1^st March 2021       

Dear Parent(s)/Carer,

This year, World Book Day is on Thursday 4th March 2021 and to celebrate we will be running events throughout the week.

This year, we can’t wait to see pictures of you sharing stories in celebration of reading together and World Book Day 2021. We know how precious time with your book is and we also know there are lots of brilliant ways you can enjoy books so we’re inviting everyone to join in with our SHOW YOUR SHARES competition. 

A story share could be: reading at home with your family, reading in your favourite nook, reading in an unusual location, sharing a story with your pet, reading a book dressed as your favourite character, and more! 

Books That Make You LOL – what makes you chuckle! Your favourite funny reads, or you sharing stories in a silly way. Are you reading dressed as your favourite funny book character or giggling over your favourite comic?

Bringing Books To Life –  show us how you bring your favourite books to life. Are reading together with a potato or wooden spoon transformed into your favourite book character, or with your favourite book in a bottle or shoe box? Or, are you reading dressed up like someone from a book? Let your imagination run wild! To get you inspired, we have fun dress-up ideas that will let you embody your favourite character with costumes that you can easily make together at home.

Books And The Real World – take your book on a journey and share where you got to! This could be when you’re out for a walk or out in your garden. Or, show us your favourite books that capture the real world for you from stories about far off lands to your favourite non-fiction reads. Remember game books and pop-ups, audiobooks and magazines too!

Sharing Books Together – showcasing the people that make stories magical for you. This could be your grandma on a video call, your brother/sister at breaktime, your parents at the end of the day or even your pet! Show us your most special reading time with a loved one who brings your books to life with you.

Spending just 10 minutes a day reading and sharing stories with children can make a crucial difference to their academic outcome and it’s fun for all involved. You can read together anywhere and everywhere, from breakfast to bedtime! In the park, on the train, on the sofa, on a plane – reading and sharing stories can happen anywhere at any time.

Email your pictures to your child’s class teacher or upload them to twitter @EastcroftPark and use the hashtag #WorldBookDay.

A brilliant way to encourage reading for pleasure and  celebrate World Book Day at the same time is the Reading Stars challenge. It’s super fun and easy for everyone to play! The game has been created to encourage children and young people to enjoy books and reading together at home and all the exciting ways you can share stories – not just at bedtime!

From reading a book that makes you giggle to finding the most unusual place to share a story, children will have fun reaching all their stars! See the attached Reading Stars challenge attached to this letter.

Return your completed sheet to school next week or email the completed sheet to your child’s teacher to be in with a chance of winning a prize. Don’t forget to email/upload photos to your child’s teacher or tweet us @EastcroftPark.

This year there are some extra special FREE digital events. You can watch them LIVE at https://www.worldbookday.com/events/  or the WBD YouTube channel – and they’ll remain on YouTube for you to watch back time and time again!

The exciting line-up includes:

• Books that make you LOL
• Words & pictures: bringing books to life
• Books & the real world

Each event will last approximately 30 minutes.

This year your £1 book token will be digital and emailed to you by your class teacher. You can redeem them in the same way; you can print them out and take them to your chosen retailer or you can show the voucher on a device/smartphone at the time of purchase. For this month, vouchers will also be on Happy Meal boxes and in some children’s magazines.  This year’s £1 books are viewable in the images of the letter attached.

Finally, for a bit of extra fun, staff at Eastcroft Park are taking part our own version of The Masked Singer....We proudly present

"The Masked reader"

Throughout World Book Week, videos of staff reading a book or poem or talking about their favourite book will be uploaded to Twitter and the school website. Children will be invited to guess who’s behind the mask! J

We look forward to seeing the children participate in this annual event with their usual sense of fun and enthusiasm!

As always, thanks for your continued support.

Mrs G Hudson

Deputy Head teacher/English Leader