MYP Book Week 2016
“There’s no such thing as a kid who hates reading. There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the wrong books.” This quote by James Patterson generally illustrates the message that we intended to convey to SEK Qatar’s MYP students, grades 6-10, this year. In a condensed effort to promote and encourage reading, students took part in various activities throughout the week. Along with daily D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) time, some students had the chance to go on a fieldtrip to visit the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar’s library. During the morning assemblies, students had the chance to develop a better understanding about the importance of reading in the different languages taught within the MYP curriculum: English, Spanish and Arabic.
The highlight of this year’s Book Week events were the multiple authors who visited our school to share their knowledge and experience with the students. The students had the opportunity to listen to Mr. Khalid Al-Obaidan’s informative talk about the art of poetry and how the habit of reading helps in building a bank of vocabulary words within one’s mind. Among many other topics discussed by Mr. Khalid, students also learned more about the importance of receiving feedback, the ability to accept and embrace criticism and the notion of how beauty is very subjective.
The second author visit was by Mrs. Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar. Students listened attentively to an exciting presentation by an author of several published novels. They were able to appreciate the 12-monthly process that she undergoes to be able to produce pieces of writing while teaching university students and also taking care of her two children. In English Language and Literature class and prior to Mrs. Mohana’s visit, students familiarized themselves with the author’s writing style by reading the first short story she ever wrote.
Inspiration was a dominant factor in our Book Week’s final author visit. Mrs. Justine Jewell truly inspired the students to pursue their passion with commitment and dedication, as she spoke about her career in nursing. Students were intrigued to hear about her experience in the emergency trauma department, and how her aim as a nurse is to help improve the quality of care, and ultimately prevent more and more people from dying. Moreover, Mrs. Justine stressed the significance of literacy across all subjects and the importance of academic honesty in research. After the presentation, students had the chance to ask Mrs. Justine questions about her profession as an RN and as a professor at the University of Calgary Qatar.
Perseverance, passion, creativity, knowledge, commitment and open-mindedness were key words that resonated with both students and teachers, as the author visits and Book Week events came to an end.
PYP Book Week 2016
The PYP students of SEK Qatar had a fantastic week celebrating Book Week. The entire week was spent engaged in a celebration of books, and the demonstration of a love of reading. The children celebrated their favourite stories and authors throughout the week, with a range of special activities every day. The students brought in their favourite books to share with their classmates, participated in daily D.E.A.R Time (Drop Everything And Read), enjoyed the book fair and some classes attended a field trip to the local children’s library, Maktaba Library.
A caring sense of community again was evident throughout the PYP, as students from a variety of grades paired up for Buddy Reading. Older students came to the preschool classes to read to them and listen to them read. Younger students visited the older grades to showcase their emergent literacy skills, to receive immense support and encouragement from their older counterparts. MYP also visited the younger grades to share with them their own story books, which they had written and illustrated themselves, and were met with a wave of encouragement and appreciation, and left with a new motivation brought on by the preschool students’ love of their stories.
Throughout the week, the students had visits from many ‘Mystery Readers’ in various languages, especially Spanish, Arabic and English, as the entire school community joined together in sharing a love of books. There were visits from parents, grandparents, siblings, other teachers and students, and many other members of the school community.
Book Week ended with a whole PYP celebration with the PYP Character Parade. Students and teachers alike dressed up as their favourite characters from books and enjoyed the character parade in the main hall. Both students and teachers really enjoyed the parade, a fantastic ending to a brilliant Book Week!
Thank you to everybody involved for making Book Week such a success for the PYP students of SEK Qatar. They had a week full of fun and reading!
