April is all about books and reading. The whole month is dedicated to increasing awareness and appreciation of poetry, and celebrated as Poetry month, with 2 important dates in the other half of the month.

On April 22nd we mark Croatian book day, in the memory of Marko Marulić, who in the year 1501 finished Judita - first book ever written in the Croatian language. 

On April 23rd we mark World Book Day, which was chosen symbolically because on that date died Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.

To get those two dates together there is one special Croatian event organized nine years in a row called Book Night - with evening reading activities all around Croatia. 

Although physically not in school we tried to pull out as much as possible from our students and the online environment. We had a lot of different activities. 

Both PYP and MYP Virtual Exhibitions came to life. They consist of memes and book covers students created for International Children’s Book Day. 

PYP students started Zoom Library Lessons with readings from a digital library called Epic. PYP2 was the first with a lovely picture book Pass It On which talks about cooperation and support.

PYP4 students supposed to start reading the book called Auggie&me, but were not able to go to the school library and borrow one, so teacher Vida organized Book Night. We read the first few chapters via Zoom, wearing our pajamas and accompanied by stuffed animal friends. 

Croatian language teacher Mrs. Blažičko asked MYP1 to try to imagine that they are Kečkica, main character from the book Zagrebačka priča. Here is what they wrote.

We might not be in school, but our school library is alive and changing. New books arrived and waiting for those diligent readers to come. To take a sneak peek off what’s new in the school library, students needed to solve the puzzle. Would you like to try?

We had some creative online workshops, so students created Book Spine Poems and Book Covers Recreations inspired by the Getty Museum idea. Check out the gallery below!