Book Week 2010

"Reading Opens Doors: Step into the Magic" was the theme of this year's Book Week at the East campus, where each day of the week brought a different focus.

The week started with Mother Tongue Monday, i.e., languages other than English. Grade 2 students had a visit with local author Adeline Foo, who taught them some Baba Malay words during her presentation on her picture books which feature the Peranakan culture, e.g., The Kitchen God and The Beaded Slippers.

On Poem-in-your-Pocket Tuesday everyone shared their favorite poems. The overwhelming favorite poem was online: a video of "No Breathing in Class" performed by its author, Michael Rosen, former UK Children's Laureate, which was posted on the Book Buzz mini-blog, unveiled by Ms. Day in honor of Book Week. Students repeatedly watched Rosen's poetry performance, along with his rendition of his picture book, Going on a Bear Hunt, with great enjoyment. (Links are available under "Most Popular" on http://bookbuzz.tumblr.com .)

A new online subscription for video picture books and audio books, available both at school and at home -- TumbleBooks -- was also introduced this week via the library webpage and the Book Buzz mini-blog.

Book Award Wednesday was the last day for students to vote in the Red Dot Book Awards (www.reddotawards.com), a new initiative of the international school teacher-librarians in Singapore to encourage children to read recently published quality books from around the world in four categories: Picture Book, Junior, Middle, and Senior. Our older students voted online via the award website, while our Infant students voted at the Red Dot voting station in the library. Over 7,000 votes were cast by international school students throughout Singapore and the winners have been posted on the Red Dot website.

Get Real Thursday was a chance for great non-fiction to get recognized.

Friday was Book Character Dress-Up Day which made for a very colorful assembly. Students were entertained by Mr. Bruce Home (4BHo), a master storyteller.

Throughout the week classes also enjoyed guest readers and more D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) time than usual.

Students had a chance to increase their home libraries thanks to APD Books, who ran a 3-day sale in the canteen, and to the Grade 3 "Read and Recycle" sale on Friday morning, with proceeds going to support literacy in our various service projects.

The cap to Book Week was a visit by Margriet Ruurs, an award-winning picture book author from Canada, on Monday, March 22.

Images from the week

Red Dot Voting

Decorated Doorways

Book Character Dress-Up Day

Adeline Foo visit

Misc

BookBuzz & TeachBuzz

Follow our new mini-blogs -- BookBuzz - for students -- and TeachBuzz - for teachers.

Highlights of the Week

Mother Tongue Monday

    • Focus on reading and telling stories in a language other than English.

Poem-in-your-Pocket Tuesday

    • Everyone is encouraged to have a poem in their pocket (or memorized in your head) all day to share with others.

Book Award Wednesday

Get Real Thursday

    • Focus on non-fiction.

Dress-Up Friday

    • Whole-school assembly

Drop Everything And Read -- D.E.A.R. time every day in class

Guess Who Got Caught Reading? quiz -- which teacher is behind which book?

Author Visits

    • Adeline Foo - Week of March 15 - Visit with Grade 2

    • Ben Morley - Week of March 22 - Visit with Grade 5

    • Emily Lim - Monday, March 22 - Visit with K2

    • Margriet Ruurs - Monday, March 22

      • Visit with K1 and Grade 3

      • Evening workshop for parents, 7:30-8:30 PM

Book week posters

To download, right-click on image or see A3 PDFs attached at bottom of page