Book Week 2019
At the International School of Ahafo, we love reading and Book Week is the perfect way to celebrate books, literacy and the pleasure of reading. This year’s Book Week was from 14th to 18th October 2019 and brought children, parents and books together, once again. Each class chose a book of interest. Sankofa chose Oliver’s Fruit Salad by Olivia French and illustrated by Alison Bartlett, Nkyinkyim chose As Cool As a Cucumber by Michael Morpurgo, Gye Nyame chose Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg and Nyansapo chose Not a Bad Day for a Bad Lad by Michael Morpurgo.
One of the most memorable events that week was “Story Time” - times during which staff took turns to read stories to us. Each morning, we nestled in the library and listened to fascinating stories.Some of the books we read were:
- Crocodile Bread by Kathy Knowles
- Rain School by James Rumford
- Unlovable by Dan Yaccarino
- El Patito Feo/ The Ugly Duckling (Spanish Edition) by Hans Christian Andersen
- Dirty Bertie by David Roberts
There were also DEER (Drop Everything and Read) sessions where classes stopped whatever they were doing to read for 15 minutes. On Tuesday, Nkyinkyim, Gye Nyame and Nyansapo students went to share their love of reading with their colleagues at the Methodist School, as part of our community projects.
There were two competitions during the week. The first was a Book Cover competition with the theme “We Are What We Eat” and all children were expected to create their own titles, blurb and a spine.
The second competition was “Guess the Teachers’ Favourite Book”, during which children were given some book titles, photos of teachers and clues for ease of guessing teachers’ favourite books.
The week culminated in the Book Week Assembly on Friday, 18th October 2019, to which all parents and friends of the school were invited. By 8.00am, the library was a mishmash of characters from their selected books. Ms. Tracy Elizabeth Ritchie, our Academic Coordinator, began with a performance of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury and Michael Rosen. The children loved it and had so much fun acting it out.
Sankofa re-enacted Oliver’s Fruit Salad and made a real fruit salad in the course of the week. Most children need some encouragement to eat a variety of food and this book puts a positive spin on eating fruit. It shows that fruit can be grown in the home garden or purchased fresh at the supermarket. Either way, fruit is delicious and fun to prepare and enjoy with family.
Nkyinkyim’s book “As Cool as A Cucumber” revolves around the life of Peter, a student who at first is not keen on his teacher's plan to dig a vegetable garden to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. He then starts to dig up some interesting things - a huge worm, a big beetle, bits of china, an old coin and what looks like a giant cucumber. The whole exercise turns out to be a lot more exciting than Peter thought.
Zathura is a pleasantly scary story and a lesson in brotherly love. Two bickering and bored brothers discover a rusty boardgame in the basement, called 'Zathura', a game which involves two competing spaceships going around on metal rails. As the boys play against each other, extraordinary things happen. Gye Nyame’s performance was peppered with poems gleaned from the book.
Nyansapo emphasised the difference a mentor/loving teacher could make in reforming the character of a wayward teenager. Not a Bad Day for a Bad Lad is a powerful and inspiring tale about hope and second chances. It centres on a lad's growing up and overcoming his bad reputation. Everyone thinks this lad is bad, so it is no surprise when he is sent to a Borstal institution. When he meets a mentor and starts to work in the prison stable, he begins to mend his ways.
Congratulations to our Book Cover competition winners: Nana Ama Frimpong from Nkyinkyim, Nubuke Eli Dzantor from Gye Nyame and Dela Dzide-Tei from Nyansapo. Congratulations also to Henny MacDonald for winning the 'Guess the Teacher’s Favourite Book' competition.
Book Week has always been one of our favourite themed weeks and without a doubt, this year’s was just as memorable. We would like to thank Ms. Ritchie and staff for this initiative as well as parents and friends of ISA for their relentless support and resourcefulness. Special thanks go to Mrs. Loreto Valenzuela, Mrs. Santi Mulawarman and Mrs. Claire Smith for coming to read with the children.
Until we come your way again with another beautiful Book Week, keep making reading a priority!