The excitement on Monday morning was palpable as we arrived to find teachers and children transformed… “Teacher Daniel is Willie Wonka! Teacher Ester is Liewe Hexie! Teacher Shelby is The Indian in the Cupboard!” Oh, the joys of seeing an authority figure being a little silly! Teachers joined the children in dressing up as favourite book characters as part of the launch of the Readathon.
During assembly teachers performed The Three Little Pigs accompanied by, I imagine, by many a giggle and gasp. As the readathon comes to the end of its first week, I’ve heard stories of children reading a book a day, staying in at breaks to read and leaving the library with armfuls of books.
The backstory to this is the fact that Waldorf education builds a strong foundation that cultivates skills in memory, comprehension and verbal communication upon which reading is layered. Reading is a key to learning and growing into an informed, capable person. Reading is a measurable skill to which we can all relate. When a child reads about a particular action, he imagines it happening in his mind: the relevant portions of the brain actually light up while reading. Reading is a moral illumination. It is for these reasons that we continue holding a Readathon as the annual fundraising event of the Upper Primary School.
Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn. – Joseph Addison
Primary School Faculty