Charlotte Varcoe
STUDENTS from across Mount Gambier/Berrin came together on Tuesday to celebrate Book Week and National Forestry Day.
About 600 students gathered at Wulanda Recreation Centre to sing, dance and read with popular local children’s entertainment George the Farmer.
The centre was alive with children dancing to songs sung by George the Farmer and his co-hosts Simone Kaine and Shaun Brown about trees, shearing and cotton.
Ms Kaine said the kid’s responses were fantastic with many putting the pieces together about what the next song was going to be about or the animals which were being spoken about.
“The engagement was brilliant and learning is not just black and white, you need to try and engage every type of learner and that is the beauty with George the Farmer,” Ms Kaine said.
“Our platform has videos, music, pictures, story books and also our curriculum.
“There is something that can really engage every type of learner and that is where we find we get a lot of responses coming back from teachers and parents that children have really struggled to learn how to read and engage in the classroom.”
She said many students really connected to George the Farmer with the books helping with their reading and learning journey.
“If kids have started that reading and learning journey, they need to keep exploring different books, different styles, different themes and characters until they come across that book that really resonates with them,” Ms Kaine said.
“Once they find that character who does resonate with them, they are set on their learning journey and they are interested in something and want to learn more, read more and doing something at this age is critical.”
Allendale East Area School students Zarli and Theo said they had fun at the book reading.
Zarli said she enjoyed book week and loved to dress up as her favourite characters.
“My favourite book is Harry Potter and my favourite character is Hermione Granger,” Zarli said.
“This week I will be dressing up as a vampire.”
Theo said he enjoyed book week with all characters in all his books being his favourite.
“My favourite book is any book about trains,” Theo said.
“This week I will be dressing up as an astronaut.”
