Top ten activities to do in the classroom this World Book Day!
World Book Day returned to the classroom last year as students across the UK and Ireland wore costumes of their favourite characters and swapped books with each other. Although the charity stalls chockful of books had yet to re-enter school halls, teachers made World Book Day memorable. You can make this one even better and let your students’ imaginations go further. Allow their brains to wander around strange and unexpected places with SATs Companions’ top ten stimulating activities this World Book Day:
1) Rapid fire dating – Begin by putting students in pairs to talk about their favourite book for a minute. Ensure one student from a pair swaps with a student from another pair. By the end, every student will have showcased their book. This activity reinforces positive communication in the class, and everyone learns about new books.
2) Leave a mystery book – If you think one of your students might like a particular book, leave it on their desk with a note and ask if they would like to read it at an unexpected time during the day. You can decide when to leave the note and book. You will be providing a student with an opportunity to consider reading something they might not have considered and it will hopefully make their day.
3) Create Quotation Posters – Have each student take the most moving sentences from books and get them to create a poster based on the quote. Display these posters around the school for everyone to enjoy. This activity can help students engage more deeply with the books they love and bring out a potentially untapped creative side for some.
4) Host a short story competition – Get each student to write a short story for 5 minutes and read it out to the class. Give the winner a small prize i.e., chocolate. Alternatively, get them to embrace their inner Ernest Hemingway and write a 6-word story in 30 seconds and give the winner a small prize.
5) Chat with a Local Author – if you know of a local author, invite them to your class or have the entire class participate in an informal Zoom chat with them. It may well lead students to become writers themselves and can give them their first insight into the world of publishing.
6) Write a children’s book throughout the day and share it near the end – Ask everyone in the class to write their own children’s book and put it in a box. Mix up the box and have students pick out a book at random. Choose students to read their books out loud to the class. This activity encourages public speaking and is a great way to spark creativity.
7) Create a World Book Day quiz – Create a World Book Day quiz and give the winner a book to read as a prize. This is a fun activity for students of all ages and it helps them discover new books and authors they might not have heard of.
8) Act out funny scenes in class or assembly – Dress up as your favourite character from a children’s book and get other teachers to join you as a collective. Help bring the books to life and make the day more humorous.
9) Get your students to create their own character based on a book they have read – Encourage students to use any medium to do this; it will help them further engage with the books they have already read and create alternative stories. If you wish to take this activity further, find a way for their creations to reach the author.
10) Rewrite the Ending – Ask your students to re-write the ending of their favourite story. Challenge them to see if they can come up with a better ending than the author did. This activity encourages creativity and helps students gain increased confidence in their writing abilities.
Bonus activity – Watch a Book Trailer
Check out Toppsta’s book trailer collection and show students a trailer for a book. With 2,600 trailers to choose from, there’s something for everyone! https://toppsta.com/videos
I hope these activities make this World Book Day enjoyable for your students.
Comment below what activity you will be doing for World Book Day!