A primary school in Aberdeen celebrated World Book Day. How did they do this? By making a book character trail for its pupils and their families!
A primary school in Aberdeen celebrated World Book Day. How did they do this? By making a book character trail for its pupils and their families!
Uryside School wanted to get their pupils and families involved in World Book Day using the trail to make them aware of the wide range of children’s books available to them. Community volunteers placed children's characters all along the trail with a map being created which helped families search for these fictional characters. These beloved characters included Harry Potter, Where’s Wally and Little Red Riding Hood. These characters were located in 12 separate locations on the map.
Lyndsey McGunnigle, the Deputy Head Teacher at Uryside School, said: “We have been focusing on promoting reading at Uryside over the last two sessions.
“Part of the Scottish curriculum focuses on the enjoyment of reading. So, we use World Book Day to really promote this and encourage children to read books that they are interested in, share books they have enjoyed and raise awareness.
“I think it’s important for schools to participate so that children can experience a wide range of texts and really encourage children to enjoy reading.
“The character trail is open to all families within the school to participate in.
“Other than characters, we have also been hiding donated books along the trail for children to find, keep and enjoy. And they are being encouraged to join in and hide some of their own for others to find in return.”
The book character trail that the school created had some goals in mind: to lift up everyone’s spirits during the pandemic and to let the community come into contact with the school once more.
“All children, whether at home still or in school, have been able to enjoy the trail and keep the Uryside community spirit going,” Mrs McGunnigle added.
“There has been a real buzz around the school, and families are commenting on how they are enjoying the trail and that it is just what is needed at this time.
“Families that have created the characters have enjoyed watching others come to view them and smiling/discussing them with each other.”
Uryside also coordinated other exciting events for pupils to participate in as part of World Book Day.
“We are running a competition for our pupils to use their imaginations and share a book in the most creative way possible.
“This could be through animating a book character, creating a scene out of a shoebox, decorating a cake, and so on. The options are endless!
“We have also had a video recording from local author Claire Owens who offered tips on how to write your own story.
“And finally, we have produced a Masked Reader challenge where staff members have to read a story with their voice altered and mask on for the children to guess – all will be revealed on Friday.
“The other events have been very successful too. The children have especially loved the Masked Reader and have enjoyed listening to a range of stories as well as discussing who it may be.”
Uryside School came up with many creative ideas for celebrating World Book Day. The best part of it all is that they wanted to raise people’s spirits and they hoped that their celebration could contribute to that!