St George’s students celebrate world of books on World Book Day
Students at St George’s celebrated World Book Day this week with surprise visits by well-known authors, a secondhand book fair and dressing up as their favourite book characters.
World Book Day is celebrated across the globe on 2nd March and is always a big occasion at St George’s. This year students attended workshops and assemblies by authors Thomas Schoos, who wrote local children’s favourite Wooow Luxembourg; Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet, of SuperTato fame; Nick Arnold, the author behind Science Horrible; and Agathe Demois, of Cache-cache Ville.
Over three days the students participated in activities such as storytelling, story-writing competitions, book-themed treasure hunts, painting book characters and 15-minute bursts of reading throughout the day.
St George’s Primary English Coordinator, Louise Firth, who organised this year’s events, said Book Week helped to inspire a lifelong love of reading and diversify the school’s English-language curriculum. “The students gain exposure to a variety of new authors, and we are particularly lucky to have Luxembourgish and French authors visit us this year. The students also get to see their teachers as readers,” Mrs Firth said.
In addition to the four author visits, which is twice the usual number, a highlight has been the secondhand book fair. “We hope the book fair will help to promote a love of reading and an awareness of recycling,” she said. “Books are mirrors, windows and sliding doors. Readers can see themselves reflected in mirrors – books, can view the lives of others – windows, and can be transported to other places – sliding doors.”
Students also dressed as their favourite book characters on World Book Day, which encouraged them to think and talk about books. “Research has shown that children who read for pleasure make more progress in maths, vocabulary and spelling between the ages of 10 and 16 than those who rarely read,” Mrs Firth explained. “In addition, children who read books often at the age of 10 and more than once a week at the age of 16 gain higher results in all three tests at age 16 than those who read less regularly.
“And children who were read to regularly by their parents at age 5 performed better in all three tests at age 16 than those who were not helped in this way.”
