The annual Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Primary “Book Week” is a spirited week for the students at YCIS’s Hongqiao Campus. This year, the week’s theme was “Books Light Up our World”, and students enjoyed a wide-range of fun literacy-related events, presentations, and activities. 

Each year, YCIS brings in a special guest author to speak to students during Book Week. This year, the international school in Shanghai hosted Mr Ciaran Murtagh, an award-winning writer, actor, and comedian. During his two days at the campus, Murtagh conducted several workshops for students in Years 1-6 on topics such as “how come up with ideas quickly”, “plot a story”, and “consider the reader while writing”. He also entertained Kindergarten students with a selection of funny and fascinating stories during assemblies. Mid-week, a Chinese author, came to campus to present to students, and the Primary students also read books in Chinese during their Chinese language lessons.

The next day featured the ‘Snuggle Up and Read’ Pyjama Day events which are a perennial student favourite, with all ECE and Primary students wearing their PJ’s to school and bringing their teddy bears along for a day of reading activities. During the day, all of the children enjoyed a treat of hot chocolate as they listened to a selection of interesting books. 

On the final day of the week, all of the students on campus celebrated together during the “Character Dress Up Day” parade. The Kindergarten and Primary students came to school dressed as their favourite book character and enjoyed participating in the parade in the morning outside on the field.

In addition to the daily themed events, a number of other activities occurred each day of Book Week including a Book Fair where students and their parents could browse and make purchases from a large selection of books in both English and Chinese. Also, around campus, students and their teachers worked together to creatively and colourfully decorate their classroom doors based on the theme of a book. The fun week also included a charity element, and funds were raised for the ‘The Library Project’ in order to help build a library for a rural elementary school in Anhui province.

YCIS Shanghai’s Book Week is designed to inspire and nurture all students’ love for reading. In Primary, reading and writing in both English and Chinese is a large focus of the programme all year round. To learn more about the YCIS Primary Programme, please click here.