May. 31, 2017
The Royal Oak School community was excited to participate in TD Canadian Children’s Book Week during the week of May 8-12, 2017.
To help foster student excitement and engagement about the event, staff organized a “Super Reading Challenge” with students to see how many books they could read between April 28 and May 11. During this time period, students read a reported 3,839 books! Book prizes were awarded for top readers from each grade and to the student that estimated the closest amount of books read by the school.
To kick off Children’s Book Week, students had the opportunity to meet local author, Valerie Walker, enjoy her books about “Hedley Hedgehog” and listen to her inspirational words “adventures are better when shared with a friend”. She talked about the writing process and generating ideas for her stories with students.
On Tuesday, students looked forward to a read-aloud from Principal Lynn Sparks and Assistant Principal Benita Dalton, followed by dressing up as their favourite storybook character on Wednesday. Along with dressing up, students also brought in the book they dressed up from and joined in shared cross-grade buddy reading opportunities.
On Thursday, students were thrilled to welcome back Spencer Wilson from the Calgary Stampeders, who was also joined by teammate, Adam Thibault. Spencer and Adam took time to share a read-aloud story with each classroom and talked about the importance of perseverance and commitment in the reading process. Students vociferously shared about the reading challenge they were involved in and shared how many books they had been reading at home with their families. To end their afternoon at Royal Oak School, the guest Stampeders also joined students briefly to cheer them on in their Jump Rope for Heart Jump Event.
Throughout the week students participated in daily ‘Guess the Book’ contests and Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) opportunities. Prizes were awarded to students throughout the week. It was an invigorating and joyful week of reading at Royal Oak School appreciated by students, staff and parents!
