This page will celebrate our reading journey. We will showcase achievements, information, competitions and any events we are involved in during the reading challenge.
10th October 2016 Introduction to the Challenge
The Library Committee prepared and presented an introduction to the challenge at assembly.
13th October 2016 Launch of the Reading Challenge
St John’s officially launched the First Minister’s Reading Challenge with a ‘reading for enjoyment’ afternoon. Pupils were encouraged to put on their pjs, relax and enjoy their favourite book for the afternoon. The whole school participated in sharing their favourite books and stories with classmates and teachers. Primary 6 pupils read to their buddies in Primary 1. The library committee also played an important role in the celebration by handing out reading passports to Primary4-7 pupils.
St John’s tweeted photos in an aim to share the celebration with parents/carers and @fmrc.
15th October 2016 October Week Challenge
26th October 2016
The Library Committee visited the Barrhead Foundry to create a school display for book reviews. They also got the chance to relax and read. In school a reading challenge bookcase was also created. It will display the books read by each class during the challenge.
October ended on a high when one of our children won the First Minister’s Reading Challenge pun competition. We had to come up with some spooky book puns and the winning entry was ‘Romeo and Ghouliet’. Kadie received a collections of books from the Scottish Book Trust!
Pupil Voice- Kadie
Where did you start?
“Before the reading challenge I enjoyed reading. I used to read a book every so often.”
What reading journey did you go on?
“I kept a record of the books I read using my reading passport. At the start of the challenge I set a target of reading a book a week and reading David Walliams books. Altogether I read 28 books, 5 of them were David Walliams books. I like David Williams a lot, he is really good. I liked Ratburger the most because the storyline was interesting and funny. I also wrote book reviews for the Foundry (our local library) and visited it once a month as part of of the First Minister’s reading challenge. I also took part in the FMRC spooky pun competition. It was a twitter challenge and I won first prize and some books for my school.”
Where you’ve ended up? What now?
“I’ve changed a lot since I took part in the FMRC. First, I’m always pestering my mum to take me to the library. For my birthday I asked to go to Paisley Central Library! That’s how much I love books. Well we didn’t go to the library for my birthday but my dad took me as a treat one weekend anyway.”
“When I grow up I want to be a writer. During the reading challenge I found out my favourite type of stories to read and write are funny ones. I’ll probably write funny books when I grow up.”
January 2017
After Christmas we decided to focus on book reviews. Each month we featured a new book. Each class continued with monthly visits to local library and completing individual challenges.
Pupil Voice- Libby
Where did you start?
Before I started the I tried to read 1 book every couple of weeks.
What reading journey did you go on?
During the challenge I started to challenge myself to read bigger, longer stories. I also made a video book review. I got to share my favourite book with lots of people. My class also visited the foundry each month.
Where you’ve ended up? What now?
I feel more confident reading out loud and I read more more when I am bored. Making a book review helped me summarise a story and talk to others. Now I want to encourage people to read more usingvideo blogs to give reviews. I also want to start a bookclub.
Pupil Voice- Edwin
Where did you start?
Before the Challenge I did read books and enjoyed a visit to the library.
What reading journey did you go on?
During the reading challenge I read books and wrote some book reviews in my reading passport. I also visited the local library with the school. One of the challenges I set myself during the challenge was to talk to a friend about books. I’ve never really sat and talked about books with a friend. I ended up making a video book review!
Altogether I read 30 books during the challenge. I read different kinds of books but fact books are my favourite.
