Local Author reads to Loreto Pupils
What an exciting day in the Loreto Convent Calendar. In early January the preparation began when posters were displayed in the school. Our younger pupils were asked to draw a picture of their favourite book to commemorate the 20th anniversary of “World Book Day” and the 100th anniversary since the birth of Roald Dahl. Dahl was the inspiration for another competition where our older pupils could write a missing chapter from a Roald Dahl book.
The pupils enjoyed putting pen to paper, both at home and in class where the teachers encouraged the younger wordsmiths! Entries were limited to 1000 words and as Roald Dahl wrote several of versions of his books, many great chapters not included in the final stories. The children therefore had great scope to let their imaginations run wild. The winning entries included a new chapter for Giraffe, Pelly and Me and James and the Giant Peach. Prizes were presented to the children by Head teacher Mrs Napoli and the Library staff. Prizes for the writing competition were creative writing books and a copy of ‘Blob’, David Walliams new short story written especially for World Book Day.
The day began with the children arriving in their superb costumes, with year group and class themes everyone including the staff looked amazing. In the Library the day began with the World Book Day quiz. Key Stage 1 has a quiz with 30 questions to test their knowledge of popular books, an example of a question asked was “Can you name Spot the Dog’s little sister?” Year 4 followed with their Key Stage 2 quiz consisting of more and harder questions. The pupils returned their answers in both quizzes and then prizes were awarded for the winning group of knowledgeable bookworms!
Year 7 pupils were extremely lucky to have an interactive session with their English Teacher, Mr Noguera. Pupils and staff watched video clips from famous authors who explained about their writing styles and how they use imagination to write creatively. Pupils in other classes used the World Book Day resources to encourage pupils to read and write, making tis become second nature in their daily routine. With fun activities had by all the pupils, this was a magical day!
Using the Smart Interactive Panel Screen the day continued with story time for the Nursery Classes. The pupils were enthralled listening to the story and seeing the picture books on the big screen. We were so lucky that Author Anna Bogie popped in to read her stories like Yuk and Ta Dah to the pupils. The pupils loved hearing other stories too, Each Peach, Pear and Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg and The Kiss That Missed by David Melling.
A second hand book sale was also encouraged throughout the day; any child who donated could then take a book home with them. Finally children were invited to the Library to watch World Book Day Story craft videos from the website. This has inspired our young creative minds and the school is looking forward to a successful year of reading and story writing.
Thank you to the Library Staff, especially Anna Craig for all the hard work, preparation and dedication to enrich pupils with the joy of words.
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