Excitingly, today was Book Character Day but more importantly it was Children’s Day too. Our class decided to make it a day of not only books for the students but also a day filled with fun activities. The various activities that we prepared for the students in our class were designed to give the students the agency to express themselves in various ways concerning their favorite books but also to have learning elements added in too.
The students arrived all dressed as their favorite book characters. There were quite a few students that demonstrated their creativity and ingenuity by designing and crafting their own costumes. There was a homemade R2D2 from Star Wars and even a spaceman. Both had favorite accompanying books. The rest of the students were a colorful mix of characters from popular storybooks to comic books to some obscure unfamiliar books too that were interesting for all.
We started our English class with a student vote for the most creative homemade costume. The R2D2 character was an absolute favorite amongst the students. After the pictures were taken, and awards were given, it was time to outline the planned activities for the class.
The plan was to do it in Daily 5 style to give the students the agency to move around the class freely and complete the activities they were most interested in. The first of the activities was to write a letter to their favorite book character and tell them all the reasons why they like them. But it was to be done in an interesting and colorful way using black scratch paper. The students produced some creative and colorful letters.
The next activity available to the students was to create a poster about their book, which included hand drawn pictures and details about the books. Another activity was to draw an A3 size picture about their book which mainly included their favorite book character.
The last 2 activities you could imagine were quite popular amongst the students, one was to sit with a friend or a group of friends and read their story to them. Some groups of students sat quietly together and not only read their stories to each other but shared their opinions about the books. Our very last activity was to sit quietly by themselves and read their book, not many students chose this one though, there were more exciting activities instead.
Near the end of the class, it was time for one last surprise, both myself and my fellow teacher shared our very own favorite books with the students. The students enjoyed a short reading from each of us.
By the end of the class the students had learnt not only more from their own books but also about new books that their friends had shared with them.
A very Happy Children’s Day to all the children out there!!!!
