Congratulations to our students and staff who really got into the spirit of Book Week this week. Greeting students at the gate this morning, I saw a veritable array of color, imagination and resourcefulness. Families had used the materials and resources they had at home, COVID restrictions preventing simply purchasing a costume. Throughout the week, the year levels and art department and teachers supported the creation of large posters depicting the Book Week theme - Curious Creatures and Wild Minds. The posters adorned the stadium walls and the children enjoyed viewing them all.
I took the opportunity to select 2 books from our wonderful college library, 'Enemy Pie' and 'There's No Such Thing' and enjoyed reading them to the Year 3 and Prep students respectively. In the excitement of book character parades, costumes and poster creation, it is important to remember that the love of reading is the key message underpinning Book Week. Reading fiction, non-fiction, biographies, historical novels and so many more genres is so critical in building and growing capable readers. Featherbrook College has an unrelenting focus on reading and we know our families do too. Over 7000 books were read by our students during the Premiers Reading Challenge and this is indicative of the avid readers our students are.
Children are encouraged to read everyday and to enjoy a varied diet of books and reading material. By doing so, a student who reads at home 20 minutes per day will hear and be exposed to 1,800,000 words per year compared to 282,000 words for a student who reads for only 5 minutes per day. A student who reads for 20 minutes per day will have read for 851 hours by 6th grade compared to 42 hours of reading by a student who has read for only 5 minutes per day. Our Featherbrook College students are fortunate as they are such keen readers who in many cases, exceed the 20 minutes per day. Enjoy the long weekend and take the opportunity to do even more reading.
