World Book Week at San Anton School

World Book Day, which was celebrated on April 23, has become firmly established in schools' calendars as the biggest annual event promoting the enjoyment of books and reading.

This year San Anton School decided to go a step further, and instead of devoting just one day to this event, a full week of activities across the whole school was planned. These activities involved every student, from three-year-olds in Pre-grade classes to 16-year-olds in the Senior Sector. Teachers and staff also took part.

For the first event, on Monday April 21, Mikiel, Agenda Kids Club's popular mascot, visited the Junior Sector with storyteller Rita Antoinette Borg. Children and teachers were thrilled at the sight of the friendly giant dog and his companion. After much excitement, and many photos Ms Borg proceeded to read "The Gruffalo" by Julia Donaldson and "Dear Zoo" by Rod Campbell to the eager Grade 1 students. At the end of this activity the children were given activity sheets related to the stories, stickers promoting reading and books in general, and a certificate of participation.

Meanwhile, the Grade 5 students were busy creating their Class Atlas. This consisted of a worksheet where each class had to note down the topographical details of their classroom. The classroom's width, height, number of chairs, doors, windows, the subjects they study, and other information had to be taken into consideration. At the end of the activity the children realised they had created an atlas of their classroom.

Simultaneously, the Grade 7 students were being treated to a very interesting talk by Joe Attard, the school's property manager, about the process of publishing a reference book. Mr Attard is one of the local authorities in Maltese flora and fauna and his talk proved to be a stimulating experience for all.

The following day, the same students participated in a Short Story Competition. Noel Tanti, the school librarian and co-ordinator of the event, visited the class and explained the rules of the competition, after which the students had an entire lesson in which to write their own original story.

Children's illustrator Marisa Attard also visited the school and conducted a workshop in the school library with the Grade 5 students. This proved to be a huge success as the children were awed at Ms Attard's dexterity with her pen and were very keen to try their own illustrations. The library was transformed into a hive of activity as children posed, sketched and giggled at each other's drawings.

On this day the Write-A-Story activity kicked off as well. This highly-original activity, which is still ongoing, consists in writing a story. Starting from Grade 1, a big book with the beginning of a story about a frog named Sklamby, written by Mr Tanti, is currently working its way through all the classes in the Junior Sector. Each class has to read the story so far, add its part and pass it on to the next class. In the end, this will be an original story written by the entire Junior Sector.

On Wednesday, April 23, local author Trevor Zahra, undoubtedly the most prolific of children's authors and well-loved by readers of all ages, visited the school. It was quite an honour to have him over to speak to the Grade 9 students. The latter, in collaboration with Mr Tanti and the Maltese department, prepared a surprise for Mr Zahra. A number of students stayed after school hours and filmed a trailer for the author's "a", a book which they are currently studying in class. Mr Zahra was extremely pleased and congratulated everyone involved on doing a great, original job.

Later on, the Grade 6 students were treated to a story-telling session with Vicki Anastasi, the head of San Anton School. Ms Anastasi chose a beautiful and challenging story about bullying, written by Malorie Blackman.

During break, a book sale was organised to give the children the opportunity to purchase age-appropriate reading books re-commended by the librarian, which were supplied by Merlin Library. All the students left the stall with a satisfied grin and an exciting book clutched in their hands.

On Thursday the Grade 6 Poetry Competition was held. The students had one lesson in which to write their original poem. The best poem was awarded a prize.

Meanwhile, Ms Anastasi conducted a workshop for the students' parents. Referring to her own experience as mother and educator, she shared strategies on how to get children enamoured with books and reading. The parents found this extremely helpful and their enthusiasm was obvious during the group exercises. At the end of the workshop all parents were given a children's reading book donated by Merlin Library.

A couple of hours later Ms Vicki was once again on the centre stage as she read a thriller by Ray Bradbury to Grade 11 students. It was a very intense experience and all students were kept on tenterhooks throughout the story.

On the last day of World Book Week the school in general and the Grade 10 students in particular were given a very special treat. Merlin Library chose San Anton School to launch a week-long tour by authors Simon Bartolo and Lorrane Vella, who came over from Luxembourg. Their book, "Wied Wirdien", hit the bookshops that very day and is the second book of the first-ever Maltese fantasy trilogy, "Il-Fiddien". It was a very special moment as their previous book, "Sqaq l-Infern", had sold over a thousand copies in a couple of days. With the appropriate props, the school library was transformed into a scene from this book, complete with Gingo the cat.

It was a momentous occasion, and a television crew from TVM's cultural programme "Meander" was also present to film the event.

The next activity was about Spot the Dog, a very popular and much beloved character among the younger students of the Junior Sector. Merlin Library kindly supplied the school with a number of Spot the Dog beanies, together with a certificate of adoption. Each Grade 0 and Grade 1 class teacher was presented with their own Spot the Dog to keep in class. He has since become their class mascot and accompanies them on adventures through stories.

Last but not least on the agenda was the activity organised for Grade 4 students. Each class came to the library and participated in a bookmark workshop. Mr Tanti explained the purpose of a bookmark, and then proceeded to give each student a blank bookmark. Each student was encouraged to design the bookmark by depicting scenes from their favourite book. The students were also given a World Book Day mini-book, courtesy of Merlin Library.

Besides these activities, there were other sessions being held throughout the school. The French and Italian departments organised book reviews and book author projects which are currently on display in the school library. On the other hand, the English and Maltese departments displayed short stories and fairytales.

To ensure that the students cultivate the values of solidarity and awareness of others' needs, a Readathon was also organised throughout the Junior Sector. The Readathon is an activity that brings students together with family and friends to encourage reading and to build literacy skills, while raising funds for Book Aid International, a charity that promotes literacy in developing countries by creating reading and learning opportunities for disadvantaged people, in order to help them realise their potential and eradicate poverty.

The World Book Week was an eventful week packed with activities. It was clear that this week-long event proved to be a great success.

Mr Tanti said: "We are satisfied that while promoting reading and a love of books, we managed to involve the whole school community in these activities, be they students, staff or parents, while also tapping into the charitable aspect and creating reading opportunities for other children."