You may have heard that “reading is a discount ticket to everywhere.” We had Literacy Week in October 2018 whereby we focused on the power of books and reading.
One of our first activities was when the children dropped everything and read for pleasure. The acronym for this strategy is called D.E.A.R. It really showed that books are timeless and can be read anywhere and at any time. As an additional motivator, books were put on display in the hallway for purchasing for a couple of weeks. This was a way for the children to buy books for their home libraries and to explore new genre.
In turn, the occasion also helped our school to spread literacy and to expand our existing library book collection with the collected monies. Inter-class reading marked this Literacy Week in October 2018 event too when different classes read with each other.
We had a duel event on with an introduction to our Celebration of Learning and a Costume Parade which fell on the same Thursday. The children briefly told their central ideas and lines of inquiry of their units and then we had a costume parade. Here, the children dressed up as their favorite book characters with their favorite books in hand. The competition was rather stiff and the best costumes were judged in each grade level. Winners received a book and certificate. Some of my personal favorites during the contest were Pinocchio, The Magic School Bus with Ms. Frizzle and a funny looking Pizza. When the parade was over, we went upstairs for the actual PYP Celebration of Learning with presentations. Some of our supportive parents also volunteered to read in their native languages during the week. I enjoyed perusing the hall and hearing Korean in one room and Turkish in another. What a great time!
Just to let you know, Shinagawa International School has been continuing our commitment towards excellence in our freshly built facility! We have just added new markings to our indoor soccer pitch and new portable staging for presentations. We had our second open-house which was extremely successful. In some grade levels, we have a waiting list and others are filling up fast.