Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come…
