Some picture books are so magical, they define childhood. They become a marker or a milestone in a child’s life.” – Dianne de Las Casas.
Wow! “What a week it’s been!” 5 Magical days where we witnessed the enchantment picture books can create in our young reader’s minds. It was a week of learning the importance of reading picture books, fun-filled activities, and sharing.
Picture Book Celebration:
The idea of celebrating picture books started taking shape when we came across the “Picture Book Month” celebration, an international literacy initiative aimed at celebrating the print picture book in an increasingly digital age. Dianne de Las Casas, an author and storyteller, had worked to designate November month as a month for Picture Books. She believed Picture books celebrate childhood; they speak universal truths and help children better understand the world around them.
The moment we unanimously agreed to celebrate this week, We started brainstorming ideas to make this event a memorable experience for all our students. A week where our students learn to explore, share and appreciate picture books from around the world.
The first day of “Picture Book Week” started with a buzz all around our elementary corridor when our students noticed the figure of Mr. Tiger from the book “When Tiger Came to Tea” by Judith Kerr right outside our library. At this photo booth, students could click photos.
Displays & Activities for Picture Books
The display of teachers’ pictures with their favourite books on an interactive board created excitement among the students, who enjoyed guessing their teacher’s favourite book. A book collage supported with clues helped students to find the hidden characters from different stories. An I spy game encourages students to wear a detective hat and hold a magnifying glass in their hand.
The Tower of book challenge motivated our students to explore more picture books. They wanted to build the highest TowerTower of books to showcase the number of picture books read by their grade during the picture book week.
A reading game centre where students could play with their friends and answer the various task cards to reach the finishing line
Gift a bookmark station, where students were engaged in designing bookmarks, where they created handmade bookmarks with their favourite quotes and idioms and gifted those bookmarks to their friends and family.
Reader’s theatre station allowed children to read the script creatively and bring out the characters live.
Our Pledge Station inspired our young readers to read a poem, “My Reading pledge” by Ms Debra Angsted and take a pledge to become better readers every day.
Throughout the week, children were engaged in a range of creative and fun activities. On the last day of the week, the children also shared their favourite parts from the celebration.
Picture book week was a great way to celebrate why we love books.
– By Anupa Bhonslay, PYP Teacher Librarian
