{"id":6529,"date":"2020-03-01T22:40:55","date_gmt":"2020-03-01T22:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theparentsocial.com\/?p=6529"},"modified":"2024-04-10T10:53:55","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T10:53:55","slug":"world-book-day-fancy-dress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparentsocial.com\/world-book-day-fancy-dress\/","title":{"rendered":"World Book Day – We Need a Rest From Fancy Dress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is it me or does World Book Day\ncome round more than once a year? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

World Book Day and Dressing Up <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a massive advocate of nurturing\na lifelong love of reading. I also like the idea of anything that promotes this.\nHowever, the whole dressing up rigmarole that accompanies World Book Day (WBD) often\neclipses its aim. All the mums I\u2019ve spoken to seem pretty unanimous in their weariness\nabout this aspect of WBD \u2013 \u201cI just need something cheap and easy\u201d is the cry.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First there\u2019s the process of deciding on the character. This is labour intensive. I listed all the great books my children had read and suggested characters from these. However, every idea was vetoed. Then we had the discussion about why they couldn\u2019t go as film characters. At 11, my eldest just wants to be the same as her friends and dress up as Thing One, Thing Two and Thing Three despite not enjoying the Dr Seuss books.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 2020 we managed it x 3 with just the purchase of a bow <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Finding the time <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Life is busy. I don\u2019t really have much time (and crucially ability) to make three costumes. We try to find stuff at home that can be used and adapted, but that only gets us so far, so I end up having to spend money to complete costumes. That\u2019s another downside; there\u2019s a lot of pressure on time poor parents to throw money at the whole thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also some children hate dressing up. Maria was all set on being Delphie from one of the Darcey Bussell books and then panicked that \u201cthe boys would laugh at her for being in a ballerina dress.\u201d I\u2019ve talked her round. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other\nthings to do on World Book Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are umpteen dressing up events at our school throughout the year, perhaps the focus of WBD could be on other activities\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some ideas <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My children have been set a number of reading tasks by school to complete. It\u2019s more interesting than it sounds\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"World<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
Michael Rosen’s suggestion <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

One of our favourites, Michael Rosen<\/a>, got back to me on Twitter and suggested Adopt an author<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Adopt an author: each class chooses an author for the day, find out everything they can about that author, make posters, read out bits of their books, read whole books. Classes work out how to do a presentation of a book and do the pres. for another class.\u2014 Michael Rosen (@MichaelRosenYes) March 2, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/MichaelRosenYes\/status\/1234423726718029824\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He says to be imaginative when presenting a book to another class. For example, do ‘freeze frames’, act out a scene, do a mime from a scene from the book while someone narrates, do ‘guess the book’ shows, quizzes, mock interviews with the ‘author’ or a character from the book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get in a guest author <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The money that would be spent on costumes could contribute towards getting in a guest author. As the late Jonny Zucker<\/a> said in an article for The Guardian: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2026if an author visit goes well, some pupils will get more of a writing confidence-boost in one day than they normally would in a whole term; some will crack how to plot a story and will go off to compose their first magnum opus; and some will discover that writing can actually be fun.<\/p>\nJonny Zucker<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Competitions and games <\/h5>\n\n\n\n