NEWS FROM UPTON JUNIOR SCHOOL

Upton Celebrates the Joy of Reading

Reading Roald Dahl’s classic tale Esiotrot to your pet tortoise and designing a protective outfit for Humpty Dumpty in case he tumbles from the wall again were among the creative fun activities as Upton Juniors immersed themselves in World Book Day.

The busy annual event that further encourages Upton’s love of reading began with a photo challenge for pupils at home and in school to discover which teacher in disguise was hiding behind a book – and the Upton mascot Pablo the dog even got into the act.

During the day children were engrossed in Dan Sharat’s book After The Fall that is the story of how Humpty Dumpty got back up on his wall again, and the tale linked in with the school values of resilience and aspiration as well as other key themes of courage and perseverance.

Using the book, pupils undertook a number of reading and writing activities, as well as choosing a challenging activity which would test their resolve and determination like the character in their story.

These included designing a paper airplane that looks like a flying animal, just like in the book; engineering a device to help Humpty get up the wall; researching their favourite bird and creating a piece of artwork that reflects its uniqueness; cooking or baking something that they have never made before but it must contain eggs in some way to create an ‘eggsellent dish’.

Other activities pupils enjoyed were decorating an egg and turning it into a book character; an extreme reading challenge in a unique place such as upside down in the rigging of HMS Upton playboat or while skateboarding - teachers joined in with one even pictured reading on the moon; reading to your sibling or pet; and designing a contraption to protect an egg when it fell to the ground.

Gemma Scarr, Head of Core Curriculum, said: “The children wore colourful clothes for the day reflecting the brightness and joy that reading brings to our lives.

“Reading is so important and taking part in this special day is another way of promoting and fostering a love of books at Upton. It is something we are all so passionate about and seeing the children so engaged and having fun really brought a smile to all our faces.”