Happy World Book Day!!

Well not yet, but on Thursday March 5 it will be World Book Day and of course I will be celebrating that. These activities could help you make this World Book Day memorable for the children you teach. Of course they are also fun for any other day:)

A. Monster corner bookmarks

What do you need:

• Card stock paper or other firm paper in different colours
•  pencils
• Felt tip pens in different colours
• Scissors
• White A4 paper (with our without template printed on it)
  Template: page corner bookmark template

Steps:

1. Give every child a sheet of white A4 people or an A4 sheet with the bookmark template on it.
   If you have not prepared your template before have the children draw an L-shape with three squares. I have made mine 6.5 cm by 6.5 cm. Template:
2. The children cut out the three squares and then on the line that cuts through the two squares. In my template this line is red. This leaves you with one square and two triangles on the side.
3. Allow the children to pick a colour card and copy the shape on there and cut it out. It might be easier to use a pencil and copy the folding line (the lines that show the square in the middle). They can also just use the white paper and paste some coloured paper on there.
4. Now fold one of the triagles over the square. You should now have a square shape with one triangle on the side.
5. Put glue on the inside of the triangle that is not folded over the square and then fold it close over the other triangle. You are now left with another square but this one should now have a slot that fits the corner of a page.
6. Now the children can decorate the bookmark with more paper of by using felt tip pens or pencils. See the pictures for some examples. You can also cover the square with another colour before you fold over the triangles. Look online for more designs and decorative tips. 

B. Book Commercials 

There are two varieties of this activity. You can choose for book advertisements made by every individual child or you can divide the children in small groups and have them act out a commercial like the ones they see on TV. They can both be much fun.

For the paper variety you need pencils, coloured felt tip pens and an empty page for every child. Show the children an example of an advertisement like you can find them in magazines and newspapers. Tell them they are going to create one like that to ‘sell’ their favourite book to potential readers. They can use colours to attract people, slogans, quotes from the book etc. It might be a fun idea to collect all the advertisements at the end a make a book folder for your classroom. Then children can browse through that and get ideas about what they can read next.

For the acting variety you can ask the children to bring props or clothes/costumes to put across their message. Show them a commercial on YouTube and tell them to write a short scene in which they need to ‘sell’ their book as effective as possible. They could for example act out an exciting scene from the book or use other tools to attract readers. If the parents and the children are okay with it you can choose to record it and rewatch it with the children. Make sure you have permission before you film the children in your class.

C. Book speed dating

This is another activity that allows the children to promote a book they love. Divide the classroom in half. One half will be the book experts and the other half are looking for a ‘date’, or in other words, a book to read. You could do this activity twice so that all pupils get the chance to be on both sides. Ask the children on the book side to bring the book if they can. Tell the children there will be 5 rounds (It can be less or more, you should decide yourself). The book experts will sit behind a table with their book on it and in front of their table is another chair. The rest of the class will now pick one book expert (so all children are now in pairs. One of them is a book expert and the other looking for a ‘book date’).
The book expert then has some time (2/3 minutes or longer if you think they need longer) to tell the other child about the book and questions can be asked (you can set some example questions beforehand if you like). After the set time you, as the teacher, will ring a bell and then the child looking for a ‘book date’ will move to the next table and it will start again. After the set rounds the child looking for a ‘book date’ will have heard about 5 books (or more or less if you set more or less rounds) and then has to choose one of those books to take on a ‘date’ or in other words, this can be the book they will be reading next.

I hope you are inspired by any of these activities. If you have any ideas, suggestions, questions or tips please let me know!!

Have a fantastic Book Day!!!