Reading and writing are two critical skills in a child’s early learning development, and it is essential for children to form a solid foundation in these areas to build on for future learning in all of the other subjects they encounter in their academic lives. At YCIS Pudong Primary, we, therefore, encourage children to develop a strong interest in, and appreciation for reading and writing from an early age. One great way to promote this is to build and nurture students’ interests in these areas through fun and engaging reading and writing-based activities.
During the recent Book Week, YCIS Pudong ECE and Primary students were treated to a week full of reading and writing activities, workshops, and guest speakers to pique their interests and inspire them to get reading. Students from all year groups were involved in the celebrations of books, which included book sales, literary-themed costumes, door decorations, and a very special visit from two children’s authors.
The week began with a visit from acclaimed British children’s author Ms Nicky Dee (the ‘Dee’ is for ‘dinosaur’). Ms Dee flew to Shanghai from London especially to meet and inspire the young learners at YCIS. For those who don’t know, Ms Dee’s work revolves around the fascinating subject of dinosaurs, and over the course of the week during several talks, she wowed our students, teachers, and parents with her boundless knowledge about our pre-historic friends. She even brought a dinosaur claw for our students to admire! This was an excellent opportunity for the students to engage with someone who has built a career around writing about her passion. The students had plenty of questions for Ms Dee, which she was delighted to answer.
The dinosaur theme was prominent throughout the week, which featured a range of activities including some very creative dino-themed door displays, as well as a fantastic costume parade as a fun finale! The students also had the opportunity to expand their home libraries by attending a book sale which had a selection of hundreds of titles on offer for both ECE and Primary children. To encourage our young learners to develop their reading and writing skills in both English and Chinese, the school was also pleased to welcome Chinese author Zhou Rui, who spoke to the students and signed copies of his books for the long lines of eager fans. All of these activities were fun and engaging, and they created an environment that showed the students how essential reading and writing are to our lives, and how rewarding they can be.
The aim of Book Week is not only to foster a love of reading and writing in our students, but also to show them the world of wonders and opportunities they can access through reading. Books are the window into new worlds, and activities like Book Week help spark their young imaginations to grow in many different ways.