DCB’s Senior School Gets a Valentine Surprise

“Did you get a rose?”, “Who got a teddy bear?” were just some of the questions that were floating around the hallway amongst our Senior School students on Valentine’s Day, several of whom were holding roses gifted through the Senior School Student Council’s Anonymous Valentine’s Gifting initiative. The Senior School led project allowed students to purchase a rose or teddy bear for their peers as a gesture of appreciation that would be delivered to the recipient personally on February 14. 

But roses and teddy bears weren’t the only things waiting on Valentine’s Day. Our Senior School Head of Libraries Sandra Greenwell had a Valentine’s surprise waiting for our Senior School students as well.

For their Library classes, Senior School students went Speed Dating – with books!

After assigning the students to groups, they were asked to pick one of the tables that had books of a certain genre, choose one from the box and then start reading. Each student had 5 minutes to read, before being asked to move to another table to read another book from another genre. The “winner” would be whoever chooses to borrow a book they’ve found interesting. 

While classes mostly started with giggles and embarrassed looks at the thought of “dating” a book, the students soon quieted down and enjoyed discovering new books.   

But it’s not only students with classes that day who had the opportunity to try a Valentine’s special from the Senior School library. They say that we shouldn’t judge books by its covers, and so our Senior School library made sure of exactly that with Blind Date with a Book. Several books were wrapped in newspaper with a catchy line or blurb written on the newspaper or on a card on it. The idea is for the blurb to intrigue them enough to want to bring the book home to read. 

The two activities started on Valentine’s Day but will last for two weeks. “(The activities) are a fun way of promoting books to students that they wouldn’t normally read,” shared Ms Greenwell, smiling from ear to ear. She also shared how both students and teachers alike enjoyed the Senior School Library’s Valentine’s Day twist. “Library loans were up. And in the end, students walked out with a smile and very happy with their dates!”