Some schools opted to concentrate on study books and stories themselves, while others went all out with dressing up as book characters, such as Winchelsea School in Ruskington, William Alvey School in Sleaford and Sir William Robertson Academy in Welbourn.
Helen Duckett, headteacher at Winchelsea School said they had a great day all focussed on encouraging a love of books and reading for life.
She said: “The children were greeted at the school gate at the beginning of the day by the Queen of Hearts on the playground before entering their classrooms where their teachers and support staff met them dressed as various characters such as Red Riding Hood, the Polar Bear who saved Christmas, the Green Crayon from ‘The day the crayons quit’ and even the wardrobe from ‘The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe’.
“We then had a whole school assembly where we enjoyed talking about each other’s costumes and guessing which book was represented. The children each brought to school their favourite book too so that they could share them and introduce each other to books they may not know about to expand their knowledge.”
Classroom activities were focussed on particular books, such as this year’s featured books available with free book tokens and some focussed on class texts. The oldest children looked at how books have been adapted for film such as The Jungle Book and the Wizard of Oz. They also looked at Harry Potter and designed their own magical beasts which they wrote a description and created art work.
Some of the younger children watched a showcase of authors talking about how they write their books and wrote their own stories and poems to perform at the end of the day.
Miss Duckett added: “We’ve even had a special school dinner with a World Book Day bake with Gansta Granny green beans and Billionaire Boy shortbread!”
At Kirkby La Thorpe School they had a multicultural theme for their day, with each of the classes sharing books from around the world. Pupils took part in a range of activities including food tasting, jewellery making, book sharing, short plays, comic strips, to name but a few.
William Alvey School in Sleaford had traditional dressing up plus visits by three local authors, Rachel Armitage with her book We don’t Live There; Thelma Thacker with The Huggable Hoglet; and Lynn W. Bailey with Avalon’s Portal.
She said: “The children were greeted at the school gate at the beginning of the day by the Queen of Hearts on the playground before entering their classrooms where their teachers and support staff met them dressed as various characters such as Red Riding Hood, the Polar Bear who saved Christmas, the Green Crayon from ‘The day the crayons quit’ and even the wardrobe from ‘The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe’.
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Florence as Miss Trunchbull. EMN-220403-100013001 Photo: Midlands
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Harrison and Francesca as Dorothy and Tabby McTat. EMN-220403-095618001 Photo: Midlands
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Chelsey Bamford and her youngsters as Jack Sparrow, Sir Scallyway and Teddy Pirate. EMN-220403-100209001 Photo: Midlands
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Maddison Culy as Hermione Granger from Harry Potter books. EMN-220403-095004001 Photo: Midlands