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Book Week Scotland fun for kids
It is the annual celebration of books and reading that takes place across Scotland involving people of all ages and all walks of life.
Book Week Scotland takes place everywhere – from online resources and events to schools, community venues and workplaces with the big aim of sharing and enjoying books and reading.
Scotland’s authors, poets, playwrights, storytellers and illustrators all get involved to bring a packed programme of events and projects to life.
This year, Book Week Scotland – run by the Scottish Book Trust - will take place from Monday November 16 to Sunday November 22.
Schools are a key part of the celebrations with teachers preparing well in advance of the week of activities. Here are some of the ways pupils are being encouraged to enjoy a good read. To find out more go and download resources and decorations for your classroom go to www.bookweekscotland.com
BOOKBUG P1 FAMILY BAGS
Each November, Bookbug gives every Primary 1 pupil in Scotland a free bag of books and resources to inspire a lifelong love of reading, writing and counting. The Bookbug P1 Family Bag contains the three shortlisted titles for The Bookbug Picture Book Prize. Children across Scotland can vote for their favourite, and the winner will be announced in March 2021. Gifting P1 Bags in a special way builds the excitement for pupils and is a great way to build on home and school partnership work.
Gaelic P1 Bags are available for children in Gaelic Medium Education or families interested in Gaelic. These are designed to be bilingual and include the Gaelic and English versions of the books.
Children with additional support needs may benefit from CALL Scotland's symbol resources and digital versions of the books in the P1 Bag.
READ, WRITE COUNT
Read, Write, Count is a national campaign to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of Scotland’s children. The programme gifts bags to all Primary 2 and Primary 3 children across the country. The bags are a great opportunity to build relationships with parents and strengthen links between home and school learning.
Research has shown that if books and materials are explored in school first, children and parents are far more likely to use them together at home. This is because children are familiar with and excited by the materials. Resources available for Book Week Scotland to help this include a parent letter, activity worksheets, a teacher guide, home learning activity ideas and a parent introduction PowerPoint
The contents for each bag change on a yearly basis and include two picture books, educational toys and a notebook. This year the bags contain:
Primary 2
*How Many Trees? by Barroux
*Rocketmole by Matt Carr
*Story cubes with characters, places, and objects to inspire writing and storytelling
*A notebook and writing pencil
*Shape Shuffle card game with Talk It Out/Act It Out prompts on the reverse side
*An activity booklet for parents including information and inspiration for using the items at home
Primary 3
*Look Up! by Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola
*Wow! Animals: A Book of Extraordinary Facts by Jacqueline McCann and Emma Dods
*One meter long measuring tape
*A notebook and writing pencil
*Coastal Commotion card game with story and routine cards on the reverse side
*An activity booklet for parents including information and inspiration for using the items at home
AUTHOR’S TWITTER TAKEOVER
Join in with Robin Stevens’ murder mystery “takeover” on Twitter @scottishbktrust. The children’s author is probably best known for her Murder Most Unladylike series and will be no doubt inundated with all sorts of questions about her work. But underlining it all will be the ethos of enjoying a good book, and celebrating reading and writing. The prize-winning author has been writing stories all her life and grew up opposite the Oxford house where Alice in Wonderland lived. She studied crime fiction at university and then worked as a book editor before becoming a full-time author. So when it comes to talking about reading books, she is definitely superbly qualified.
BBC AUTHORS LIVE
BBC Authors Live with Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola is aimed at pupils from P2 to P5. You can join in the Book Week Scotland action with author Nathan and illustrator Dapo as they share their prize-winning picture book Look Up! and latest release, Clean Up! Nathan will be sharing his writing tips, and make sure you have paper and pencil handy for a draw along with Dapo! You can also ask questions live during the broadcast using #BBCAuthorsLive on Twitter.
For more info go to: www.scottishbooktrust.com