AKA, Mombasa Junior School Hosts Their Second Book Fair

On the 5 and 6 February, 2015 the Junior School displayed their love for the written word by organising a book fair.

The Junior School hosted Educate Yourself, a book vendor from Nairobi, who boasted a large variety of books from various genres, from educational aids to the latest sensations in fiction. There was an incredibly positive response from students of all ages, as well as teachers and parents who came in to satisfy their love of literature.

As well as promoting literacy and a healthy reading culture, the Junior School has been able to benefit from their arrangement with Educate Yourself literally as well. As reciprocation for selling to our school community, Educate Yourself has given the school ten percent of their sales to the school in form of books. This year, the Junior School received KES 25,000 worth of books which will be added to the Junior School library, as well as the collection of books for individual class libraries and the teaching of specific Units of Inquiry.

The fair was not just about selling books, but appreciating the art of experiencing stories as well. The students and parents were involved in various workshops running throughout the day, each highlighting a different aspect of storytelling and reading.

One of the workshops involved meeting an author, and one of our own students, Ronja Floren, was invited to talk about her experience publishing a children’s book aimed at raising awareness for the conservation of rhinos for her PYP exhibition. Another workshop facilitated bookmark-making, where the students made attractive page markers both for themselves and their loved ones. There was also a workshop that involved students hot-seating as different popular storybook characters, and relating well-known tales from a different perspective.

This is only one of the ways in which the Junior School displays their love for reading. Other activities include a literacy hour every morning, RAZ-Kids, an online progress-tracker for individual reading habits, and DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time on various days, where children are encouraged to explore literature beyond their required reading.

Due to the success of the book fair last year, the Aga Khan Nursery School and other private schools around Mombasa have also started hosting their own fairs! Thank you to the Junior School for keeping up this wonderful activity. We look to see even more readers and book-lovers at the fair next year!