By Violet Li
Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School celebrated Book Week on 3 September with the highest involvement in recent years.
This year’s theme was Reading is Magic.
Principal Sally Webb said the day was a real celebration of literature.
“This year we had the most children involved and we never had that. Usually, you get younger children involved. But this year, I think everybody just really got into it. It was beautiful,” she said.
Students and teachers participated in workshops about books and stories, and they all dressed up as characters in the books.
“They were to choose a character from a book that they love or a series of books. Then they were meant to bring the book along as well,” Ms Webb recalled.
“It wasn’t a set genre. There wasn’t a set focus. It was about helping kids promote a book that they love and get other children interested in that.”
Ms Webb highlighted that about 63 per cent of students in the school came from a background where English was an additional language, so the school ran an English as an Additional Language (EAL) program.
“Children from EAL background focused on a book called Where’s the Green Sheep?” she said.
“We gave them a copy of that book. As English learners, they came away from that day being able to feel like they are understood and they’re included in Book Week because they got their own copy of a book that they could take home and read to their family.
“For many of them, they’ll be the first English speakers in the family. For us, a really exciting part of the day was that focus on everybody can read. Even if you’re just retelling a story by looking at the pictures, you’re reading.
“It’s not about the length of the book or the difficulty or the complexity. It’s about engaging with literature that inspires us.”
