Friday 4th March 2011
Dear Parents,
Book Week 2011 14th-22nd March 2011
Book Week 2011 promises to be our most exciting yet! Some of the exciting events in Book Week
include:
Poetry Competition - Monday 14th (Heats) and Thursday 17th (Final)
Falcons Girls love Poetry! Every girl from Year 1 to Year 6 will be learning a poem ‘by heart.
Your daughter is free to learn by heart any poem that inspires her. She will share this with her class on
the morning of 14th March. Girls may perform in pairs or groups of three; props may be used, but are not
essential.
Class teachers will select four girls from each class to perform at our poetry recital final (2.00 on
Thursday, 14th March). Parents of the selected girls will be invited to attend this assembly. The selected
girls will each receive a special certificate, and an overall winner from each year group will win a book
prize. We will record the winning recitals as videos, and selected class winners will perform at our endof-year Prize Evening.
I am pleased to announce that the final will be judged by Mrs Anita Francis, Alpha Plus Director of
Operations, who did such a brilliant job in the 2009 competition.
Want to know the standard we’re looking for? Enjoy performances of ‘Cecil’ and ‘The Mafia Cats’ at
http://www.youtube.com/user/FalconsTube#p/search/1/M1S44dQNb8s
Tuesday 15th March - Scholastic Book Fair
Break open your piggy bank, girls! The Scholastic book fair will give parents and children the
opportunity to purchase the latest, most exciting books available, many of which are in our Reading
Passport. Best of all, the school receives up to 60p in free books for every £1 that you spend!
Girls should bring their money to school in a sealed envelope, with their name written clearly on the
front. Mrs Hawkins will be open for business from 2.00-3.45 p.m., and the following morning from 8.15
a.m.-9.00 a.m.
Readathon 2010
We are going to have a special reading challenge: collectively, the staff and pupils of the Falcons Girls
are going to read as many pages as we can over the course of the week. Every day, Year Six girls will
be recording how many pages have been read the night before, and adding to our special
‘Readometer.’ How many pages can we get through in just seven days?
Book Reviews
Lower-school girls will be creating a ‘Book Worm’ up the stairs! They will write short book reviews which
will come together to form a giant worm! Upper-school girls will write book recommendations on a
special area in our pupil wiki.
D.E.A.R. time and Shared Reading
Pupils in Nursery – Year 6 will be encouraged to bring a good book and a teddy bear to school, and at
‘random’ points in the week they will be asked to ‘drop everything and read’! Our Upper School girls will
also be sharing some of their favourite stories with their younger peers.
If you wish to join us to share some of your favourite stories, please speak to your class teacher.
Friday 18th March – Book Character Costume Parade
On Friday 18th, pupils should come to school dressed as a character from a favourite book. There will be
a special assembly for pupils to parade their costumes to the school, with prizes awarded for the best
two costumes in each class. Children will need to bring their uniform to change into after assembly.
Tuesday 22nd March – Author Visit: Catherine Webb
We are delighted to announce Year 5 and 6 will be enjoying a writing workshop – with
Year 3 and 4 joining us for a reading – led by Catherine Webb, the author of The
Extraordinary Adventures of Horatio Lyle, The Obsidian Dagger and The Doomsday
Machine, which have garnered comparisons with Terry Pratchett and Philip Pullman.
Catherine was just fourteen years old - a pupil at Godolphin and Latymer - when she
completed Mirror Dreams, during her summer holidays. Learn more about Catherine
Webb here: https://fsg.wikispaces.com/Author+Visit+Catherine+Webb
Parent Volunteer Readers
Please speak to your class teacher if you would like to volunteer to share a favourite story – perhaps
even a story you’ve written – with the class.
Further details can be found in the Book Week area of our pupil wiki at
http://fsg.wikispaces.com/Book+Week+2011; please do not hesitate to speak to me if you have any
questions.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Nicholas Hitchen
Deputy Head Teacher