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Tribune News Network
Gulf English School (GES) celebrated Reading Month with activities that promote reading, and a 'Mad Hatter's Tea Party'. Students who read the most from each year group were rewarded with a book while the class who collectively read the most was given a party.
The events began in February when visiting authors Chris White, Saleh Ghareeb and Mohana entertained and inspired the students. Parents were also invited to come to school and join in the fun by reading with their children at the Reading Coffee Mornings.
In March, students and staff dressed up as book characters and staged a parade. The judges comprising Mona el Helbawi, Hind al Kayed, Ina Gerrard and David Frame had the very difficult task of choosing the best-dressed boy and girl from each year.
A Mad Hatter's Tea Party was held in the library so that parents could come and read with their children. Hundreds of parents came to share a book with some tea and cake with their children.
One of the highlights of the month has been shared reading between classes. Students from Infants, Juniors and Secondary visited each other to read together or share a story.
GES also commenced the Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) initiative, and will continue with the activity throughout the year. This is aimed at encouraging the students to read during the day for five minutes. As soon as the the students hear the music for DEAR, they start reading. The Million Minutes Reading challenge was also organised across the school and achieved 1,069,863 minutes of reading by end of month. Collectively, the school clocked more than 1 million reading minutes.
Reading Month celebrates the birthday of Dr Seuss and is designed to motivate children to read every day in order to learn to use the key tool successfully in life.
