Youngsters enjoy a book and a butty Reading challenge leads to witty wordplay
Books, bacon rolls and brilliant wordplay.
That’s how Auldhouse Primary School celebrated the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s Reading Challenge and Book Week Scotland.
The small rural primary – which has 42 pupils – held a series of fun events for pupils, parents and staff.
The ‘A Book and a Butty’ event brought families into the school to read together, and enjoy some bacon rolls at the same time, while the pupils’ witty wordplay won them third place in the First Minister’s spooky book pun Twitter competition.
Their entry, Horton Hears a Woooooooo, was dreamt up by Primary Five pupils Harry Wallace and Joel Smith – they narrowly missed out to Little Dead Riding Hood and Romeo and Ghouliet for the top prize.
The week ended with the Word Wizards Book Quiz and Treasure Hunt, which saw teams of pupils and their families and teachers pitted against each other in a battle of bookish wisdom and word skills.
East Kilbride MP Dr Lisa Cameron and Waterstones East Kilbride generously donated book tokens as prizes – and Dr Cameron came into the school to meet the winners.
The winning team was Team Unicorn, comprising of P1 pupil Caitlyn Doak and her family; second place went to the Fantastic Four, made up of brothers Leon and Louie Galgani, of P7 and P1 respectively, plus fellow P7 pupils Caitlin Mackinnon and Hannah Smith, and third place was awarded to The Famous Five, comprising of P3 pupil Flossie Hay, her brother Ruaridh and friend Caragh Campbell, who are in P5, and their mum Rebecca.
Dr Cameron said: “It was lovely meeting with pupils, staff and parents at Auldhouse Primary to present my prizes for their Book Week Scotland treasure hunt and quiz.
“The event was a clever and fun way to get everyone thinking about books and reading and it was great to see so many parents and grandparents join in too.”
“At Auldhouse Primary, getting the whole school together to explore their small library, talk about books and solve puzzles and quizzes connected to words and literature was a brilliant way to bring literacy alive – and have a load of fun into the bargain.”
Head teacher Jen Innes said: “We had a brilliant time immersed in books of all shapes and sizes for Book Week Scotland.
“We are extremely grateful to Dr Cameron and Waterstones EK for their generous donation of prizes, and it was lovely to welcome Dr Cameron in to our school for the presentation.
“Everyone worked hard to organise our Book Week events, and it was amazing to see so many parents and grandparents, as well as our fantastic teachers, join in the fun – even if it did get a bit competitive at times.”