headteacher, said: “It was a fun-packed week for our children and our families, and has eased the transition from home learning back to school learning for when we reopen on Monday.”
Appleby Primary School held two competitions for their students.
The first, a reading competition through social media which saw staff disguise themselves as animated characters reading extracts from famous books, for the children to guess who they were. The winners were Jessica (Year 3), Libby (Year 6), Phoebe (Year 2), Ezra (Year 1) and Ruby (Year 2).
The second was an adventurous reading challenge where children sent in photographs of themselves reading in exciting locations.
Morland Area Church of England School decided to celebrate the occasion by dressing up as their favourite book characters. The whole school got involved, from teachers to pupils at home.
This fitted in with a special day of learning that included a live workshop from Carlisle’s Tullie House, to help on the topic of Egyptians, and a Zoom meeting with The Studio in Morland, teaching the children how to make lanterns as part of their Light Up Morland event.
Kirkby Stephen Primary School held a competition to redesign their favourite book cover, with one winner being selected from each class.
These were Matilda Lightbody, Chloe Mason, Lily Allison, Ellie Mason, Danny Modlin, Isabel Appleby, Rosalind Birtles, Ewan Cannom, and Archie Steel.
Archie, 10, who chose the Farm Boy by Michael Morpurgo, said: “I love this book because I am a real farm boy. As a Farm Boy, I wanted the textures and smells of a farm on the cover, such as grass, straw and hay.”
Crosby Ravensworth Church of England Primary School youngsters dressed up and painted their faces in the style of a book character for their morning online registration as well as participating in a dramatic book reading competition.
Mr Priestly who judged the competition said, year 6 pupil Danny particularly stood out with his Dalek impersonations while reading from Dr Who.
Hunter Hall school had a special treat, with American author Steven L Lovett tuning in from Kansas to speak to years 4, 5 and 6 about his new book Murder of Crows, whose main character actually goes to the school.
Steven even included some pupils’ names in the novel after they sent him their imaginary map designs for the mythical world in which it is set which they were really pleased with.
Capitalising on the advantages of remote learning, the international question and answer session saw students ask the writer about the process of creating a book and all about his stories.
Children from St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School in Penrith have been sharing their favourite books over Zoom and reading passages from them.
Audible books have been shared online and pupils have had fun designing new covers for the titles.
Students will also receive a new book each to take home and keep as a welcome back present from the school.
Yanwath Primary School also dressed up as book characters, either at home or in the school hub.
The outfits ranged from the Queen of Hearts to Harry Potter, and Little Miss Sunshine.
The children also competed in some tasks relating to their love of reading.
