Upton Celebrates the Joy of Reading

Reading Roald Dahl’s classic tale Esiotrot to your pet tortoise and designing a protective outfit for Humpty Dumpty in case he tumbles from the wall again were among the creative fun activities as Upton Juniors immersed themselves in World Book Day.

The busy annual event that further encourages Upton’s love of reading began with a photo challenge for pupils at home and in school to discover which teacher in disguise was hiding behind a book – and the Upton mascot Pablo the dog even got into the act.

During the day children were engrossed in Dan Sharat’s book After The Fall that is the story of how Humpty Dumpty got back up on his wall again, and the tale linked in with the school values of resilience and aspiration as well as other key themes of courage and perseverance.

Using the book, pupils undertook a number of reading and writing activities, as well as choosing a challenging activity which would test their resolve and determination like the character in their story.

These included designing a paper airplane that looks like a flying animal, just like in the book; engineering a device to help Humpty get up the wall; researching their favourite bird and creating a piece of artwork that reflects its uniqueness; cooking or baking something that they have never made before but it must contain eggs in some way to create an ‘eggsellent dish’.

Other activities pupils enjoyed were decorating an egg and turning it into a book character; an extreme reading challenge in a unique place such as upside down in the rigging of HMS Upton playboat or while skateboarding - teachers joined in with one even pictured reading on the moon; reading to your sibling or pet; and designing a contraption to protect an egg when it fell to the ground.

Gemma Scarr, Head of Core Curriculum, said: “The children wore colourful clothes for the day reflecting the brightness and joy that reading brings to our lives.

“Reading is so important and taking part in this special day is another way of promoting and fostering a love of books at Upton. It is something we are all so passionate about and seeing the children so engaged and having fun really brought a smile to all our faces.”

Please Mrs Butler

This Boy Derek Drew 

Keeps coping my work, Miss. 

What shall I do? 

Go sit in the hall, dear. 

Go sit in the sink. 

Take your books on the roof, my lamb. 

Do whatever you think! 

Never-ending projects. Reading tests. Quarrels and making up. Excuses. Picking teams. Playtime. ‘Please, Sir, it isn’t fair.’ All the familiar happenings of classroom life are brought to life in this classic favourite. It is a classic book of comical school rhymes which captures all the familiar events and sayings of school life. This book never fails to make me smile! 

I would recommend this to children from 10 to 100!

Rook Barkwater lives beneath Undertown, the bustling city of the Edgeworld. He dreams of becoming a librarian knight and sets out on a perilous journey. ... Rook Barkwater lives beneath Undertown, the bustling city of the Edgeworld. He dreams of becoming a librarian knight and sets out on a perilous journey.

Sadly Charlotte dies at the end of the book, but she has laid eggs and so Wilbur's memory of Charlotte lives on through her children who Wilbur also becomes great friends with. 

The reason I have chosen this book for you all, firstly is because I enjoy it, but also because I think their is a very important message written in this book. Treat others how you would wish to be treated, always be kind and treasure your friends and family because they will always be there when you need them. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I still do! 

For Christmas Isabella got the Witch Wars books. In one month she has read 4 books and there are over 250 pages in each book.

Isabella absolutely loves the books because they are really funny. The characters say some really funny things and lots of the chapters are left on cliffhangers which make her want to read on and on! 

Thank you for sharing your recommendation Isabella!

This book is perfect really for anyone in the lower school in terms of developing vocabulary, but for anyone at all in terms of a gripping read that will often keep you on the edge of your seats. One of my teachers read it to me when I was in school and I remember the whole class being captivated by what would happen next. Also, it's not a particularly long book and so you will never feel overwhelmed trying to read it.

For younger readers, it is an amusing story, bound to capture the imagination of all.

For older readers, the book is full of amazing photography of the bus creating havoc all over the house. The photos are stills, right when the mess is created as can be seen by the front cover. It is also interesting to study for its use of different font effects to add to the story telling. 

This book is begging for a sequel, the story ends on a cliff hanger and would be a great starting point for any budding author!

By Pamela Butchart.

I liked this book because they thought a yeti was in their school playground. It was fun and adventurous and the characters are snowed in at school. They think something hairy is outside !!! I have just finished this book and it was exciting and made me feel happy. I would recommend this book to year 3 and year 4.

The book is about Plop, a baby barn owl, who unlike all the other owls is afraid of the dark and because of this he doesn't want to go out at night with his mum and dad. Mrs Barn Owl gently encourages him to go out and find out about the dark from others who see the beauty in it including a boy waiting for fireworks to begin; an old lady and a black cat who take him exploring. Through his adventures, he learns that amazing and wonderful things happen in the dark and it isn't so bad after all. 

This book is comforting, funny and magical in a way that warms the hat and even to this day I love sitting down to share this book with others. Quite simply, this book always puts a massive smile on my face! 

I love reading this book as I get to learn about some sports I have never heard of before, which I find really interesting. Even reading about the sports I know and do myself I still end up learning a new fact that I didn’t know before for example did you know swimming has been a sport for 10,000 years!! This is just one new fact I learnt from reading the book. Sportopedia isn’t just full of facts it has bright pictures to help you understand the sport more. I love this book I hope you do to! 

The author was born in 1900 and studied art at the Royal Academy School of Art. Whilst a student, she sketched the people of the East End slums and was affected by the poverty she saw, resolving to do something to bring the plight of the working-class family to people's attention.

Although it was written nearly 100 years ago, I would love to know what a child of the 21^st century thinks about it.

I first read this book when I was 11 and I fell in love with the world of Harry Potter. I think every child dreams of finding out that they have magical powers and this book is all about that. It features the story of Harry who at the age of 11 lives with his awful aunt and uncle and finds out that he is a wizard. He is whisked off to the magical world of Hogwarts on a magical steam train where he meets so many interesting characters, learns lots of magic, plays the magical sport Quidditch and battles the evil wizard who killed his parents and has been trying to kill him since he was a baby. 

I remember every summer, when the next book came out, my mum would buy it for my sister and I the day before we went on holiday. Whether we were driving a long distance or were waiting in an airport, she was guaranteed no trouble from either of us as we would have our noses stuck in the book for hours. 

This book is VERY silly! 🤪

Bill is a young, gentle, friendly badger who is kidnapped by some awful people. Uncle Shawn comes to save the day but he is by no means your usual sort of hero and he's not even Bill's uncle!

This book is great fun. It has some disgusting things in it, some sad times in it, it even has llamas in it. Sometimes it will make you laugh out loud - even if you don't want to! 🤣

It's great to read by yourself but also great to read out loud with someone else and put on silly voices.

✏️There are also some terrific drawings, maybe you could have a go at drawing some like them yourself...especially the llamas. 😄

When you read it, you are hooked from the very first page when a flying ship called the Dragonfly is harpooned and chased by a silver airship. Malkin, a talking mechanical fox, leaves his master and escapes to find Lily, his master's daughter, so he can pass onto her a message. A message which will change her life forever and put it in mortal danger. 

I love this book because it is filled with fabulous visual images which are created through the fantastic use of vocabulary. The book is inspired by steampunk which is all about science fantasy and technology coming together to create steam-powered machinery! New worlds are created as you read and your imagination goes wild! This book is FUN and CREATIVE and throughout it all you can't wait to find out what happens next! It is an exciting and fast-paced adventure, full of clever details and weird mechanical creatures. 

One of the best things about this book is that it's the first book of many - read The Cogheart Adventures - you wont be disappointed! 

Miss Scarr