Lockdown could not deter the energy and zeal of the children at Rupert House School in dressing up and having a lot of fun for World Book Day 2021.
Teachers, admin staff and pupils alike collectively came to virtual lessons dressed up as their favourite book characters and what a lot of effort everyone went to!
In Nursery, the home corner was converted into a wonderful Mr Men book shop where the children could buy, write and sell their own books. A reading wigwam was set up for quiet reading and the children had some magical adventures in their story playtime, using just a cardboard box, a fleece and some fruit!
Our Reception classes had a fun circle-time sharing their costumes and books and playing ‘Guess the Story’. They also read ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and had a busy week sequencing the story and learning about the days of the week, healthy and unhealthy food, symmetry and the life cycle of a butterfly.
In Year 1, each child chose their favourite book, wrote a clue about it and then read the clue out loud whilst their classmates tried to guess which book it was. Then the children used their creative writing skills to write an additional chapter for their chosen book, as well as creating a new design for the front cover.
In Year 2, the children challenged each other to guess the character they were dressed as – from both their costume and a short excerpt from the book in which the character featurees. They then wrote their own fantastic book blurbs.
Children in Year 3 attended the live event: ‘Books that make you LOL!’ which they greatly enjoyed. They also had a whole class book club (including a drink and a biscuit!) where children brought their favourite books to talk about and to recommend to their friends before writing their own book review.
Inspired by some online academy classes, hosted by the authors Abi Elphinstone, Robin Stevens and Kiran Millwood-Hargrave, our Year 4 class were shown objects and had to think about how they could be used in a story.
After listening to authors Derek Landy: 'How to make characters feel real' and Nadia Shireen: 'Bringing Characters to Life’, Year 5 wrote some entertaining school reports for their favourite book characters.
In Year 6, our children joined author Holly Smale’s academy class: 'Bury Deep and use your Emotions' in which they worked on reading extracts from stories using expression, putting on character voices and some acting.
Well done Rupert House – no one could doubt your enthusiasm for, and love of, books.