On Thursday 5^th March, Smith's Wood Primary Academy took part in World Book Day, taking part in different activities all day and helping children to find their reading identity. With 2026 being the National Year of Reading, Smith's Wood Primary have decided to 'Go All In', and are participating in many activities throughout the year to help promote and encourage pleasure for reading.

Throughout the day, children were creative in designing their own reading shields based on their hobbies, interests and genres, before becoming 'book detectives' and helping their teachers find appropriate books to recommend. They then discovered their reading identities through a quiz shared by The Literacy Trust, and had discussions surrounding the types of books they do and do not enjoy. It was an important message that not everyone needs to enjoy the same book, and that every child has their own reading identity to uphold and be proud of. 

After lunch, the children looked at multimodal reading, and shared things that they read which aren't books. We had children bringing into school their weekly shopping lists, LEGO manuals, football magazines and even receipts and postcards, to discuss how reading is an important life skill - not just for reading books, but for every aspect of their life as they grow. Towards the end of the afternoon, all children had the opportunity to share their favourite texts with a partner from a different class. We had sisters dressed as Dorothy and Alice in Wonderland reading to each other, as well as a child dressed as Dog Man, reading with a Year 6 boy who absolutely loves the Dog Man stories. 

The whole day was surrounded in a love of reading that everyone enjoyed, and was topped off by the Children's Book Project! This is an incredible charity who donate books to our school, therefore we held a free book fair where every single child had the chance to take home a free book. A huge thank you to the Children's Book Project for making this possible. 

For more pictures from the day, please see our gallery.