Cranleigh Prep World Book Day fun

World Book Day 2021 marked a joyous celebration of reading for Cranleigh Prep pupils, despite it being a little different this year.

Pupils enjoyed a day of whole school, off-timetable reading activities. However, this year, most of the pupils were participating from their homes. The aim of the day was to give the children the autonomy to choose how they wanted to celebrate reading and help the children have fun together.

The day started with a live Tutor meet for all, where pupils shared their costumes, books and props. The activities which followed were divided into the following categories: Write, Watch & Listen, Create and Make.

During the Write session, pupils met their English teachers to read and discuss poetry. Each child was then challenged to write a poem for the CPS E-Book Poetry Anthology: Looking In and Looking Out: Cranleigh Prep in Lockdown 2020-2021.

Watch & Listen gave pupils time to listen to audiobooks or watch their favourite authors talk about books. Upper School pupils were particularly pleased to hear Mr Dixon (Head of MFL and Form 6 Tutor) read from his newly published book, The Heroic Truths of Neil Peel.

After lunch, pupils shared some DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time together, where the whole school stopped working and read for 20 minutes.

In the Create session, pupils had the option of retelling a story using Puppet Pals, making a book cover come to life using photography tricks and creating their own Book Review Podcast.

Finally, the Make session gave pupils the options of dressing up a potato to look like a book character or learning to draw with a range of famous illustrators, including Jeff Kenny, author and illustrator of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

At the end of the day, pupils checked back in with their Tutors for a live meet, where they shared their poems, creations and stories from the day. A wonderfully memorable day where, despite being apart, Cranleigh Prep School celebrated reading together as a community.