The Pôjd Education Centre prepared a competition for pupils in the third and fourth grades of both primary schools, called Encode Your Favourite Book, which ran throughout April. Pupils could use various artistic techniques and styles to create their own book cipher. The competition was introduced to the pupils in interactive lessons held at the schools back in March.
Books are undoubtedly an inseparable part of the month of March. They get a little extra attention in Slovak language and literature lessons, as well as in other subjects and activities. Pôjd also decided to do its bit to support reading literacy and a love of books through a fun lesson full of ciphers.
What exactly is a cipher? That was one of the first questions the pupils had to wrestle with right at the start of the lesson. “Something hidden that we have to find” was one of the correct answers. There are really many ways to encode things. A book cipher most often uses the picture method and means “hiding” various literary works in pictures so that it isn't too obvious, but at the same time not too hard to decipher.
After an introduction and a fun game called Chapters, which also split them into two groups, the pupils got stuck into deciphering. They guessed some works without hesitation, while with others they needed help in the form of verbal hints. Together they uncovered 14 encoded literary works, from older traditional ones to new, modern children's books.
At the end of the event there was a simple reflection, where the pupils evaluated whether they liked the lesson, whether they had learned something new and how they had worked in their group.
The pupils had a whole month to turn their favourite book into a cipher. Almost 40 contestants took part in the cipher competition with their works. The encoded books were really varied and choosing the winners was not easy. In the end, we awarded 6 artworks with book prizes from our sponsor – the Alter ego bookshop in Kežmarok. But the others didn't go home empty-handed either. Every pupil who took part received a bookmark and a sweet treat.
We thank the pupils and all the contestants for their attention and interest, and we hope they enjoyed the lesson. We also thank our sponsor, the Alter ego bookshop in Kežmarok, for the prizes and the pleasant cooperation.
