VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM


were much more hands on and included making dream jars and drawing sketches.


We had prizes of Roald Dahl books for the best fancy dress effort for both children and teachers and later in the day the whole school came together for a cinema screening of Roald Dahl


"Themain aimwas to get the children enthused about


reading and authors. Reading is amain


eading and authors. Reading is a main


priority for us and we put a lot of investment into this"


stories, created some wonderful Roald Dahl writing, completed Roald Dahl inspired maths and took part in some hands on activities such as baking and crafts. All of the teaching was Roald Dahl themed.


The work was linked to the national curriculum and was therefore challenging for the pupils as well as lots of fun.


We started the day with an assembly and a ‘guess who’ quiz.We read out descriptions of the characters and the children stood up if they thought the description was their character. We then had a parade so everyone could see the wonderful outfits and pupils returned to their year group classes. The teachers were given freedom to do whatever they wanted in their class as long as the themed activities involved numeracy and liter acy. There was reading comprehension and writing stories, one class made a chocolate fudge cake inspired by Roald Dahl’sMatilda and the tale of one ofMatilda's classmates, Bruce Bogtrotter, who is forced to eat an entire chocolate cake during an assembly as punishment for stealing a slice, while another class were practicing numeracy skills and problem solving usingWonka bars. These extra touches make the day sparkle. In the afternoon, activities


films.We even had popcorn. The children across the school don’t often mix so it was great to see children from nursery through to year 6 all together and enjoying the day.


priority for us andwe put a lot of investment into this"


which was full of ideas to create our Roald Dahl Day celebrations and we used YPO twitter for inspiration.


What benefitswere you hoping for fromthe day?


The main aim was to get the children enthused about reading and authors. Reading is a main priority for us and we put a lot of investment into this. For example, we are revamping our library, we have author visits, and we are looking to appoint a dedicated patron of reading. The Roald Dahl Day fitted in to this wider activity for us and was very much in tu school. Having seen well, we’ll definitely


be taking part again and do the Roald Dahl Day work so ne with what we do as a


similar activities.We’re already planning to be involved inWorld Book Day and have signed up the readathon challenge where pupils are sponsored to read a set number of books in a specific time-frame. I’m sure there’ll be some Roald Dahl books on the list.


What other resources did you draw upon? YPO’s involvement with Roald Dahl 100 meant they created a range of Roald Dahl teaching resources.We found these offered inspiration for our event. The character costumes forWilly Wonka, The Twits and FantasticMr Fox were such fun and the Roald Dahl ‘Read and Respond’ series is also great way to bring the ever popula r children’s stories to life .


What other resources did you drawupon? Who took part? Who took part?


We opened up the celebrations to the whole school from nursery right up to year six. Using Roald Dahl stories as a platform for our lessons meant that we could tailor the activities for every age group to make it appropriate. Even the books we gave out as fancy dress prizes could be selected so they were age appropriate. The great thing about Roald Dahl is that there is endless opportunity to be creative whether it’s reading and writing, arts and crafts or dressing up.


What other resources did you have available?


November 2016 2016


What other resources did you have available?


We also received a ‘YPO Roald Dahl Party Pack’ www


Obviously, we wanted the children to have lots of fun too. It was so encouraging to see the them absorbed in the much-loved stories and books. It was an unforgettable day .


How did parents and children respond? We were overwhelmed by the response.We asked parents to help with the children’s costumes and they posted lots of wonderful pictures on Twitter of the amazing outfits. The children were so excited about all aspects of the day and it was very encouraging so see them absorbed in reading and seeing the ways in which they brought the stories to life as part of th e learning experience.


Howdid parents and children respond?


What advicewoul future?


What advice would you give to schools thinking about similar initiatives in the future?


thinking about similar initiatives in the


Have fun and go for it. Get everyone on board with the day, pupils, staff and parents, and it will bring an exciting new dimension to learning. Keep the organisation simple so as not to increase the workload of staff. In our experience, the day really brought out our staff’s creativity. Their enthusiasm was infectious. If you have


enthusiastic, staff, you have enthusiastic children. It was just brilliant.


www .education-toda y.co.uk.co.uk 12 d you give to schools


What benefits were you hoping for from the day?


"The main aim was to get the children enthused about


VIE WFROMTHE CLASSROOM


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