Hickory Dickory - Dash

Story time in the Library

On Wednesday, 23 March, Cecil Hills High School participated in National Simultaneous Story time with an event held in our Library. Each year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. Now in its 18th year, National Simultaneous Story Time at Cecil Hills High School was a colourful, vibrant, fun event that worked really well to promote the value of reading and literacy.  This year’s book, ‘Hickory Dickory Dash’ is written by Tony Wilson and illustrated by Laura Wood.

 Our reader was Mr Barned, a well-known member of our PDHPE staff and renowned for his theatrical abilities. The play was dramatised by our Library staff and we had a somewhat sensory production, with students showered with bubbles and frozen peas at different stages of the performance by various stage hands such as Mr Sutton and Mr Peacock.

It has been estimated that this year over 900,000 people participated in the event! Our audience for the reading were 7W and 7M, and our Support Unit Students. Many students have told us how much they enjoyed the event, and in a follow up lesson, the Year 7 students produced excellent works of art and showed a greater understanding of narrative structure. Thanks to Mrs Low (English faculty) for a fun and effective lesson plan.

Yours in Reading, 

Jenny Green

Teacher Librarian