Sutherland Shire Libraries Staff News

Module 14 Children and Youth Training-Inclusive spaces and programs

2021-08-19T14:49:00.008+10:00

Storytime with children with Special Needs

Part 1 The Library

Within our community there are many families with children who have different abilities/disabilities. Sometimes these are obvious and at other times they are not.

Parents often feel anxious coming into places like libraries for various reasons:

· Libraries were previously known as quiet places

· Fear of judgement

· Other people can sometimes comment inappropriately

· Other people look and stare or use expressions that show how they feel about the child’s behaviour.

Parents can inadvertently be made to feel very unwelcome.

Libraries are spaces for everyone and especially for those with special needs, it can be a safe space where they can access resources, other people and see role models.

The attitude and expectations of library staff will have a big impact on these families. At all times we aim to make everyone feel welcome and accepted in the library.

The library space itself needs to be welcoming.

Consider these questions for your branch. Jots some notes in the Form linked here.

Is the library space accessible for someone in a wheelchair? That includes all the shelves of books, toilets, power-points, door handles, computer desks/catalogues

Is the area clearly signposted? Do signs use familiar/universal icons so everyone can identify spaces? Is Braille included in signage?

Do resources cater for visual and auditory ability ranges?

Are their quiet spaces for people who struggle with sensory over-stimulation?

Are staff trained in assisting patrons with special needs?

Part 2 Storytimes

Watch this video of a storytime specifically for children with special needs.

Click on the image or the link below

https://www.cmlibrary.org/services/special-needs

As you watch it please notice the librarians and their reactions to the children’s behaviour. Write some notes in the form linked here

The librarians remain positive, relaxed and you can tell they are not fazed by the children’s actions. They allow the parents to monitor their child’s behaviour and intervene when the parent feels it is time.

At no time do you see the librarians search out parents or try to correct behaviour. The only time a librarian makes any sort of reaction to a child’s behaviour is when a child tried to take her prop. The librarian gently yet firmly holds onto it and the child moves on.

You can see a parent takes a child away from the group for a while, then comes back later when the child is more settled.

The librarians use a storyboard and take it one step further by removing the cards when the activity is done.

They combine book and resource, so the story is told two ways at once-2 presenters are essential for this.

The parents join in the stories and songs. This tells me they are familiar with the books and songs so repetition is happening.

Inclusive storytimes

All programs at Sutherland Shire Libraries are inclusive. At no time do we discourage families from coming to programs if their children have special needs. If a child does not cope with the over stimulation of a large group storytime, The Cubby Sensitive Storytime can be recommended as another option.

Some things to consider

Children with a disability or developmental delay like going to community venues and enjoy the same activities as neuro-typical children
All children are children first
All children thrive when they are included, valued and encouraged to participate
All children can benefit when their community supports them
All children in a library setting can learn social skills such as taking turns, sitting with others, making friends and learning to love books

Which of these statements have the greatest meaning to you?

Write about it in the reflection form.

Why should we include children with disability or developmental delay in Storytime and Rhymetime sessions?

Firstly, it is required by law. As a part of the NSW Inclusion Act 2014, local councils must plan and implement a Disability Inclusion Plan for their services and facilities.

More importantly, inclusion is a right. Children learn in everyday environments and with their peers. According to Dr Tim Moore of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, inclusion is “the meaningful participation of children with developmental disabilities in the same range of home, early childhood and community environments, experiences and activities as other children.”

In libraries, Storytime and Rhymetime sessions are among the first opportunities for a child to enjoy books in a group. Children with disabilities should also experience the magic of books, learn and love to read with others.

How can you support families?

All children are unique, including those with a disability or developmental delay. A diagnosis is not an indication of their talents.

It is important to discover the child and the family’s strengths, needs and inclusion goals to provide the right support. Parents are the experts on their child. You can use the information they provide to tailor the child’s library experience. Remember that all families are different. Culture, traditions, religious beliefs and language are just some of the unique traits that are important to them and their children.

Children learn from everyday experiences and interactions. Enabling access, participation and providing support for children with disabilities will give them the best opportunity to flourish and become a part of the community.

Things you can do in your regular programs

Use the visual timetable to help children understand what to expect-each branch has one for each type of program. If you can’t locate them, give the Kids team a call.

Use the same routine for activities-use the same opening and closing song for that program.
Provide visual aids-feltboards help children who do not hear or process language.
Create displays that highlight resources for specific needs or stories about children with different types of disabilities.

The State Library has a list of diverse books, you can check it here. We have many of these books in our collection.

Hold Storytime sessions in different languages or use interpreters for newly-arrived migrants to feel included in library activities.

From Training package developed by Plumtree-Libraries as Community Connectors. For more information form this training package please see Chris Newett or Ingrid Micallef or look in the Objective folder-Library>Childrens-Library_Desk>Training-Children and Youth>Plumtree Training Package-Inclusion-Libraries as Community Connectors

Things you can do if you notice a child with special needs in your programs

After the program, introduce yourself to the family/carers. Thank them for coming to the storytime.

Ask if there is anything you can do for the family/child to make the storytime more suited to the child’s needs.

If you notice a child starts having a tantrum when you start using the shakers or you are doing a clapping/stamping song try to quieten the actions/shaking. “We’re going to do whisper shaking now” or “Let’s do feather claps / mouse stamps”. Talk to the parent afterwards and say that you noticed the loud noise was causing their child to feel stressed, let them know that it is O.K. and that in the future if they let you know they are at storytime, you will avoid these types of songs/actions. Keep a note in your diary or day book as a reminder and to alert other staff who present programs.

If you know you have children with special needs coming to your sessions include books that show children with diverse needs. (We should do this across all storytimes and as these books become more available, we will do that.)

Include books that are repetitious, are very visual, have clear simple storylines – not too detailed. Stories that deal with day to day activities-dressing, eating, visiting different places. Books about colour, shape, transport, feelings, animals. Ask Kids team if you have the chance, we have a small collection of these ready for use.

Include familiar rhymes that have simple actions. If they don’t participate, that’s fine. (These children might even find that movement causes their clothes to move on them therefore causing aggravation.)

The most important thing you can do is be very welcoming, smile at the family, chat with them afterwards, chat to the child at their level, giving them space and speaking gently.

The behaviour you model will impact on the other families and will be the best thing you can do for that family.

Try This:

What can you do in your next storytime to help any families who come to your storytime? Jot down some notes in the reflection form.

The Cubby Sensitive Storytime and The Calm Corner.

The Cubby Storytime

The Cubby Storytime is a sensitive storytime for children with autism or children who have sensory processing issues. The program is run by Sutherland children’s team staff. Resources have been purchased through a grant from Ability Links. Resources have been purchased to assist children with Autism or who have difficulties with sensory stimulation. These are

· Weighted blanket

· Weighted toys-lap toys such as bear, turtle and monkey and wrap toys such as snake-snake can wrap around the child’s neck and shoulders giving a downward pressure along the spine.

· Weighted lap distraction toys-weighted cushion with window for looking for objects.

· Fidget toys, for older children-small interactive cubes with different textile, sound, action

· Squishy soft ruby things

· Squish balls

· Sparkle balls

· Light up balls

· Timer with colored fluid (lava lamp style..)

· 2x dark tent

· 1x large memory foam bean bag

· Wobble stool

· Books

· Noise cancelling headphones

This was all part of a process called Great Expectations.

Ages

· 2-5years

Dates

· First Thursday of the month

Times

· 10:30-11:00/11:15

Bookings essential

· Details for booking are on our website.

Numbers

· Limited to 10

The Calm Corner

The Calm Corner is a space in the meeting room at Engadine Library designed to be available at specific times for families with children who have autism. The space is designed to be made available if needed on the dates and times as shown below. Children and their parents can come to the library to browse and borrow when the Calm Corner is available and if they become stressed and the parent feels they would like to take them into the Calm Corner to distress and relax they can go there. This came about when a patron who has 2 children with autism felt it was difficult to come to the library.

The meeting room at Engadine is being fitted with dimmable lights (still coming). They also have a collection of resources- 10 cushions, weighted blankets and toys and lap pads, sensory toys, timers, sensory tents, noise cancelling headphones, a wobble stool and a Cloud Sac (giant bean bag style cushion) that can be made available. Some of the resources will be set up such as the tent and the Cloud Sac and one or two other items. Others can be obtained from the cupboard in the meeting room. The containers are labelled so parents and children can choose what they know will help to calm and relieve their child’s stress. These resources are available for families if and when their child needs it. It is not available as a playroom! The parents will be responsible for assisting their child to become calm, it is not a staff run space.

Ages

· 0-12/13

Dates

· First Thursday of the month

Times

· 4:00pm-6:00pm

No Booking needed as this is a needs-based area.

Numbers.

· There are quite a few resources and it is hoped that they are not all needed at once otherwise it won’t be very calming for very long! It will be up to the parents to assist in calming their children.

The Cubby Storytime has a set structure

A simple storyboard is used and a ‘finished’ box for the items that are completed.

The storyteller goes through what will happen.

· Hello song

· Song

· Weather

· Story

· Song

· Story

· Song

· End

We have a social story for the children and parents to look at together and a video as well. These were created so the children are familiar with what they will experience before they come to the library.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZuDgcY7qSBLb7FRaA

How would you describe The Cubby Storytime to a parent/carer who asks about programs for children with over sensitivity to stimulation or autism?

______________________________________________________________________

Activities

Additional Information

Here are two PowerPoints that have great tips for storytime for children with autism.

Using Picture Books

PowerPoint: Sensory Storytime Training

These are some pointers put together for helping you when faced with children with autism.

Resources and References

https://www.cmlibrary.org/services/special-needs

http://www.librariesandautism.org/strategies.htm

https://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2012/03/sensory-storytime-a-brief-how-to-guide/

https://plumtree.org.au/

Link to Module 15 Presenting Programs

ALIA Information Online 2021- Beyond Fake news

2021-02-26T15:12:00.009+11:00

Beyond Fake news: are we suffering from an information disorder?

Hello there people out in blogland, I am here today to talk to you about an interesting panel session that was part of the recent ALIA information online 2021 virtual conference. The session was about “fake news” and misinformation, something which has been in the spotlight in the past twelve months. The panellists for this session were Dr Timothy Graham, Professor Colin Klein, and Tom Sear.

To start with, one of the panellists defined a few of the key terms that are used in this field.

Mal-information- genuine information which is spread in a way to cause harm or damage.
Mis-information- false information spread unwittingly.
Dis-information- information spread with the intent to deceive.

Here are some of the key points covered by the panellists:-

Dis-information spread from domestic sources (for example, politicians) can have a very big impact on information disorder. Take the aftermath of the U.S. election as an example.
People are tied into a system (the Internet) that is highly turbulent & you have a paradox where the U.S. President is in the White House using Twitter to influence.
There is an assumption that conspiracy theorists have a monological belief system (ie. belief in one Conspiracy Theory predicts belief in more Conspiracy Theories, providing the foundation of generalised conspiratorial perspective), that everything connects to everything else, but research on Reddit suggests more of a gradient depending on the issue- for example, Qanon, may have a monological belief system but this differs from that of anti-vaxers. Another assumption is that conspiracy theorists assertions are sincere expressions of belief- sometimes it’s true but people may just be questioning, or may just have concerns as to what is going on.
A saying was mentioned- “a certain type of bar provokes fights” but only a certain type of person will go to that bar- a lot of parts of the Internet are like that.
When looking at outside influences of mis-information perhaps we should ask “where is the outside in a sovereign state any more”? A lot of countries operate in different “stacks”, for example, there’s an English speaking stack, a European stack, and so on. Foreign powers have placed fake entities in other countries- tactics are changing, people are using espionage techniques.
Social media has solved the problems of scale & speed with information output but not quality. So what you get is the silver bullet hot-take that comes up in your feed & you can’t help but click that re-tweet button.
Spreading dis-information can be social- people can get social validation from doing it (more so during a pandemic). After all, the Internet is optimised for people with similar interests to get in touch with each other and share with each other.
We don’t have much in the way of benchmarks- were there lots of people spreading dis-information in the 60’s and 70’s?
Unfortunately there is a real human cost to information disorder (look at the U.S. capitol riot), it’s not just consigned to the online world.
To combat the spread of conspiracy theories we should work towards restoring people’s trust in the government & government institutions- a lot of real conspiracies have been uncovered by institutions doing due diligence.
Perhaps we need to put spotlights on the platforms & algorithms that dictate what you see on the Internet- they aren’t just ad companies, they are curators, editors. Now might be a good opportunity to enact legislation & enforceable codes of conduct that let law makers “inside the black box”.

If you have any thoughts on the issue of fake news please add them in your comments below!

Michael

ALIA ONLINE CONFERENCE 2021

2021-02-17T13:55:00.010+11:00

I attended the ALIA Online Conference on Monday 8^th February. Its theme was ‘Access or control?’ This issue of dominance, control, use and permission was a common one. To understand its questions, you must consider the social landscapes in which libraries live across the world, and not just the ‘library’ itself which does not exist independently of the society in which it serves.

There were a lot of rich, inspiring and challenging ideas. One (amongst many) that resonated with me was that libraries have to “tell their own stories”. The survival and thriving of libraries cannot depend on us passively assuming that the public, policy makers, councils and government know what values and contribution modern libraries make in societies, says Eric Klinenberg (Prof Sociology and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at NYU). It is important to record and promote what libraries do in all its social diversity, and ensure that libraries are vocal and active in the community, demonstrating that who we are, what we do and what we stand for matters. Prof Klinenberg asserted that, in this continuing age of Covid, what we need is not social distancing. He reframed the phrase to ‘not social, but physical distancing, with social solidarity’, that the library is a place, in essence, where people are “looking after each other”.

This idea that libraries are not passive places was repeated throughout the Conference. There was discussion around the decisions that are consciously made around library work such as historical cataloguing and metadata, and who is counted. There was a call to consider the Indigenous story sensitively and with compassion. There was a plea to listen and heed Indigenous voices, and to proceed with the openness of collaboration instead of a closed attitude of ‘this is the way things have always been done in libraries’. There is a lot of emotion around issues of history, who is represented and what gets taken to be the "way things have always been done around here” mentality. The Conference was really asking you to consider – what do YOU mean by the word ‘here’? Also, what does it mean ‘to hear’?

At its heart, I believe the Conference was broadly asking for a very compassionate, open and sensitive nature of listening and receptivity to historical issues, working with Indigenous communities and supporting social solidarity to promote harmony and social cohesion. It was the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) as peace builders. We were challenged to “tell our own story”, but also make space to listen, and hear, others’ stories, and voices, as well. On this note I will apologise that I do not have the space here to name all of the Conference’s participants.

Jean at Miranda

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 15 Presenting the programs

2021-02-08T10:13:00.010+11:00

Training Modules Children and Youth

Module 15 Presenting the programs

Photo courtesy of Christchurch Libraries https://www.flickr.com/photos/christchurchcitylibraries/
(May 03, 2022)

By now you will have watched some if not all of the programs we run at our libraries.

To complete your training you need to go through a process of on the job training where you will go through these steps

Step 1 Observe:

You will observe branch team members and kids team members resent the programs.

What did you observe that surprised you?

What would you do the same?

What would you do differently?

Step 2 Participate: SMILE!

You will sit in with presentations of the program at your branch. Your team ember will present the majority of the program and you will take on part of the program to build confidence. Some of the things you can take on are...

Sing a song

Read a book

Do a feltboard

Use a puppet

Do the opening routine

Do the closing routine

As you feel more confident take on more than one activity.

Keep notes of how you feel you went and the feedback from your team members. Listen for constructive ideas and remember-the kids and the parents will love what you are doing. Everyone has their own style and preferred manner for delivering programs. Find yours and enjoy what you do.

Step 3: Present:

You should be ready to present from beginning to end. You can choose to do this last step completely solo with a team member standing by in case you get stuck or with a team member sitting with you and doing one element them selves.

Keep notes of anything you think you did really well, anything you think you would change and any parent or child behaviours that occurred.

Do this

Last module: Module 16 Program Evaluation

CBCA 2020 Online conference illuminates, educates and inspires

2020-11-13T15:37:00.008+11:00

CBCA Conference Online Conference 2020 Information text in a digital age

The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) held its 2020 Conference online this year. The theme was 'Information text in a digital age', widely interpreted in inspiring and engaging ways in 14 presentations.

The very fact that the conference was fully online this year is also a reminder of how much digital technology has been a tool of information, connection and community during 2020. I have chosen some broad themes that represent the many voices in the Conference.

The most resonant thing for me from this conference was that the speakers shared not just a passion for children’s education and literacy, but that they were all united in their care for children’s emotional well-being, and desire to support children’s positivity and inform their sense of place and self, instilling a sense of hope.

COLLABORATION

The Conference highlighted how exciting and creatively enriching the collaborative process can be. Pamela Freeman and Liz Anelli spoke of their chemistry and friendship as they work together as author and illustrator of books bringing the natural environments of Desert Lake, Kakadu and the Daintree to readers. They described a "symbiotic" relationship where they learned from each other's point of view. They also described their work as "poetry in paint".

Aunty Fay Muir and Edie Wright spoke of the importance of Indigenous people learning their own language as a part of their identity. They spoke of how "respect" underpins everything in the Indigeneous culture as well as "Relationships with each other, the seas, the skies..." It is also vitally important that Indigenous people are able to tell their own stories, so that our learning journey can be a shared one.

Author Peter Mainnis spoke about changes in digital technology. He had some interesting suggestions, such as hyper links in e-books that might link to photos, historical facts, and enrich the text through a collaborative process of building information starting from the core text.

NARRATIVE Lee Constable wants to bring an environmental perspective to show us "How to save the whole stinkin' planet". She harnesses the readers' imagination in order to 'entertain to educate'. She places the reader in the story so they can be the 'hero of their own story' to learn about waste and promote conversation around waste management. Lee harnesses children's love of knowledge to 'gamify' the text so that readers will place themselves in the action, and realise that they do have the agency and power to create change in a positive, informed and collaborative way.

Katrina Nannestad spoke about narrative as a way of engaging children in information text history. In describing the 'wolf kinderen' of WW2 (German children who had survived in the forests in WW2) Katrina wanted to use the power of story and narrative to educate in an age-appopriate way and ultimately present a story of resilience, courage, and hope.

SLNSW's Pauline Fitzgerald took us on a tour of SLNSW's website. She showed us some of the online exhibitions that used storytelling narratives, letters, photos, and poetry to build fascinating stories on subjects like the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Pauline's talk showed how much time has changed since the old Mitchell library was a place for physical knowledge. It reminded me how accessible knowledge has become due to digital resources, and how children and young people can benefit from learning to navigate these new digital literacy environments.

RHYTHM

For those of us who work with children in the libraries, we know the importance of rhythm in storytime and songs as a building block to literacy. Claire Saxby stressed that rhyme, rhythm and repetition helps to build literacy in young children.

Dr Anita Collins spoke of the connection between music and language. She said that music education is the basis for language recognition. Nursery rhymes are the building blocks of language, and research is showing when a child can keep the beat then they are ready to learn to read. So, kids team, remember that when you are cleaning shakers again!

ENTERTAIN TO EDUCATE

Astrophysicist Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith spoke of her love of working in schools and with different community groups, including Indigenous groups, to spread her love and wonder of the cosmos. She enjoys making her understanding of astrophysics, stars and black holes accessible to a wide and new audience. Professor Harvey-smith wants to share her knowledge to help both kids and adults see the beauty and wonder in science. She would like families to learn together through her books, and is especially interested to engage girls in STEM subjects.

Writer Louise Park (Zac Power! Boy vs Beast, D Bot Squad, Poppy Rose and Bella books, Grace's secrets and non-fiction) taught us that Generation Alpha (born 2010-2030) were increasingly reared on screens. Louise said that is great but that there should be a balance. She said that the number one thing that would increase the education of the child is BOOKS IN THE HOME.

Illustrator and writer Sami Bayly wants her information texts to "inform and inspire". She wants information texts to be interesting and engaging and her Encyclopaedia of ugly animals and dangerous animals use illustration and text to serve a narrative purpose.

Wildlife photographer Jan Latta showed her wildlife photography and showed how we can all go on adventures through the pages of books, without leaving our homes (especially relevant in 2020). She seeks to inspire through nature, the information text in this case a strongly visual one.

EMPOWER

Aussie STEM star Georgia Ward-Fear asserted that digital resources are here to stay. She loves the learning journey model, that is "the more we know, the more we discover there is to know". She is excited to help children discover critical thinking skills through their learning, and her books combine narrative (a storytelling voice), illustration and non-fiction (factual) elements. A common theme is that children can learn through illustration, story and fact all working together.

Publisher Maryann Ballantyne is passionate about non-fiction, and providing a context to develop critical thinking skills, which is the "background knowledge that makes learning stick". Her books describe complex subjects in simple yet effective ways. Subjects include history, mapping Australia, maths, and time. She quoted Steve Jobs who said "Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean..."

Author Lucy Bell spoke of her own learning journey going from publisher to author and wants her books to empower the reader through empathy and kindness. She wants the reader to feel a sense of agency and purpose. So many speakers were passionate about sending a message to our younger readers to have hope and that they could make a positive difference in the world.

The Conference theme for 2021 is 'Poetry'. I’m sure it will be just as inspiring.

Jean 😊

Tracking people who use the Library's book list blog posts

2020-11-03T11:32:00.006+11:00

Someone asked me recently, "Can tell if people who look at the book list blog posts actually click on the books and borrow them?" A good question, and as I looked into it I thought it might be interesting to share some insights. Spoilers: the answer is yes... and no!

The blog posts I'm talking about are the book lists that look like the one in the image above. These posts appear as a link on the home page of the website and they are also emailed to 426 subscribers. When someone looks at one of these posts ideally they will click on the Get it! button for books they like, which links to the book in the library catalogue. They can subsequently reserve the book if they want.

When it comes to tracking user behaviour in this user flow we can get half way. I have placed some tracking code in the button links so that I can tell from Google Analytics when someone visits the library catalogue from one of these links. From this data I can tell which posts get the most engagement. I can't tell, however, whether people subsequently reserve or borrow the books. This would require adding further tracking code to Encore, which is difficult.

While I haven't gone into great depth looking into this, here is a snapshot of the data with, what I think, are some interesting observations.

Overview of blog post traffic to the library catalogue

This chart comes from Google Analytics and shows an overview of the traffic to Encore from blog posts, covering the period from 1 January to 31 October this year. First some raw numbers:
There were 207 unique users who click on links from the blog posts. Those 207 users initiated 773 sessions - while it doesn't correspond exactly to the number of links clicked, for our purposes, you can think of these 773 sessions as being 773 books from the blog posts that users clicked on.

You can drill down into how much engagement each of the different posts received. I've saved the data in a Google Sheet called Blog Post Acquisitions, which can be accessed from the Library's Google account. This spreadsheet shows the same numbers as the chart above for each separate post, so you can check out how the different lists performed.

If you look at the chart above there are 2 more columns that caught my eye in these numbers.

Firstly, Pages per Session. For the blog posts this averages out at 6.46 pages per session. This means that every time someone clicks on a link from a blog post to the catalogue they then visit a further 5 or 6 pages – that is, they do some further searching in the catalogue. This is an average, so some people visit more and some less of course. By itself this number is not that meaningful. The interesting thing for me is that the Pages per Session for traffic from blog posts is higher than the average for the catalogue generally (4.79).

This leads to the second number, Average Session Duration. It makes logical sense that if you view more pages in a session you will spend longer on the website. In this case blog post visitors spend over 7 minutes on the catalogue (7:24), which is more than double the site average of just over 3^1/2 minutes (3:37).

The traffic that is generated by these reading lists only makes up a small portion of the overall site visitors, however, these people are a more engaged cohort.

The final thing I noticed when looking at the shape of the graph in the image is how it tells the story of our year. We begin the year at a high level. It then starts to dip as COVID starts to impact the community. There's a bump in April, right after we close the library, where we have people coming to the website to find out what's happening. Then there's a low period right through to August, before the traffic starts to rise again to similar levels as the start of the year. Throughout that low period from May to August our blog posts were only including links to ebooks and eaudiobooks – RBdigital, Overdrive and Borrowbox – while we tried to support our members through our closure.

Martin

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 13 Protective Behaviours

2020-08-13T12:14:00.019+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 13

Before you go on, please read the Council's Child Protection Policy as well as the Fact Sheets. These are available through Compass, search for Child Protection in the Policies and Forms tab.

Protective Behaviours

A child is 0-16 years of age.

Under no circumstances is it appropriate for a staff member to be alone in a room or space with an unattended child/ren. In such a situation always ensure there is another staff member nearby who can see you and the child. Keep doors open so members of the public can see in the room.

Working with Children Check number

All staff who do children's work must have a current Working with Children Check number.

This is part of the essential qualifications for the role.

Contact

Librarians should not be making physical contact with the children. If a child wants to give you a hug, please check with their parents if it is o.k. There are times when you might touch a child-when giving a stamp, during storytime as part of a game or other incidental moments. Make sure their parent/carer is always in view.

If a child does try to hold your hand or hug you, don't react, or say 'No' as you might scare the child and they may think something is wrong, just make eye contact with the parents/carer and give a quick hug and move on. If the parent is not nearby try to move calmly away from the child and suggest a 'high five', fist bump or elbow tap.

Unattended children in the library

The library has a policy for children in the library. It is included in the circulation procedures manual. Please make yourself familiar with this

Circulation Procedures Manual

Three points that we must be aware of:

Children under the age of 10 years should be in the care of a parent, guardian or carer.

The carer can be an older sibling over the age of 14 years but must have a contact number for the parent in case of an emergency.

A child is unattended when out of sight of a parent, guardian or carer.

If you have a child who is unattended in the library you do need to speak to the parent. Please be firm and fair about the rules of the library while being respectful and using empathy driven enforcement. The below image is from the Homelessness training and is from one of the later segments "Unattended Children"

Observing inappropriate behaviour-what do you do?

If you observe behaviours that cause you concern and you feel are unsafe for a child, if possible observe as much as you can without putting yourself or the child in any danger, take note of activity, appearance, time, location and go directly to your manager. Council has a process for reporting inappropriate actions towards children. Your manager is always your first contact.

Try these

What is the definition of an unattended child in the library?

____________________________________________________________

How old can a child be if coming to the library unattended?

_____________________

How old must a carer be of a child under 10 within the library?

__________________

What must they have with them?

________________________________________________

If you see inappropriate behaviours or actions toward children who do you speak to about it?

_________________________________

Module 14 Children and Youth Training-Inclusive spaces and programs

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 16 Evaluation of Training Package

2020-08-12T08:48:00.020+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 16 Evaluation of Training Package and Certificate of Completion

Click here to access form.

These answers will go to the Children and Youth team so they can update and improve on the training package.

1. Did the modules cover relevant topics?

Y N

If N is your answer, what other topics would you like covered in this training?

2. Did each module cover enough information related to the topic?

Y N

If N is your answer, what questions related to the topics would you like answered or elaborated on?

3. Was there enough variety in resources within each module?

Y N

If N is your answer, what other methods of online information can you recommend for inclusion in this package?

4. Do you have any suggestions for future training in Children and Youth programming?

If you would like a question answered directly please add your name otherwise you may remain anonymous.

Cheers

Certificate of Completion

When you have finished your evaluation, email the Kids team using the group email Library Children and Youth and we will send you a Certificate of Completion. (Please allow 3 working days for this. Thank you.)

Each June and December The Kids team notify Learning and Development and your training will be recorded in Aurion.

There's loads more training information available through Microsoft teams and Objective. Get in touch with the kids team and they can point you in the right direction.

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 2 Early Literacy Domains and The Five Practices

2020-08-12T08:20:00.009+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 2 Early Literacy Domains and The Five Practices

So what are these Early Literacy Domains?

Early Literacy Domains (also known as Early Literacy Skills) are what we need to know about reading and writing before we can actually read or write – they involve language-both verbal and non-verbal, conversation, stories, oral and written, books and print. (For example children know how to turn pages of a book before they can read, they know the meaning of words before they can read them) Storytimes are one of the ways we can help children develop these skills in a fun and enjoyable way. It is also a way of sharing information with parents and caregivers so they can continue to support their children’s early literacy skills at home.

For more information go to Early Language and Literacy Framework in NSW Public Libraries: Framework for developing and evaluating early literacy sessions.

https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/public-library-services/services/early-language-and-literacy-nsw-public-libraries

Resources can also be found at

https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/public-library-services/services/early-language-and-literacy-nsw-public-libraries/download-resources

“We strengthen our storytimes when we are able to understand connections between the activities we are doing and helping children later learn to read, developing their early literacy skills. We are also able to share these connections with parents and caregivers in our storytimes and in the community. Reaching parents and caregivers with early literacy information is one of our storytime goals.” p77 Ghoting, Saroj Storytime Manual for East Albemarle (NC) Regional Library System. 2020.

By sharing the importance of these activities with parents and caregivers we help them to continue these activities with their children at home.

Early Literacy Domains

(1) Phonological awareness

(2) Alphabet & letter knowledge

(3) Concepts of print

(4) Oral language and vocabulary

(5) Background knowledge

(6) Print motivation.

Phonological awareness-the ability to distinguish different sound patterns and break speech into sound units of different sizes.

Alphabet and Letter Knowledge -knowing the names of the letters of the alphabet and their sounds.

Concepts of print -understanding how books and print function and their conventions and the ability to distinguish print from images and that they both construct meaning.

Oral language and vocabulary -knowledge of words and ability to use them and other features of oral language to communicate effectively in different situations.

Background knowledge -knowledge of the physical, biological and social world and human experience in it.

Print motivation -the willingness to engage in literacy practices that involve print such as reading and writing.

The Five practices

Research shows us that babies and young children learn through talking, through songs and rhymes, through stories and through dramatic play. Reading, singing, playing, talking and writing; these are called the five practices and we do these in our programs.

Practice	Actions	Literacy Domains
Sing	Slows down language, hear smaller sound in words, syllables are more defined, include unfamiliar and interesting words.	Supports phonological awareness Oral language and vocabulary
Read	Positive experiences with books, different words than daily conversation, includes new information and concepts, recognise and point to words, use terms such as ‘cover’, ‘page’, talk about title, author and illustrator, point out letters in words	Supports print motivation, Oral language and vocabulary, Background knowledge Concepts of print Letter awareness Print motivation
Write	Children scribble/draw and say what it means-connects markings to meaning	Supports concepts of print Letter knowledge Print motivation
Talk	Children learn language through hearing people talk. Building vocabulary through adding new words and information to conversations. Listen allowing child to think, copy and babble. Talk about signs and logos, books, their name.	Supports oral language and vocabulary Background knowledge Letter knowledge
Play	Dramatic play retelling and action stories. Using puppets and feltboards or props to tell stories	Supports background knowledge Print motivation

You can learn more about this in Storytimes for Everyone! Developing Young Children’s Language and Literacy by Saroj Ghoting and Pamela Martin-Diaz ALA 2013

Available in our collection b/c 32232013017562

This will take you to Module 3

Click on Do this to access the answerable questions

Do this

Pick one of the Early Literacy Domains.

Write down some ways in which we support this in our programs For example:

Background knowledge: Talking about the content of a book before reading it. Setting a theme for storytime. Asking questions about a book after reading it, relating it to their lives. Giving definitions to words in context (Also supports vocabulary development)

__________________________________________________________________________________

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 3 The storytime presenter-all about you!

2020-08-12T08:19:00.010+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 3 Storytimes at Sutherland Shire Libraries-The presenter-all about you!

In this module we'll look at you the presenter, what skills and knowledge you have and how you can be the best story time presenter ever!

Before we start…what about you?

If you have never done storytime before...

• Watch colleagues and other presenters (online)-what did you see that you like? What would you be comfortable with?

• Try these

These viseos are Staff members presenting storytime.

https://youtu.be/GAE_5Pgs7LM

https://youtu.be/imOSuMCDTaU

https://youtu.be/4BIVdtigNFo

• Consider your strengths-Singing? Puppets? Playing the ukulele? What skills or experiences do you have that you could use in storytime? The goal is to share books and language activities in enjoyable ways. Seeing what engages the children can often be the catalyst for trying new things or doing things in new ways. It is helpful to build from your strengths and move forward from there.

• Is there someone you would like to mentor with? It is helpful to identify at least one person with whom you can share ideas with as you develop storytimes. You and your mentor can learn from each other.

• Some storytime providers feel insecure as they are delivering storytimes. As you gain more experience, you will become more confident.

• Sometimes there is a bias when the storytime provider is not a parent. As you develop relationships with the families, this may become less of an issue. We can acknowledge we have not been a parent, but do have experience sharing books with children and interacting with them. You have experience with children throughout the day. You can share what you know about good books, nursery rhymes, how to research relevant resources, and what the library can offer children and their families. Pay attention to good parenting skills when you see them, and refer to those when appropriate.

If you already have some experience with storytimes

• What can you do to refresh your presentation style? -old story in a new way? –new fingerplays/songs?

• Review the goals of storytime, is there anything that you can breathe new life into?

• “Having a “growth mindset,” as opposed to a “fixed mindset” can stand us all in good stead as we try new things, whether we are doing our first storytime or have been doing them for years. We are always learning and growing.” p8 Ghoting, Saroj Storytime Manual for East Albemarle (NC) Regional Library System. 2020. Is there something new you can learn and add to your storytimes?

Click on Answer these to answer the questions

Answer these…

What skills do you already have?

______________________________________________________________________

What hidden talents do you have that you can add to a storytime?

______________________________________________________________________

Do you have any favourite songs or stories from when you were young?

______________________________________________________________________

Do you know any songs or rhymes from another culture that you could share?

______________________________________________________________________

Is there someone you would like to emulate in your storytimes? Can you watch them?

______________________________________________________________________

Self-Confidence

Try this

https://jbrary.com/building-storytime-confidence/

• Find songs you are comfortable singing

• Allow time to practice-your manager should allow this.

• Write out what you will say/do. Use post it’s or palm cards

• Ask someone from Kids or the branch to sit in with you on your storytime to be a back up.

• Use the same hello and goodbye song

• Choose age appropriate materials

• Ask a co-worker to observe you if you feel comfortable with this

• Build relationships with families

• Use online resources

• Try new things

Time management

• Take time to plan your storytime. Your manager will allow this.

• Go through the pack as soon as it arrives at your branch.

• Read the storytime plan sheet so you are aware of the Early Literacy Domain.

• Read the tip. Does it makes sense?

• Familiarise yourself with the resources. Choose the ones you feel confident using.

• Choose the big book you will use and choose a skill from the table at the back.

• Plan the order and go through your plan. Use post it notes or palm cards.

• Write the tip on the “Today we will…” speech bubble.

• Plan or check your craft is ready

This will take you to Module 4

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 4 Let's talk about...Behaviour Management

2020-08-12T08:18:00.009+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 4. Let's talk about... Behaviour Management

In this module we'll look at behaviour and ways to encourage positive behaviour from the children and carers.

“In our informal and welcoming atmosphere, and where we are not the primary caregiver, it is not our place to discipline, but rather to set expectations and to make sure the rules for the common good are respected.” p18 Ghoting, Saroj Storytime Manual for East Albemarle (NC) Regional Library System. 2020.

• We expect a certain amount of chaos.

• We are flexible and can adapt our program if needed.

• We let the group know our expectations each storytime.

• We are looking out for the good of the whole group.

• We are aware that culture might impact on the behaviour of children.

Behaviour Management Tips

• Be prepared, your confidence in what you are about to do will help engage the parents, they know they are here for something worthwhile.

• Go over your expectations before starting the storytime. Do this every time you do storytime.

• Using the aside or saying the focus could also help, it shows the parents that there is a purpose to the session.

• Breathe, count in your head quietly and smile. (It tricks your brain into thinking you are happy…) Ask the children to have their listening ears on and ready.

• ‘Can you give me five?’-hold up your hand showing 5 fingers and ask-as you point to each finger

o Are you sitting?

o Are your legs crossed?

o Are your eyes on me?

o Are your hands in your lap?

o Are your lips closed?

Do this each week, the children will get to know what ‘the five’ are and eventually you can just say ‘Can you give me five?’

• Use a song or rhyme that tells the children to get ready for a story.

• Praise positive behaviours-a lot. Use terms praising the behaviour not the child. For example-"That's great listening." "Wow, you're sitting so well and I can see you're ready for the story" - Avoid "Good boy" or "good girl."

• Think "All together", not “Do you want to . . .” Young children are quite literal so say something like, Let’s read our next book, or Next, we have a song about . . . not "Do you want to have a story now?" (You will get a couple of "No" answers)

• If parents are talking during storytime stop at an appropriate place and ask everyone to join in a song-something like Heads and Shoulders or If you’re happy and you know it…

• If it gets noisy during reading a book read quieter in expressive and exaggerated whispers.

• Be prepared for children to be children, some need to move as they listen, have your storytime things in a safe place-away from little fingers. (I like to use a gift box for props that I keep closed and on the trolley basket.)

• Use a visual story/Storyboard – each branch has a series of pictures you can use. Place the images up of what you are going to do and remove them when done. If necessary you can always swap images (Helpful for children on the autism spectrum)

• Use a transition song or rhyme-

Running, running, running, running

Hop, hop, hop; Hop, hop, hop

Tiptoe, tiptoe; tiptoe, tiptoe

Then I stop. (hold up hand)

And I drop. (sit down)

My hands above my head I place,

On my shoulder, on my face.

And then behind me they will hide.

And I can reach them way up high.

I can count 1-2-3,

And see how quiet I can be.

OR regular favourites such as Heads and Shoulders or Open Shut them

• Be aware of parent expectations. Sometimes parents are supportive in a pushy or controlling way. For example, they may make their children sit quietly when we would encourage them to be more active and even call out answers. Sometimes parents will tell children what to say, not waiting for the child to figure out things themselves. Some parents and caregivers are quite directive, wanting the item to be “perfect,” see how she did hers? In these cases, it can be helpful, again, to articulate your expectations and to explain the WHY behind what you are doing. For example:

o This is a storytime, not a classroom, so we don’t expect children to sit quietly the whole time.

o It is fine if Jonathan doesn’t raise his hand before speaking here. He can join in with the other children.

o I have purposely chosen an activity where children can express their own ideas and develop their creativity. The item doesn’t have to look a certain way.

Try these

https://jbrary.com/transitions/

• When we are losing the children’s attention, your first impulse may be to speed things up, to try something new/different, to keep their attention. However, children need more time, not less time, to process what you are saying and doing. You may want to:

o Lower your voice

o Slow things down. Wait 5 seconds between sentences to allow young children to absorb what you are saying.

o Sing a song

o Telling children what will be happening next is a big help in helping them shift their attention. For example, “Next we are going to sing a nursery rhyme. I will show you some actions for each sentence and then we will do it together,” or “After we sing this song, we will sit down and I will read you our next book.” Did you notice, I said, “We will sit down,” not just “We will read a book together”? This is a cue for them. It breaks down what they will need to do into steps.

On to Module 5

Click on Answer these... to access the questions

Answer these…

1. What techniques do you already use to support a positive environment for children around books, reading and language activities? What other practices have you learned about that could be applied to behaviour management?

__________________________________________________________________________

2. What challenges do you feel you have? What are your opportunities for growth?

__________________________________________________________________________

3. What techniques, those already mentioned or not, might you like to try? Whom might you talk with for more ideas?

__________________________________________________________________________

4. How can you work to create community in your storytime where parents, caregivers and children are all engaged in the activities?

__________________________________________________________________________

5. Looking back on your storytime, what might you do differently? How will you capture this information so that you will remember for future storytimes?

__________________________________________________________________________

6. How might you enlist the help of parents and caregivers? If you do not know the parents and caregivers well, what are some ways you can build relationships in order to learn more about your storytime participants?

__________________________________________________________________________

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 5 Storytime-Planning your storytime - The pack

2020-08-12T08:16:00.006+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 5 Storytime-Planning your storytime -The pack

This module will cover planning for the early literacy skill you will model in your storytime.

Storytime

• Children over 3 years.

• Held in all libraries except Bundeena during school term

• Usually 30 minutes of songs and story including the movie-45 minutes.

• Storytime packs are rotated between the branches, each on a specific theme. The front of the pack has the rotation list, the literacy skill to be developed and the contents.

• Packs usually contain copies of books, rhymes, big books, puppets, felt board kits, storytime aids and puppets, props, pictures and a DVD/video. It is your choice what you use from the pack.

• You can supplement the pack items with items of your own or branch resources.

• Each library organises a craft activity from their resources. There are craft ideas on Objective

Objective Global Folder>Community Services>Library-Children’s Publications>Storytime craft

• A storytime pack roster will be sent out before each term. This roster lists the themes and rotations between the branches for a full term. Chris also tries to inform branches of upcoming themes so craft can be prepared.

Plan your storytime-Preparation and structure

Each pack comes with one of these in a plastic sleeve attached to the pack. It is important that you read and understand the Early Literacy Awareness column.

When you are confident with these skills you can combine them for example you might focus on letter knowledge but you might also say the author and illustrator. You might ask comprehension questions at the end and mention the rhyming words as you read.

Try this

This document has 15 pages of literacy tips sorted according to the early Literacy Domains.

Objective Global Folder>Community Services>Library>Childrens - Library Desk>Training - Children and Youth>Training for new staff>Storytime training for C.A.’s>What can I say-Literacy Tips

Consider this…

The 2015 Australian Early Development Census identifies 1 in 5 children starting school as developmentally vulnerable and shows that poor language proficiency contributes significantly to these figures (Commonwealth of Australia, 2016).

These results echo robust research evidence of the solid foundation that early language and literacy experiences provide for later reading and academic achievement (Dickinson, 2011; Dickinson, Golinkoff, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2010; Murnane, Sawhill, & Snow, 2012)

Public libraries across Australia have a history of promoting language and literacy learning from birth as a strategy for overcoming social disadvantage in the communities they serve (Australian Public Library Alliance, 2015).

P2 Early language and literacy in NSW public libraries: FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPING AND EVALUATING EARLY LITERACY SESSIONS (2018) Emilia Djonov | Maree Stenglin | Jane Torr Department of Educational Studies Macquarie University

As libraries are a type of educational institution, and early literacy sessions constitute an important community context for early language and literacy learning, library staff involved in providing these sessions are necessarily also educators. In this role, they can make a significant contribution to early learning.

P4 Early language and literacy in NSW public libraries: FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPING AND EVALUATING EARLY LITERACY SESSIONS (2018) Emilia Djonov | Maree Stenglin | Jane Torr Department of Educational Studies Macquarie University

Answer these… Click here to access the questions form.

Read through the Early Literacy Awareness column on these pack information sheets

What do you notice?

__________________________________________________________________________

Knowing how important these skills are for children’s development do you feel confident in giving this information to the parents?

__________________________________________________________________________

Big Books

Read through these two samples of Early Literary Domains for Big Books.

Big Book Title: There’s a hippopotamus on our roof eating cake.

Choose one skill to focus on NOT ALL!

Skills	Page	Script
Enjoyment of books/ Print Motivation	Cover	This book is about a hippopotamus that lives on a roof. Do you think a hippopotamus could live on your roof? Why not? I wonder how this one lives on her roof.
How to handle a book/ Concepts of print	Before reading	Place book upside down and back to front on the easel. Ask the children if you are ready to read? Flip the book so it is front facing but still upside down. Ask the children if you are ready now? Place book right way up and front facing on the easel. Begin reading.
Letter knowledge	c	Cake starts with the letter ‘c’. We make a c-c-c- sound for the letter c in cake. Can you think of other words that start with the c sound? I wonder if we will see some on the book (cross, can crayons, cars, climb)
Vocabulary	Hippopotamus	Hippopotamus is a very long word. We say hippo for short.
Comprehension/ Background knowledge		Can you remember where the hippopotamus works? He works at the zoo. A zoo is a place where lots of animals live and you can go and see them there. Hands up if you have been to a zoo. What animals did you see?

Big Book Title: The very hungry caterpillar

Choose one skill to focus on NOT ALL!

Skills	Page	Script
Enjoyment of books/ Print Motivation	Before reading	I chose this book because it’s got lots of … (choose one or your own) Beautiful pictures Different types of food Lots of fruit and vegetables A surprise at the end Different sized pages and holes
How to handle a book/ Concepts of print	Before reading	Point to the title on the cover. Sweep your finger across as you read it. This book is called… the author is… That means he/she wrote it.
Letter knowledge	Cover and Double page spread of different food	This letter is called ‘C’. We say c-c-c-c when we see the letter ‘C’. caterpillar starts with c. (Cucumber, cake, cone, do not talk about ‘ch’ and the ‘s’ sound from c- too confusing)
Hear and play with sounds Rhyming words/Phonological awareness
Vocabulary Days of the week	Hatching page / throughout	Did you notice the day the caterpillar pops out of the egg? Did you notice any other days in the book? What day is it today? Let’s say the days of the week.
Comprehension/ Background knowledge	At the end	I wonder where the little egg came from at the beginning of the book. I wonder what the butterfly will do now. I wonder if you have ever seen a butterfly or a caterpillar. Where would you see them?

With each section you are given a script and/or steps to carry out to assist you. You are free to reword these so you are comfortable and they suit your presentation style.

Try rewriting one now

__________________________________________________________________________

When reading big books would you/do you use a variety of skills? Would you be/are you more comfortable with one than the others?

__________________________________________________________________________

Click here to go to Module 6 after you've done the activity below

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 6 Elements of storytime Skills and tips

2020-08-12T08:14:00.011+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 6 Elements of storytime: Skills and tips

This module will take you through some of the different elements of storytime and you will become familiar with different props and resources used in storytime. Some of the activities are interspersed between the headings. Look for the Activity link

S.T.E.A.M.

Science Technology Engineering Art/Design and Maths

• Children are naturally curious and always love to ask “Why…?”

• Many children respond to factual texts and information.

• Promoting Maths and Science is of major importance to our world.

• We try to have at least 2 STEAM based storytimes per term.

• These will include very specific resources and activities. You will need to familiarise yourself with the activities and resources.

• Usually an activity will be included instead of a craft activity.

Inclusiveness

We aim to provide relevant services in respectful ways and that means we reflect on equity, inclusion and diversity in our interactions with groups in the community.

The aim to include resources that reflect this in our storytimes.

• Indigenous resources

• Multicultural resources

• Resources that include people of colour, religion, LGBTQI+, different abilities and disabilities.

Repetition

Children need repetition to learn. However, it is important to find a balance between repetition and something new. One part of the brain, the limbic system which relates to emotions, prefers repetition and predictability. However, the cerebral cortex, the thinking part of the brain, craves novelty and change. So, we need a balance between familiarity and new. Adding a twist by saying a familiar rhyme and then putting new words to it or adding puppets can bring both familiarity and novelty to the children.

Activity

Can you think of an old nursery rhyme or song that you can present in a new and fresh way? What would you do?

__________________________________________________________________________

Reading a book-Tips

• Always, always pre-read the books before the storytime. Understanding the content, humour, pacing, rhythm, tricky words and surprises will give you confidence when reading the book. Add post it notes for reminders of pauses, questions or reactions if you need to.

• Always hold a book so it is facing the children or use a stand. If the book is wordy and you need to read it facing you make sure you do a few sweeps across the group so everyone sees the pictures well.

• Project your voice.

• Use facial expression and vocal expression. Over exaggerate

• Watch your ‘audience’. Be mindful of their mood, if they are a group of quieter, younger children then keep your actions small and calm. If they are more rambunctious and full of energy (in a good way), match your reading to their mood. If they are noisy and distracting, read quietly in exaggerated whispers.

• Ask questions or make “I wonder…” statements

• Point to objects and words in the book, ask who, what, when, where and why questions to get them thinking beyond the book. (You don’t always have to get answers.)

Try this

https://jbrary.com/new-to-storytime-how-to-read-books-to-a-group/

Watch these

(Turn your volume down, her mic is very loud!)

If you watch the first story, she does not read word for word.

From the master…

Click on Answer this to access the Quiz questions form.

Answer this

What tips did you pick up from the videos?

__________________________________________________________________________

Singing songs

• Use familiar songs

• Introduce new songs every now and again and repeat them.

• Use rhymes for variety of language use.

Try this

https://jbrary.com/new-to-storytime-choosing-songs-and-rhymes/

A good read

https://gooddayswithkids.com/songs-and-activities/benefits-singing-with-child/

Puppets

• Great motivator

• Practice before you use them.

• Talk about the puppet with the children-describe it using loads of adjectives.

• Basic movements-Make the puppet nod, clap and shake it’s head.

Watch this

Try this

https://jbrary.com/new-to-storytime-using-puppets/

and this

https://jbrary.com/dont-shy-using-puppets-storytime/

Telling stories with puppets

Answer this

What tips did you pick up from the videos?

__________________________________________________________________________

Feltboard

• Practice these first to know what to do and when.

• Have the pieces in a ‘safe’ place-lap, box on your lap…

Try this

https://jbrary.com/new-to-storytime-using-felt-stories/

Watch this storytime (They may not work after COVID)

The presenter uses feltboard and puppets. Standing up and having the pieces on a table is a good idea. Easier than your lap.

Answer this

What tips did you pick up from the videos?

__________________________________________________________________________

Show and explain the craft

• Remember these are pre-school children they need a small amount of challenge and something interesting to leave with.

• Not too much intricate cutting or try to cut some parts yourself in readiness. (Parents will help here).

• Bright colours, simple shapes, textures like wool, fabric pieces, crepe paper, cellophane, Brennex squares or busy bits.

• Something that is interactive would be great.

• Some branches have one person doing craft or a roster or you plan your own.

• We use clag glue as it is a textural experience for the children

Read these (they’re short)

https://cpl.org/the-benefits-of-crafts-in-storytime/

https://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2017/05/crafts-vs-no-crafts-great-storytime-debate/

Module 7 is linked here

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 7 Storytime routine

2020-08-12T08:11:00.006+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 7 Storytime routine

In this module you will look in more detail at the routine we follow for storytimes. The only parts that are consistent across the branches are the opening and closing song, the early literacy skill and the STEAM activity if included.

Sample Storytime routine

Arriving and Settling In- be in storytime area to greet families and children, try to get to know some names of children. Be mindful of the children’s levels of shyness… try to get down to their level when you can.

Storytime Introduction (Welcome, Early Literacy Tip--Explain)-Introduce yourself and welcome everyone. Set guidelines using the charter-see below- have it nearby or point it out. Use positive language. Literacy tip-from the pack information sheet and written on the “Today we will…” speech bubble. (This part is directed mostly at the parents, so look at them, scanning across the group so they all know you are talking to them)

The charter-each branch should have an A3 sized poster.

Opening Song or Rhyme “We clap and sing hello” and “Please no eating”

Set the Stage: Today we’ll be talking about . . . (Directed to the children) Talk about the theme, ask questions if you feel confident that you can get back on track. Give a brief outline of what the children will be experiencing – Today we will be sharing stories and songs that are all about monkeys. Have you ever seen a monkey, maybe in a book or at the zoo?

Big Book—Model literacy skill as outlined in the back of the book.

Rhymes/Songs: one or two rhymes and/or songs

Book

Rhymes/Songs: one or two rhymes and/or songs (You can repeat ones from before)

Book

Rhymes/Songs: one or two rhymes and/or songs (You can repeat ones from before)

Feltboards/STEAM Activity

Book

Rhymes/Songs: one or two rhymes and/or songs (You can repeat ones from before)

Birthday Hat-Ask birthday people to come to the front (or stand with mum…), sing happy birthday, give a sticker or stamp

Early Literacy Tip—Empower. Show how parents can support children’s early literacy at home. Either give another tip or repeat the one from earlier in the storytime.

Closing to Adults-Thank parents for coming, promote collection, online resources or programs.

Closing Song -“We wave goodbye like this”

Movie-DVD/USB/Storybox library or Kanopy (if your internet is stable)

Craft- Remember these are pre-school children they need a small amount of challenge and something interesting to leave with.

· Not too much intricate cutting or try to cut some parts yourself in readiness. (Parents will help here).

· Bright colours, simple shapes, textures like wool, fabric pieces, crepe paper, cellophane, Brennex squares or busy bits.

· Something that is interactive would be great.

· Some branches have one person doing craft or a roster or you plan your own.

· We use clag glue as it is a textural experience for the children

Home with a book, a craft item and a stamp.

The information below is not specific to each branch. You will need to discuss set up and specific branch details with branch staff.

· Set up Storytime

o Move chairs to the storytime area and have them facing your chair with enough room for children to sit on the mat and for people to get in or out if they have to quickly go to the toilet, etc. Encourage children to sit on the mat and encourage them to move forward if you are running out of space at the back for late-comers.

o Tablecloths on tables for craft, followed by containers with pencils, crayons, child-friendly scissors, glue pots and glue sticks.

Set up film either with DVD/USB on TV or projected on screen.

o If possible, place craft templates and busy bits on the tables during the film. This is so that the craft isn’t used before Storytime begins and no mess is made.

o Remember grandparents need larger chairs.

· Pack away all resources afterwards and send pack to next branch on the roster (see back of pack)

Module 8 is here...

Do this:

Take some notes about how storytime is set up in your branch. Is the Charter on display? Do you use TV or projector? How is the craft organised? Do you do your own or is there one person who does all the craft for the branch?

______________________________________________________________________________________

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 8 Rhymetime and Togethertime; Why do we have these programs?

2020-08-11T13:02:00.012+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 8 Rhymetime and Togethertime; Why do we have these programs?

Rhymetime and Togethertime

Why do we provide these programs?

• Brain development

• Talking, singing, reading and playing with your baby helps to develop neural pathways in the baby’s brain.

• Muscle development

• Movement activities help develop muscles, babies need to move their arms, legs, backs heads to strengthen their muscles so they can learn to roll, crawl, sit and stand and walk.

• Clapping helps the muscles in baby’s hand to flatten and strengthen so they can crawl.

• Baby will copy mouth and facial movements which helps muscles in mouth for learning to speak.

• Toddlers need to expend energy, practise walking, hopping, skipping and jumping skills, develop balance.

• Emotional development

• Babies recognise expressions on their parent’s faces.

• Toddlers are beginning to recognise feelings in themselves and others.

• Language development

• Talking, singing, playing and reading all involve language.

• Mother tongue should be encouraged and will provide baby with scaffold for learning two languages.

• Silly words and sounds help muscles in the mouth for making the different sounds in our words.

• Baby will copy what they hear.

• Lots of different words and concepts in songs and books.

• Exposure to rhyming words and rhythm.

• Toddlers are naturally curious and inquisitive about their world, books can help. The mystery bag encourages curiosity.

• Early literacy skills

• Hearing sounds in words- Singing words often breaks them into syllables which makes it easier to hear the individual sounds in words.

• Enjoying pictures in books.

• Understand that books have a story.

• Learn shapes and letters and eventually words.

• Background knowledge to the world

• Connect pictures to story and meaning

• Relationship development

• Time with parent/carer

• Special bonds developed through sing, talk, read and play.

• Routines can be established around books/songs making bedtime/dinnertime/toilet time easier.

Answer these

Which of the above do you feel strongest about? Can you think of a way to talk to parents about that? Write it down.

__________________________________________________________________________

You have just written your own ‘aside’.

Asides

What is an aside? A line or two, not part of the main body of a talk or speech, said to certain people not the whole group. So during a program where we are talking to the children/toddlers/bubs about the song we’ll sing or book we’ll read an aside is said to the parents giving a small amount of information about why it is important.

• Choose an aside for your session –here are some samples. There are more in Objective in the Training Package folder.

• Each branch has a set of laminated cards with asides on them, they are colour coded for Rhymetime, Toddlertime and Storytime. They are very wordy so adjust them to suit your style.

• Be confident when you use asides. It is important and it is research based. You can use post it notes or palm cards to help you remember.

o When you sing to your child, have your baby facing you. That way they can see your expression and they also start to mimic the shapes you make with your mouth.

o When you read to your child at home use lots of different voices and expression in your reading. This helps with comprehension and also gives your child experience with different sounds.

o Every time you and your child sing together you are giving them knowledge of sounds, words and the joy of music. You are also strengthening their vocal chords.

o Your voice is the one your baby most wants to hear. If you don’t feel confident singing, use recordings and play them softly in the background for you to song along with.

o Babies need to hear fluent language to learn to speak. Sing songs in your home language right from the start.

o Making silly sounds with your baby helps them to learn to make different sounds with their mouths. These all help your child learn to speak. So blow lots of raspberries, moo and baa along with the cows and sheep and choo choo with the trains.

o When we sing we slow down our speech which makes it easier for babies to hear the parts of words. This helps them hear the sounds in words while having fun singing and enjoying music.

o Rhyming words help your child to understand sounds in words, that’s why we sing and say nursery rhymes together.

o Clapping, bouncing or tapping along with songs develops rhythm in your child.

o Counting songs and rhymes help your child develop understanding of number.

o Sing and say the alphabet with your child. At first it will be just a series of sounds and words but eventually they will begin to make connections with what they read and see in books.

o Talk about the pictures in books. This helps develop comprehension and understanding of the world.

o When reading with your child, keep the books near so your child can touch and play with them.

Watch a couple of these from Saraj Ghoting

http://brad-soucy.squarespace.com/videos/

https://vimeo.com/240572898/bfc0d55b2e https://vimeo.com/240571239/90714c564f https://vimeo.com/240572942/360e833264

Asides collection can be found at

Objective>Community services>Library>Childrens-Programs>Asides

Module 9 is here

Activity

Choose two asides from the Objective list or from the blog post and write it in your own words.

________________________________________________________________________________

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 9 Programs for Babies and Toddlers

2020-08-11T12:59:00.017+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 9 Programs for babies and toddlers.

Reading to babies is very important for their development and for their ability to learn to read as they grow up.

We want to encourage parents to read to their children as much as possible.

Read this

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/reading-babies.html

https://www.parents.com/baby/development/intellectual/age-by-age-guide-to-reading-to-your-baby/

Reading to babies and toddlers is a little different to reading to pre-school aged children. Their attention span is shorter and because they are in a different environment from home they might not be settled. Often you are modelling to the parents how they can read books to their children at home.

Books Before School

What is it?

• Books Before School is a family early literacy program that is being run by Sutherland Shire Libraries.

• The aim of the program is to encourage parents and caregivers to share books with their children on a regular basis to help them develop a love of reading and books and be motivated and ready to start school engaged and excited about reading and learning.

• Worldwide research has shown that regularly reading with your child has many benefits: increased vocabulary; better understanding of how language works; improved general knowledge; stronger child and parent bonds, is a strong indicator of success in reading at school.

• ReadAloud.org says “Research shows that reading aloud is the single most important thing you can do to help a child prepare for reading and learning.”

• Similar programs run through some NSW libraries and across all public libraries in Victoria. By reading only 3-5 books per week from birth children will have read 1000 books before starting school

How does it work?

•

• Parents can join their children up online at home or in the library through the Beanstack App. Then start reading!

• When they register, they can come to the library for a free book.

• After each 10 books they get a digital badge. After 100 books have been read a mini certificate will be awarded and another free book. Other mini certificates after 250, 500, 750 books have been read.

• Parents need to show the badge in the app to a librarian to redeem certificates or free books.

• The program is finished when 1000 books have read or when the child starts school – whichever happens first.

• Every child who participate receives a certificate.

• Books can be read at home, at library programs, playgroup, childcare.

• Parents can enter titles or scan ISBN barcode on the back of the book.

• Any books read can be counted and books can be read as many times as you like. Of course we hope the children will read lots of library books.

When

• Books Before School was launched by the Mayor, Councillor Pesce, at a Library on the Lawn at Peace Park, Sutherland on Wednesday 18th March at 10.30. Reading logs were available at the launch and can be picked up at any library or online at the library website from this time. We will send logs to centres after the launch.

• The program will run throughout the year.

• Local community organisations were invited to the launch and will be encouraged to spread the word with families they work with. We are particularly hoping that families that do not normally use the library will take part in the program.

Tips for reading to Rhymetime and Togethertime groups

• Choose highly engaging books with big bold images, not too many words, lift the flaps or pop outs and bright colours.

• Babies love faces so books with faces-people or animal are great.

• Pre-read, practice and decide how you will read it

• Point to the pictures and describe something in the picture. (“This baby is smiling, this baby is happy”) (“This butterfly has big blue wings with lots of white spots”)

• Lift the flap books are very engaging for babies and toddlers, build the excitement and show the surprise. (What’s under here? Oh! It’s a …)

• Read word for word or tell a story using the pictures. (“This is an orange truck with big wheels it goes Vrooom”)

• Skip pages if necessary.

• Use lots of expression-changing your vocal pitch will engage the children.

• If children are not engaged put it away. Say something like “It looks like the children are not really getting into this book, let’s put it aside and sing a song together.”

• Enjoy the book yourself, model your love of books, laugh at the funny bits etc

Rhymetime

What is Rhymetime?

• Sing, Talk, Read and Play

• Songs, puppets, lap jogs, tickle songs, finger play and action songs.

• One or two books-large format board books.

• 0-24 months of age. Sutherland has a 0-12 months of age session.

• Held in all branches except Bundeena during school term.

• 25-30 minutes

• Branches will have a collection of rhyme sheets or slides depending on their technology.

• Branches have a collection of board books for Rhymetime in their resource collection. If you need more variety, call Bernie or Ingrid at Sutherland.

These videos are Rhymetimes we did for online use. Watch these to see how we present our rhymes. No books were included in this due to the online element.

https://youtu.be/9KqTm-YmQrw

https://youtu.be/K4MzXt_bC8M

https://youtu.be/GAE_5Pgs7LM

Planning Rhymetime

Suggested routine

• Arriving and Settling In

• Opening Song - Cuddle Close

• Welcome – Aside (Can be done before song)

• Rhymes/Songs

• Book/s

• Another aside (optional)

• Closing to Adults

• Closing Song - Say goodbye now

Getting ready

• Your manager will allow time for preparing for programs

• Prepare your welcome statement, your name and how the session will run. State a reminder of the benefits to their child when you join in. (Your baby loves your voice and they respond better when you are singing too. Join the actions and the clapping as well. You’ll have time to catch up with the other mums after the session.)

• Have the charter available if you feel you need it to remind parents of expected behaviour.

• Prepare your rhymes early. You should be able to do about 12-15 rhymes. You can time yourself if you like, remember that you will do each song twice.

• Choose a selection using the rhymesheets or what you are comfortable with. Try to have a mix of high action, sung and said rhymes and quiet ones to finish with. Practice the songs before you start so you feel comfortable with them.

• Choose one or two board books to share-big engaging pictures are best. Bold colours or black and white.

• Choose puppets to go with the rhymes. Big bold puppets work best, you want to catch and keep the children’s attention. You only need to make the puppet move to the song, keep it simple.

• (Optional) Include a song or two for the scarves.

• Include a song or two for the shakers.

• Plan for another aside or restate the first one (optional)

Arriving and Settling In

• Be in the presentation area as the parents arrive so you can greet them and learn some names.

Opening Song

• Cuddle Close (with Auslan signs) and Please no eating (optional)

Welcome - Aside

• You can do this first or after Cuddle close, it is up to you.

• Introduce yourself and welcome parents and carers to the library. Ask if there is anyone new to Rhymetime. Briefly outline what we will be doing together today, expectations and the aside.

Rhymes/Songs

• Sing and recite your chosen rhymes. Do each rhyme twice and count in very deliberately, holding counting fingers up.

• Use plenty of actions and lots of clapping between rhymes and stories.

Book/s

• Half way through read a book.

Rhymes/Songs/Scarves (optional) and Shakers

• Sing or recite some more rhymes.

• Hand out the scarves is using, sing the songs, collect the scarves or collect at the end if you prefer.

• Hand out shakers, sing song and collect shakers.

Closing to Adults

• When the children have had enough you can wind it up even if the session has not gone for half an hour. Say that to the parents (It sounds like the children have reached their limit, it’s best that we bring it to a close now and SMILE)

• Add in another aside or repeat the original one.

Closing Song

• Sing Say goodbye now with lots of waving and pretend blowing kisses.

Try this

Write a list of five or six rhymes that you already know that you could include in your first rhymetime.

__________________________________________________________________________

Togethertime

What is Togethertime?

• For toddlers 18months to 36-42 months

• Held at Sutherland, Caringbah, Cronulla, Menai and Engadine

• A program to help develop memory, concentration, imagination, social skills, language skills and movement in young children.

• Consists of songs, simple stories, finger and action rhymes and interaction.

This program is:-

· Literacy based

· Structured

· Calm

· Child and Parent Focussed

· Is structured to suit children aged18 months to 42 months .

Planning Togethertime

Setting up.

If space allows set your group up in a circle, this means the child and parent/carer needs to sit together and stops parents from talking in groups. (It also means all parents can see eachother so if they are talking they might get guilted out by others watching them)

Suggested routine

• Arriving and Settling In

Welcome
Hello Song
How do you feel?
Weather
Days of the week
Mystery Bag
Sing songs related to object
Shakers.
Share a book from the book crate
Sing ending song
Share some bubbles

Greeting: Welcome parents/carers to Togethertime. "This program is for children aged 2-3.5. It has a focus on early reading and enjoying books together."

Go over expectations-have charter available to see. Go over an Early Literacy Skill for example “Reading together teaches your child all about how books work. Today we’ll read together in Together time, try to read together every day”

Welcome song: Hi, Hello and how are you?

Feelings Song: Ask the children, how do you feel? Sing the song How do you feel today?

Day of the week: Talk about what day it is. Talk about things you do on specific days. Sing song

Weather: Talk about the weather, dress up doll on felt board and sing “How’s the weather?” song.

Songs

Mystery bag: Include a theme based item, something engaging and interesting, can also include the book/felt board in the mystery bag. Reveal item bit by bit describing it using interesting vocabulary.

Storytime: Read a book/Look through a non-fiction book/Use a felt board

Songs

Shakers: Hand out shakers, sing up to 2 shaker songs, collect shakers

Share a book together: Bring out a crate of books (If 10 children attending, have 20+ books in the crate, mix of board books and picture books and non-fiction from the collection that are high interest, age relevant and engaging.) Spread books out on floor; child and parent pick a book and sit together to read the book. After 5 minutes ask people to return books to the crate unless they want to borrow it. "We ae going to pack away the books and get ready for the bubbles".

Pack way the books, children sit on the floor again. Sing good bye song.

Goodbye song: Bye, Goodbye we’ll see you soon

Bubbles: Ask children to sit on the floor, tell them the machine won’t work if you are standing and jumping. Children sit on the floor, librarian walks around with bubble machine. If children get up the machine stops working and the librarian walks in a different direction (away from standing children). Sing a bubble song as the bubbles are floating around. (Singing a bubble song gives the children a focus.)

End bubbles: Children borrow and go home.

Suggested songs

A mix of medium energy songs and familiar rhymes such as

Oliver Twist (can be sung while sitting)

Dingle dangle scarecrow

Grand old duke of York (Children stand and bend knees, touch toes or stand on toes)

Heads shoulders

I’m a little teapot

If you’re happy and you know it

They’re a part of me

Wheels on the bus

Giddy up horsey

Alice the camel

Bananas in pyjamas

Shoo fly

Little Peter Rabbit

Bingo

One little two little three little bubbles

Shaker songs

(Shakers can be used with other songs such as The Wheels on the bus, Twinkle Twinkle,...)

Avoid shaker songs that encourage walking or running around.

Baby has a little hand

Egg shakers (to London Bridge)

I hear music

Rattle, rattle. Shake, shake, shake (To Old MacDonald)

We shake our eggs together.

If you’re happy and you know it shake your egg

Bubble Songs

There are bubbles everywhere, everywhere.

Did you every see a bubble?

One little, two little, three little bubbles.

Buubles floating all around.

There are many more songs, this is just an example.

Possible Themes for Togethertime

Dinosaurs	Picnics	Day and night	Colours
Dogs	Bears	Summer	Balls
All about me	Slugs and snails	Senses	Animals
Trucks and cars, planes and trains	Bugs butterflies and insects	Birthdays and parties	Farm
Toys	What’s inside?	Building	Going to the zoo
Magic	Opposites	Snakes and Lizards	Under the sea
In the garden	Christmas	Birds	The beach
Little things	Things that fly	Flowers and trees	Family
Big things	Water	Fruit and veggies	Fairies and magic
Dress ups	Sharks and Whales	Around the world	Feelings
Homes	Cats	Kindness	Music
Numbers	Rabbits	Food	Space
Robots	Unicorns	Shapes	Alphabet

Togethertime Tips

• Try to learn the children’s names so you can use them to praise their quiet sitting and listening.

• Be prepared for some chaos and noise during songs-these children are still toddlers-accept it and let it happen. (N.B. Disruptive, aggressive or behaviour that stops others from enjoying the program will not be tolerated)

• Have your routine clear in your mind so you are ready to move from one song/activity to the next.

• Take it slow with the mystery bag-build the tension and encourage guessing using clues (problem solving skills)

Move straight form the mystery to to reading a book, this children are settled on the floor, keep them there.

• Be animated and move with the children.

• Encourage children to sit for the story. Praise children who sit.

• Make sure you are sitting during the story so the children can see the book easily.

Try this

Make a list of things/themes you could use for Togethertime.

__________________________________________________________________________

What items would children love to see in the Mystery bag?

__________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Here is Module 10

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 10 Children and Youth Resources

2020-08-11T12:57:00.007+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 10 Children and Youth Resources

The Children and Youth team manage quite a few resources and that includes the team themselves. We are available to help with any children’s work challenges you might have.

• Books-a collection of stories and board books that go with themes, have educational merit, old favourites and inclusive, indigenous or multicultural content.

• Big books-themes based, fun, educational. Have information at the back to support development of early literacy.

• Craft materials-on top of what you have at the branches/special items for school holiday craft activities

• Puppets/Finger puppets-Lots of puppets. For a full list go to…

Objective: Document Library>Community Services>Library>Childrens-programs>Storytime programs and resources>Puppets and props>Puppets

• Felt boards/ Story boards-Theme based, story based, rhyme based. Include scripts and tips for telling story/rhyme.

• Storytelling packs-Telling tales-Packs with resources for storytelling includes dolls or costumes, pictures or other props and script.

• Rhyme sheets/slides-Available as A3 laminated sheet or for PowerPoint in slide format.

• DVD/Videos-Link to storytime theme-usually animated and 6-8 minute duration. Available on USB.

• First experiences list-Collection of titles suited for parents to use with children going through a first experience in their little lives.

o Available as a search term in Encore e.g.” first experiences toilet training”

o Shelved in non-fiction

Support

The Children and Youth team have a group email Library Children and Youth. This is the best email to use even though we have team members assigned to various roles. Due to many of the team being part-time if you will get better results if email the group and we’ll all try to help you.

The Team

o Ingrid - Team leader.

o Chris - Holiday programs, Storytime packs, The Calm Corner

o Anne - School aged and Youth programs, YA collection.

o Susan F - Early childhood, parenting, family support, community outreach.

o Sam - Early childhood support, Coding, M-Bots, Summer Reading Club, PRC labelling (Sam also has knowledge of movies and playing movies for Storytime.)

o Bernie - Collection, special requests, AV collection, e-book and e-audio collection.

o Amy - Rhymesheets, resources, special requests for slides/rhymes/’feltboards’, Graphic Novels

How can we help you?

• Outreach-The kid’s team will go to Family and community health clinics and supported playgroups to talk about programs.

• Out-visits to schools or support for branches if they want to visit local schools.

• In branch support – training-you can come to us and/or we can come to you for training and support (Queries to Ingrid)

• Early childhood (Queries to Susan F)

• Primary and Youth (Queries to Anne)

• Summer Reading Club (Queries to Sam)

• School books (Queries to Sam)

• Storytime Packs (Queries to Chris)

• School holiday activity packs (Queries to Chris)

• Puppet packs (Queries to Amy)

Special requests for

• Rhyme sheets, Craft items (Call Amy)

• Books for the collection(Call or email Bernie)

• AV, databases(Call Bernie and Ingrid)

• Puppets or other (All team)

• Readers advisory (All team-Sam preparing training)

• Storytime DVD USB (Call Chris or Sam)

Holiday Activities

• Themes are set for each school holiday at the start of the year.

• Held at all Libraries except Bundeena.

• Combination of free and paid for events. This is growing and more branches are having extra holiday events.

• Many have to be booked through Eventbrite, bookings open three weeks before the school holidays

• Summer Reading Club

o Encourages reading habits over the summer holidays

o Linked with PRC

o Organised by Children and Youth team who send out resources.

o Runs from December to late January.

o Incentives for every 5 books read up to 20

o Major draw prizes.

o Prize giving ceremony attended by the mayor.

o Includes the Teen Summer Reading Club

• Free storytime activity

o Aimed at lower primary aged children.

o Will include stories, rhymes and games

o Craft will be more challenging and be included with your pack

• Building Brick Bonanza

o Lego in tubs will arrive at your branch

o Theme based

o Take photos of best… to include on Facebook page. (Check with parents if child’s face can appear in photo with item)

• Other

o Drawing Workshop

o Dog encounter (Shared among branches)

o Coding workshop (Sutherland)

o Themed trivia

o Robotics/Ozobots

o Youth Activity

o Stop motion animation

o Drop in craft

o Games

o Presenters

o Science education (Fizzics ed)

Pre-school visits

• We do not do storytime visits to pre-schools however if a pre-school is studying the community and request that a librarian comes to visit the pre-school to talk about the library we do that. Make sure you have handouts to give to the children-brochures etc.

• Pre-schools can call branches and organise visits for a story time event. Follow the same procedure for storytime but do not include the craft activity.

• Call Children and Youth if you need any help.

Primary School/High School visits

• Schools can call libraries to organise visits for a tour, and information about the search databases as well as leisure resources for school aged and young teens.

• Call Children and Youth if you need any help.

The Cubby

• Storytime held once each three weeks for children who find regular storytimes too confronting due to sensory sensitivity

• Held at Engadine library in the meeting room-lighting can be adjusted.

• Specific resources have been purchased for this program

• Ingrid and Chris have been trained in presenting this program, more staff to be trained

The Calm Corner

• Held at Engadine library one afternoon a month.

• For children who need a safe place to relax and become calm if stressed, anxious or unsettled.

• Specific resources are supplied (weighted blanket, weighted toys, fidget toys, a dark tent and more.

• Staff do not interact, it is solely a place for the family to go to feel calm and safe.

Special Classes

• Aspect/Bates Drive/Minerva street school

• These are special needs classes

• You will need to discuss with the teacher the needs of the students as some will be above average and others will have different needs.

• We offer a simplified story time with no craft activity.

• Call Children and Youth if you need any help.

Try this

A patron has come to ask for a book that deals with gender issues in children. Use encore and the first experiences subject heading to locate a book.

__________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Youth Programs during the Term

Duke of Edinburgh Volunteer Program (Sutherland only)

Limited places are available each term. Students are to apply on Council’s website at:

http://www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/Community/Volunteering/Duke-of-Edinburgh-Volunteering

For High School students only. Send enquiries to Jo or Ingrid.

Youth Events in the School Holidays

There are usually 1 or 2 Youth events in the school holidays. These vary from Henna workshops, polymer clay necklace workshops to MakerSpace 3D design and printing workshops. These are usually for High school students only.

Bookings are on our website and are usually open 3 weeks before the school holidays start.

Check out the Youth connect page on our website http://www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/Community/Library/Services/Youth-Connect

Send enquiries to Jo or Ingrid.

If you have any suggestions or feedback from the public about Youth events, please send them to Jo and Ingrid for consideration.

If you are interested in running a Youth event, please contact Ingrid and Jo.

HSC Resources

Ruth (from the Discovery and Research team) have put together a guide of useful resources on the HSC Students Page on our website. They also run HSC lectures during the year. Check out the HSC students’ page on our website

http://www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/Community/Library/Services/HSC-Students

Special Events

· Book Week

o Late August

o Children and Youth team and Children’s assistants at Branches give presentations at schools and in the library for school groups promoting the library and quality award winning literature. Book Week Swat Team

o Children and Youth team will communicate with schools and organise the branch out-visits.

o Branches organise their in-visits when out-visits have been planned.

· National Simultaneous Storytime. In library and information week

· The Great Book Swap to raise funds for Indigenous Literacy Foundation

· Evening events-parent information

· Youth Week-specifically for teens. Some funding from Council to support programs

· Reading hour/Australia Reads

· Library on the Lawn-Outdoor storytimes in parks. Usually linked to a relevant event

· Special storytimes-Grandparents day, Father’s day, Mother’s day…

M Go to Module 11

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 11 Data bases and online resources

2020-08-11T12:54:00.012+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 11 Data bases and online resources

In this module we'll look at online resources for children and youth.

Data bases suitable for children

• Research

• Britannica Online

• Gale virtual reference library

Reading Games on the library website

Beanstack

Beanstack is a reading tracker app that allows customers to log reading, activities, find out about events, see recommended reading lists, complete activities.

Customers are awarded badges for achieving goals.

We will be using Beanstack for Summer Reading Challenges as well as Books Before School and other challenges throughout the year.

Beanstack has an App you can download onto your phone for ease of use.

You can find out about Beanstack here

Literacy Planet

• Online games that focus on literacy skills

• Levelled from prep/Kinder to Year 10

• Spelling, grammar, comprehension and reading books - up to age 8 for reading.

• Australian voice and spelling

• Rewards and feedback to encourage and motivate.

• Game like features such as winning coins to buy things you can do with your avatar.

• You need a library card.

• You need to create an account to use it.

• You can download the app to your phone/tablet and use your log in to play/learn.

In2era Picture books online –

• We are changing the name to … Home Readers Online

• You don’t need a library card

• You don’t need an account.

• Can be used on a computer or a device.

• Online home readers from beginners onwards – 16 different levels.

• The Read along button has general readers and is a good place to start.

• Each book has fun activities attached to extend the learning experience.

LOTE online for kids

Enjoy over 1,000 digital children's books in 35+ languages, together with English translations, from the comfort of home!

Useful to recommend to parents who ask for bulk loans
Useful to families who want to maintain their mother-tongue
Useful to children who are learning another language
Auslan coming soon
App coming soon
More languages and more books being added constantly.

Busythings

• Works on iPhone but there’s limited functionality.

• Works best on a laptop or tablet.

• Requires library card number. No need to create an account.

• Doesn’t require flash.

• You can use the same library card on multiple devices to use busy things. For example, one child might be on the tablet and the other on a laptop.

• Requires internet connection.

• Covers ages 3-11 years.

• For children from ages 3 – 6 years topics include English, Maths, Art and music; Exploring the world; Computing and Just for Fun.

• For Children aged 7-11 years, topics include English, maths, Science, Art, Digital tools, Design and technology; food, geography, History, Religion, Family and community; Music and French and Spanish.

• You can also choose activities from the Latest Release and top 40 activities features.

• There’s a Busy box feature that tracks the progress of students using Busy Things according to Library service. Tap or click on the Busy Box on the right hand side panel in each age category to do the activities and earn stars for the library!

• It’s best to use Busy Things through our Library Website. There are some Busy Things apps, but they require payment in the app.

Storybox Library

•       Australian content
•       Australian and international readers
•       Mostly picture books but has some content for up to Yr 4.
•       Indigenous content
•       Craft activity for each story
•       Catalogued

Indy Reads

• Need to log in to access the content.

• Select Sutherland Library from the dropdown menu. You will then be asked for your Sutherland Shire Library card number.

• Search for content via the Children and Young Adult display container on the home page or by the search function.

• Has a limited range of Children’s content.

• Has a good range of Young Adult content such as The Rangers Apprentice and Tomorrow When the War Began.

World Book Early Learning

• Provides games, educational videos, stories that can be read to you or read by you and your child and fun activities.

• You just need your library card to access.

• Not available as an app, but can be accessed through the Library’s website on any device.

• Some activities require a strong internet connection.

• Some of the games will not work with iPhones and iPads.

• Works best on laptops and PC’s.

• All features focus on these fun and engaging topics:

• People at work.

• Rainforests.

• Dinosaurs

• Tough trucks

• On the move

• Terrific trees.

• Rainbow colours

• Counting Numbers

• Weather

• Animal homes

• Wild animals

• Creepy crawlies

• Sea creatures

• My Body

In Activities:

• Paint by numbers activity that you can do connected to the internet and then you can save your painting as a PDF and save it to your computer and print it.

• You can download and print mazes and connect the dots activities.

• In Colouring, you can colour on your device and even add stickers! Then you can save it as a PDF document and print it.

Britannica online

Try these training options from Britannica. Click here

• Three levels-Kids, Teens, Adults.

• You can search for articles, images, videos, dictionary, EBSCO journals and quality websites.

• Once in an article, at any level, you can nominate to have it read aloud, you can make it a favourite, email it to yourself, print, translate, increase or decrease font size and get the citation.

Research databases

Suitable for upper primary and going up to high school and senior school

Here is Module 12

Try this

Choose one game or database. Spend some time exploring it. Record two interesting things you could share with parents/carers.

__________________________________________________________________________

Training Module Children and Youth Module 12 Readers Advisory for Children and Youth

2020-08-11T12:45:00.054+10:00

Training Module Children and Youth Module 12 Readers Advisory for Children and Youth

Readers Advisory tools for Children and Youth

Just like any other Readers Advisory your knowledge of all books and authors will disappear from your memory bank as soon as you are asked the question.

Start your interview like you would an adult with questions like

What have you read recently that you really liked?

What did you like about that book?

Who is your favourite author?

What type of characters do you like?

What are your favourite genres - Do you like horror? Funny? Real Life? Fantasy? Adventure? Sad? Happy?
Do you like fast paced books?

Do you like books in a series?

Using Vega

Vega also has great information to help when searching for read alikes and authors who write like...

These are the result of looking up Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend.

When you click on the title, you have this option. Choose Details

This is what you will find:

Novelist

This is a handy guide from Novelist with appeal terms and definitions. Click on the image to open.

There is plenty of information in the training section on Compass too. Click here

Use our databases to help you, we have three that are suitable for Children’s RA: The Source, Who next? and Novelist. These are all available on our website, Novelist and Who next? are accessible from home.

Novelist has handy search terms for children's literature with genres, age ranges, appeal terms.

Novelist has tutorials you can follow to learn more about it.

The Source – Some tips for use

· Access this database through the library website. You will need to sign in; the password can be found in Objective and Compass.

o Objective, look in the Reference Passwords folder. https://edrms.ssc.nsw.gov.au/id:qA181376

o The Library Compass page http://compass.ssc.nsw.gov.au/About_Us/Unit_Portals/Library/Procedures/Practical_Enquiry_Desk_Help/Logins_Passwords About Us - Unit Portals – Library – Procedures - Practical Enquiry Desk Help - Logins & Passwords

· User name- libkids

· Password- jref

The Search Page

Add in any details the patron gives you

And the results will come up something like

There were many more titles listed than included in the screen grab and as you can see many are contemporary Australian authors. (The little Magpie image denotes Australian author)
You will then need to search Encore for the books listed.

Who next?- some tips for use

You need to be a library member to access it; you can access it from home.

You can limit your searches using these filters

And these are the genres

Icons

Star-Award winning

Speech bubble-Good to read aloud

Headphones-Available as talking book

Device-Available as E-book

This was my result

You can see the age group I chose and the genres. You can see that this doesn’t list all her works because of the filters I chose.

Or do an alphabetical search for a favourite author and get this result.

You will then need to search for the titles in Encore.

Try this:

Recall an enquiry you had in the past and have a go using the resouces available. Record any titles you found.

____________________________________________________________________

Young Adults Reader’s Advisory

Teen Picks
Most branches now have a collection of Teen Picks. This is a developing resource that is created from Staff reviews as well as reviews from the readers as well.
Staff are encouraged to write reviews of Young Adult items they have read. For more details please contact the children's team.

Begin the R.A. interview with some questions

What have you read recently that you really liked?

What are your interests? hobbies?

What did you like about that book?

Who is your favourite author?

What type of characters do you like?

What are your favourite genres - Do you like horror? Funny? Real Life? Fantasy? Adventure? Sad? Happy?
Do you like fast paced books?
Do you like books in a series?

Using Encore-A couple of tips

· When searching on Encore, you can limit the Search to “Young Adult” on the left hand side pane

· If you are looking for a Young adult fiction book based a subject, you can try searching for it in Encore. For Example, for stories about Skateboarding use the search term “Skateboarding – Juvenile Fiction” and then limit it to Young Adult books.

Young Adult Reader’s Advisory Useful Websites

• The New Items lists on our website. There is a Young Adult category that you can select from: http://www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/Community/Library/Services/Books-Reading/New-Items-Lists

• Reading Recommendations on our website. There are recommendations for YA titles. Get there via the Youth Connect page https://www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/Community/Library/Services/Youth-Connect/Recommended-Reading

• Love Oz YA Website – a website dedicated to promoting Australian Young Adult Fiction

o http://loveozya.com.au/type/resource/

• Children’s Book Week Council of Australia Shortlisted books from Book Week – look at the Older Readers category for Young Adults https://cbca.org.au/previous-winners

• Novelist. You can access from our website from the Books and Reading page. Be mindful that this is an American based resource and some titles we may not have. Be sure to check our catalogue first. http://www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/Community/Library/Digital-Collections/Research-Databases/NoveList

• Inside a dog. All about books – by young people, for young people https://insideadog.com.au/ Inside a Dog is a place for teen readers and the home of Inky, the reading wonder-dog. Here you can:

o Find great reads

o Share your reviews of books you love – or hate

o Discuss book news and hot topics on our news blog and in our forums

o Gain insight into an authors’ thoughts about writing and reading with our Writer in Residence blog

o Join or create a book club to talk about your reading

Try this

Check out one of the sites above and write down an interesting fact.

____________________________________________________________

Here is Module 13

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 1 Storytime programs

2020-08-11T11:49:00.078+10:00

Training Modules Children and Youth Module 1 Storytime programs

INTRODUCTION.

Welcome to the training modules for Children and Youth. These modules will take you through the programs that we run at Sutherland Shire Libraries as well as the resources available to you from the Children and Youth team.

Each module has a different focus, there are 16 in all. Some are longer than others. The modules contain articles to read, videos to watch and questions to answer. The questions are for your reflection and serve as reminders of some important facts. You will need access to a Google account to answer the questions. You can log into the library account suthlibrary@gmail.com. The password is in last pass.

Please take the time to complete all the tasks as the information is from a variety of experts from around the world.

At the end of Module 15 there is a link to Module 16-the Evaluation. Please complete this so we can make any changes to the training package and improve it.

You can get a print out of the Modules which includes the questions by sending me an email. You can then keep it as a handy resource. There is also a link to receive a certificate, please be sure to complete this.

Also towards the end of each module you will find a link to the next module. The list below are also links to each module.

Please note, all modules are mandatory for new staff. If you have been presenting for a while and would like to refresh your knowledge and skills then I recommend you complete Modules 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 15.

I hope you enjoy the training and that it is of benefit to you. The next step is to observe current staff doing the programs and to watch the kids team present programs. When you have watched a few, please join in co-presenting with a branch team member and gradually take on more and more of the prgram until you feel confident to do the whole presentation on your own.

Topics

Module 1 What is storytime? (Scroll down for this content.)

Module 2 Early Literacy Domains and The Five Practices.

Module 3 The storytime presenter-All about you

Module 4 Let's talk about...Behaviour Management

Module 5 Storytime-Planning storytime with the Early literacy domains

Module 6 Storytime - Elements and Skills

Module 7 Storytime routine

Module 8 Rhymetime and Togethertime-Why???

Module 9 Reading to babies and toddlers and planning rhymetime and togethertime

Module 10 Children and Youth Resources

Module 11 Data bases and online resources

Module 12 Readers Advisory

Module 13 Protective Behaviours

Module 14 Inclusion

Module 15 On the job training

Module 16 Evaluation

In this module we'll look at the outcomes of these training modules and also discuss what are known as storytimes and why they are important.

Outcomes of the training modules

The trainee will;

· understand the goals of the programs for children and youth available at Sutherland libraries

· understand the resources available through the children and youth services team

· participate in children and youth activities at the branches particularly Storytime, Rhymetime and Togethertime (where applicable)

· develop confidence in presenting programs to children at the branches

· identify the different members of the Children and Youth team and understand their role and how they can be of assistance

· identify Readers Advisory databases suitable for children and youth

What is Storytime and why do we do it?

What is storytime?

Storytimes are library programs designed for children from birth to school age, their parents and caregivers. At Sutherland libraries we have three storytime programs.

Participants engage with books and language activities such as songs, movement, music, fingerplays, rhymes, felt board, puppets, props, crafts and a short video.

Storytimes usually have a duration of about 30 minutes of songs and stories.

Different libraries have different names for storytime-Babygarten, Lapsit, Pre-school storytime, Walkers and Wigglers, Storytime for Littlies, Storytime for Bigs.

At Sutherland Library our programs are called Storytime (3-5yo), Togethertime (18 months to 36 months) and Rhymetime (0-24months). We do not designate ages in the titles even though we have ‘recommended’ age groups and we plan our programs for these age ranges. This allows children at different developmental levels from their age to participate easily. Our program names also reflect what is happening in our programs.

Siblings are always welcome so while we plan for a specific age/developmental range we need to be flexible.

Why do we provide these programs?

Stories and books are the centrepiece of storytimes. We start and finish with good books-the heart of the library’s mission.

o To share with children, parents and caregivers the joy of sharing books and reading, language and literature in all its forms.

o To encourage a lifelong love of reading and library use.

o To create positive interactions with books and other activities for adults and children to experience together.

o To make visits to the library engaging and to make the library a fun place to be and encourage parents and caregivers to come to the library.

o To expose the children to information and ideas they might not be aware of.

o To support and increase the Early Literacy Domains of children.

o To demonstrate and articulate Early Literacy Domains for parents and caregivers and to encourage them to continue these activities at home.

o To support group interactions and develop children’s social skills.

o To build relationships with families so they feel connected to the library.

o To promote and share library collections and resources.

Something to read

Library Storytime: It’s a Lot More than just the Story

Click here to go to Module 2

Click on Answer these to access the answerable questions

Answer these

What is the age range for storytime programs in libraries?

______________________________________________________________

Storytimes are designed for children and _____________________________

Generally, what is the duration of the songs and stories component of our programs?

__________________

Are siblings welcome in our programs?______________________

What are the three most important goals to you of storytime programs within libraries?

_________________________________________________________________

Critical reimagining – Adult literacy and numeracy practices conference Day 2

2019-11-27T17:59:00.003+11:00

Many of the speakers notes are now on the website, if you wish to see more than what I have presented here or in the previous blog.

Anke Grotluschen – Keynote – ‘Vunerability in Adult life – and how it affects Numeracy Practices’

In literacy, vulnerability equals the risk of exclusion. In feminist discourse vulnerability is regarded as a human condition.

Numeracy – how is it understood?
is it just basic calculation?
is it only practical uses?
is it rough estimating with no real use of formulas?
is numeracy just normative and political while mathematics is neutra?

Numeracy is critical and emancipatory. “So the poor common man is not cheated when buying bread”, Adam Ries in 1536 printed a book for calculating everyday prices in Indian/Arabic digits instead of by the convoluted abacus. This book is in Germany as famous as the first printing of the Bible.

Germany runs a study called LEO - Life with Low Literacy study the latest in 2018. The results: About 6.2 million German speaking adults between the ages of 18 and 64 years have a low literacy, so they have difficulty reading and writing. That's 12.1 percent of the total population, called the 1-3 level.

In terms of numeracy this is important because they are in lower income levels, with less knowledge of worker rights, finance contracts, credit, tax. They find it difficult to understand data in relation to their health, politics and the digital world of data grabbing and manipulation.

When asked, ‘Can you afford a one week vacation away from home per year?’ - 46% of this 1-3 level could not. 71.7% of this level did not feel competent in completing their tax, while the figure was only 43% in the general population. Similarly 43% did not feel competent in understanding their energy bill or a mobile phone contract as opposed to 19.3% of the general pop. 50% did not feel competent to do online banking, 65% did not feel competent to find information on worker rights. Only 25.5% dared to take part in political issues.

The percentage of people who have difficulty in judging whether news is credible was 44% in this level, but still 21.5% in the general population. Judging whether something is an ad or real information only 25% could tell, general population was 48%. Judging why online services collect personal data 61.3% could not, whilst 43% of the general population could not.

The point of all this was to stress that numeracy and literacy cannot be separated and with declining levels of numeracy due to technology doing it for us, (it is invisible, we feel it is irrelevant) Then people will become more and more vulnerable.

Her main point was that critical numeracy is needed in every single domain!

Political Numeracy:
• NOT: „go and vote“ (one of the parties who equally don‘t do anything for you)
• BUT: oppose government control, scrutinize evidence-based monitoring etc.

Financial Numeracy:
• NOT: „save and get along with your money“ (even if one can‘t make a living on social benefit)
• BUT: negotiate salaries and social benefits, tell advertisement from information, see how companies try to trick with non-understandable contract offers

Health Numeracy:
• NOT: „Five green leafy vegetables a day!“ or „eat apples and go running“ (as if it were your fault when you get ill)
• BUT: oppose giving tracking system data to health insurances , advocate for better housing (LEO 2018), criticize fast food chains in low-income neighborhoods, claim regular working hours

Digital Numeracy:
• NOT: „use online banking“ „use online government services“ (and don‘t ask for a person that explains things to you)
• BUT: ensure data ownership , understand how algorithms feed our filter bubbles and how to hack them oppose recruiting algorithms in HRD

Amy Thomas – Keynote – ‘Navigating the “safety zone”: assimilation, self-determination and indigenous engagement with bilingual schooling in Australia’

This lecture was principally about the need to have indigenous education in the hands of the Indigenous communities and with bilingualism being a driving factor. It is necessary to make an equitable and sustainable future.

The example is of the Yipirinya School and the struggle to run it and keep it under Indigenous control and run it as they want. Who decides what is failure? Imbedded in education is a contest about the future…what must we know?

It was interesting but only relevant to our library in that we need to remember that the basis of learning to literate in English is being literate in one’s first language.

Julie Choi and Yvette Slaughter – digital and linguistic resources of pre-and beginner level adult English language learners: what are the affordances and limitations?

These women ran a study on a class of ESL learners. 41 people from 12 countries with 16 languages between them. What was common among them…they were all using their phones for meaning-making practices.

What were they using? WhatsApp, Facebook, daily practices like Holy Bible and Shopfully. Google translate, WeChat, LearnEnglish, Phonetic Chart.

How are they using it? Forwarding, note making, copy& paste/translate, speech function, handwriting, typing, enlarging, spelling functions – not very successfully due to pronunciation and the way they frame the question. Low literacy in any language limited the users to audio and visual functions only.

For important apps they rely on family, teachers and friends to help them no sense of privacy for the individual eg MyGov, CentrelinkGas bills, doctors.

How can these be used differently, what are the limitations, outside of just getting by how can they be used as tools for learning about language. Edtech mobile apps are offering more options. Techfugees are empowering the displaced with technology.

When you use the tools the students are using they can become the ‘experts’, can show others in their class and the teachers and learn to value the knowledge they do have and build upon it and gain confidence.

Vanessa Iles – “Sorry but we can’t help you”: Finding new ways to meet the needs of students, communities and employers

In 2015 there were declining classes and increasing calls to the Hotline. Many were being turned away without help. The Hotline reinvented itself as a diagnostic and advocacy service, employing experienced literacy teachers on the frontline to assess callers, diagnose their level and correctly refer.

They deal with 1500 literacy providers across Australia. 28% is TAFE, 30% community sector, 22% private RTO and 7% are libraries.

Callers tell them it is hard to find courses, customer service of provides is hard to navigate; they feel ashamed, accreditation is not important, the enrolment process & assessment component of courses discourages their attendance. English speaking background people are too embarrassed to attend the same classes as NESB people. They want a non-threatening environment and content which is not for job seekers.

She listed the various volunteer tutor programs available. 26Ten in Tasmanian libraries, Gold Coast Library and ReadWriteNow in WA. TASTafe, North Coast TAFE, Redlands, Broken hill and Allice Springs all have online volunteer tutor training available. Purple House

Steve Goldberg – Meeting a community need: customising learning materials to teach basic legal rights and digital literacy skills using mobile technology to migrants and refugees

He was talking with students and found that they were getting a poor deal with their workplaces and realised they did not know their rights. Found the FairWork Ombudsman website difficult to navigate himself so started working with the students to teach them how to empower themselves when it came to workers, and social rights.

He suggests embedding the lessons into the required course work. It is best to use mobile technology because for many migrants desktop computing was bypassed. It’s familiar and affordable, it is there with you as need it. What are their rights as a shopper, laws around refunds and exchange. On the NSW Fair trading website use Q search get translations. Fair Work has ‘record my hours’ app, clock on take photos, geotrack, take photos, keep the records and export to the Fair Workplace app.

Lidia Lipkiewicz – Plan a project – an innovative project-based learning approach to developing language and literacy skills for ESL? EALD job seekers

Using a fun relevant activity based approach to learning the language required for job seeking.

Content includes goal setting, pathways to jobs, job seeking skills
Method is group work and project based and culturally mixed.
Each week they explore new job/skills. It is driven by the students. It is through ‘doing’ that students learn. It is about keeping the learning relevant and possible. “I can get a job if I want one and work towards it”

Inclusion-make it real

2019-11-21T12:35:00.000+11:00

Inclusive Programming Nov 1 2019

Attendees from Sutherland Libraries: Chris Newett and Ingrid Micallef

These notes and the slide presentation that links to them are in Objective----

in a folder called EarlyEd inclusion

Purpose: To discover best practice for inclusive programming. To apply this to The Cubby program and other programs for pre-school children.

Pre-amble: Diagnosis? Often children at this age are not diagnosed and are displaying a variety of behaviours

The goal is to encourage participants into the mainstream programs.

Inclusion-fully participate. Councils now have an inclusion plan. (Check Suth Council)

Using Signs

KWS-based on Auslan but is not Auslan as Auslan has a distinct grammar and syntax.

Incorporates natural gesture

Talk and sign together never just sign.

Some basic Signs

Toilet - Sign for letter ‘t’ and tap several times. Tap more to indicate urgency!

Hot – hooked finger and wipe sweat and flick from brow

More – Cup hand to chest and pull away

Finish – Thumb up and wiggle side to side

Yes – fist nod up and down

No – fist nod side to side

My/mine – fist to chest (as if pointing but no pointing finger)

Your- fist turned out (as if pointing but no pointing finger)

Like – circle hand at heart

Don’t like - circle hand at heart, shake head and add negative facial expression.

Yum – circle hand at tummy

The needs of the child-under or over sensitive. Ask parent - How can we support your child?

Change the environment to suit

Careful about demands placed on child

Have resources (lap toys etc) only if needed and if suitable to child-parent will know.

Seating options

· Stay in pram?

· Facing parent?

Partnership with parent

· Have books online to match those in program.

· “Do you need extra help?”

Always ask who is new? Understand that anyone new will display different behaviours. Behaviours of disabled child will be the same as other children however delayed or longer in duration.

1. FOCUS ON ABILITY

What is the best way for the child to sit?

What do they like?

What can they do?

-Focus on the individual not the stereotype or label

-Multiple disabilities-Downs syndrome and hearing loss…

Consider

-range of movement

-co-ordination and motor planning

-support systems in place, assistive technologies

-strength and stamina

-hearing and vision

-sensory processing

-memory

-cognition

When talking about disability put the person FIRST e.g a child with autism NOT an autistic child

Special support rather than special needs

(INGRID-work on wording for our program, what is our target group?)

2. SUPPORT INDIVIDUAL NEEDS

Structure with flexibility

Framework-scaffolds

3. THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF SUPPORT

-Just enough/not too much

Can confuse/distract/distress

Observe what is happening

Respect independence

Ask and offer support rather than provide it

Make storyboards consistent across branches

EVERY BEHAVIOUR IS A COMMUNICATION-intentionally communicating a message OR unintentionally expressing an unmet need.

IDENTIFY BEHAVIOUR-sitting crossed arms, scowling

NOT INTERPRETATION OF BEHAVIOUR-grumpy, non-compliant

4. AMOUNT OF SUPPORT - ASK FIRST.

What can I do?

What kind of support does your child need for this session?

Respect the parents control, they are the expert for this child.

Managing difficult conversations-(This is where I disagree with the training as we are not in a position as trained child behavioural experts to have this conversation. We can provide resources and give feedback in a general or non-judgemental manner such as-your child really enjoyed that song, we’ll use it again next week OR that song seemed to cause your child some stress we’ll not sing it again.)

5. SUPPORTS TO HAVE IN PLACE

Aimed to help understanding – give instructions.

SUPPORT THE UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN.

5A. Be face to face

5B. Show with visual materials or gestures-this slows down the message; therefore easier to comprehend.

5C. Wait (5 sections) Give time to process before giving more information

Observe Wait Listen

5D Visual Schedules

Includes mat and chairs (?)

Part of Plan

Something to show you are the storyteller (Lanyard? Headband?)

Social Story

Puppet

Storyboard on paper to hand out

VISUALS

Sitting on the floor social story

Moving around the library social story

Going to the toilet social story

Consistency in size and colour

Visuals also helpful to parents

Keyword Sign kwsnsw.com

Boardmaker (1 month free trial)

Different stripes of colour for different activity

MUSIC

Interest based

More engaged learning

Do less songs and do those 2 or 3 times

Use felt board for songs

Facilitate development of language and communication.

BOOKS

What makes a good book?

· Clear setting

· Problem/starting eent

· Character reactions

· Attempts to solve the problem

· Consequences

· Resolution

Who sank the boat/

Baa for beginners

Emily likes to bounce

Ducks away

WHAT NEXT?

Evaluate and consider goals for program, who we are targeting? Are we being inclusive or exclusive? Wording for notifying families of the program and it’s goals.

RESOURCES

Raising children website https://raisingchildren.net.au/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqJydq8jj5QIVGB4rCh1RXwT_EAAYASAAEgILlfD_BwE

Key Word Sign NSW

http://www.kwsnsw.com/

Hanen

http://www.hanen.org/CMSPages/PortalTemplate.aspx?aliaspath=%2fHome

Early Ed

https://www.earlyed.com.au/

Parachute

https://www.teaching.com.au/product/KS180

Puppet-child sized

http://www.bilby.net/DisplayCat.asp?CatID=4&SubCatID=64

Sign bank

http://www.auslan.org.au/

Ingrid

Inclusion - make it real

2019-11-21T12:28:00.002+11:00

Inclusion - make it real

Penrith NSW Nov 1, 2019

Presented by EarlyEd.

Chris Newett and Ingrid Micallef attended this workshop in order to gain some more understanding of Inclusion best practice to support The Cubby storytime and The Calm Corner.

Inclusion – Making it Real – Inclusive Story Time – Professional Development for Public Libraries

Friday 1^st November Penrith Council

Diagnosis – autism?

Barriers – how to manage

Early Connections – collaboration

Keyword sign – Signbank

Challenges – demands on the child. What can we change? Environment? Seating?

Booking – when booking add a question – Do you need any help? Special needs?

We welcome …

Environment work for you

Raising Children Website

Chat first. Everyone has bad days

Focus on child’s ability non disability

Say …a child with autism/downs syndrome …

Not… autistic child

Special needs? Additional needs? Target group? Inclusive/exclusive

Support the child’s individual needs.

Structure-framework-flexibility

Adapt

Not too much support – confuse, distract. Even too much praise.

Use strategy that is broad. Ask parent do they need support.

Behaviour- how to manage it

Profile – behaviour eg finds it hard to concentrate, rocks back and forth.

Could say “he enjoyed that song today”

Wait so the child can process a song eg Twinkle Twinkle little star how I wonder what you are……pause…………….Up above etc

Use visuals – glasses, hat

Prepare/explain/show/finish

Social story – photos/videos

Boardmaker Spectronics

Social impact UTS

Kwsnsw.com.au

Autismapp.org.au

Auslan signbank

Music is a great tool as it helps develop language – it doesn’t teach language

Interest based learning

Repetition – less is more

Rhyme and rhythm

Narrative is important

Don’t talk/interrupt the story too much – read it

Hanen

Siblings – give them a role be inclusive.

Chris

Critical Re-imagining: Adult literacy and numeracy practices for sustainable development

2019-11-20T12:23:00.000+11:00

Back in October I attended the above two day conference at the University of Sydney.

I thought I'd send around my impressions of the conference as a whole and a summary of the first days sessions. I haven't go to the second day's yet!

There is a large body of people who require help to become functionally literate, so they can fully engage with their families, the community, government services and be effective and efficient in workplaces. Much of the funding for training in the Literacy space is geared towards skills for the workplace, and syllabuses are proscriptive. Research shows that the motivation for people to attempt to access literacy training is usually more personal than just to get/keep work. The driver for success with students is 'whatever the reason' they have been brave enough to admit they have a need to learn. Therefore set coursework is rarely relevant and so largely ineffectual. Student centred learning is needed. The prevailing wisdom was that literacy and numeracy training needs to be individualised to suit the student and therefore one on one training is ideal.

The United Nations Sustainable Development goal number 4 is:
Education – Universal literacy is achieved by 2030 for all youth and a substantial proportion of all men and women.

This conference was aimed at supporting and equipping language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) teachers with tools and methods to teach, from the premise of literacy to fulfil the student needs rather than from the need for skills for employment goals.

Funding bodies over the past 10 years have increasing only been funding programs which restrict LLN learning to those skills which directly relate to workplace situations. They have also focussed on quantitative assessment of each module and the need to be competent in each module after a specific time frame and then moving on. Funding does not allow for repeating courses. Adult literacy is so much more than a tool for economic development.
The common thread through all the presentations was that when teaching is related to the need of the student this is when learning has meaning and therefore actually takes place. Connecting with individuals is the key to LLN learning. Achieving literacy and numeracy not only has benefits for the students directly but also for their communities and the broader community as their understanding of issues related to sustainable practices also increases.

Ralf St Clair, Keynote speaker, pointed out that we know literacies are numerous and complex and tutors and teachers need to own the fact that all people have capabilities, people know stuff, that LLN students are very capable adults that are looking to expand their capabilities.

He suggested there is a constant battle with governing bodies between ‘Purity/order’ driving towards an ever more restricted view of literacy (work relevant only) and ‘Danger/Chaos’ the rest of our lives (expanding literacies internet, etc.). Education is a human right – no learner should need to justify their desire to learn – if we put limits on it we are denying human rights.

Ralf believes teaching should start with what brought them to learn, give funders what they want – then add what is necessary, be tactical and strategic. Take risks, engage with the danger that lies in the structures of the enterprise – like Greta Thunberg – out with the grey.
But remember learners take the biggest risk, when they come forward and acknowledge they need help.

Ros Appleby, Keynote speaker, discussed how language and literacies are changing in response to our engagement with nature, or lack of it. Oxford junior dictionary removed magpie, tiger, almond and fern to add attachment, broadband and chatroom! This change is made because there is little need for the former words and the latter are in daily usage. The discussion was about ‘nature deficit disorder’ and the ‘extinction of experience’. Ros suggested the solution to this is to reconnect to nature and create relationships with other than human and promote the protection of animals.

The language with which we talk about animals impacts on our perceptions of them and their worth.
For example how the media discuss sharks as lurking, prowling, stalking, killers, monsters with razor sharp teeth influences our reaction when there are human encounters. Language changes according to context. Ros suggests that using examples like these is a useful teaching tool to inform people of the sustainability debate whilst improving their literacy.

Dr Alison Abraham - Workshop: Transforming practice through an understanding of socio-cultural conditions in the classroom
This looked like the least ‘not applicable to libraries’ of the workshops offered in the timeslot. The basic premise was to point out that when talking/teaching literacy there are three dimensions to be aware of;
-    Operational dimension, this is the structure of the language and learning
-    Cultural dimension, the students own and the institutions
-    Critical dimension, which is where discussion takes place around the learning
Research was conducted on what took place in classrooms and then was analysed. Essentially she found repeatedly that social interaction was required for learning to take place. That is, what is upper most in students thoughts needs to be dealt with/acknowledged and discussed (socio-cultural dimension) before the critical dimension (true understanding) can be reached. Eg. Students rugby team has lost the game and they were too sad to learn. Transform teaching practise by allowing the students to be human. Theory needs to compliment practice, not drive it.

Christl Doemling - Workshop: Why have volunteers in Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN)?
In 1979 LLN was first offered as a volunteer program. In the mid 1980’s UTS offered a Graduate Diploma for literacy tutors and paid work became available with TAFE classes in size of between 1 and 6 students. Now there are up to 20 students and can be higher. The model which developed ‘competency based training’ is incompatible with ‘needs based provision’. The ‘lock step’ acquisition of literacy which underpins funding and current course delivery is not realistic.

In NSW, North Coast TAFE, Ultimo TAFE, and AMEP train and offer volunteers for LLN. Literacy for Life too. In Victoria 40% of public libraries have trained volunteers/ or community education teachers. (2015) In QLD the Sunshine Coast Libraries, AMEP Tropical North QLD TAFE have a home tutor scheme. Tasmania have 10 year government funding for 26TEN, a state wide literacy program delivered through the public library system. They will also offer a new online volunteer tutor training available in 2020.
Nationally there is TAFE Digital and the Reading Writing Hotline – trained tutors themselves they assess clients’ needs and connect them to services, which can provide them with a tutor capable of helping them. They also connect tutors to organisations.

Tutors need to be supported and have good co-ordination across the community, but they are needed to fill the gaps left by skills based training models.

Frances Williamson, Rose Amazon and Deborah DurnamWorkshop: Aboriginal Maetras: ”bringing out our voices” through the Yes, I can! Campaign
Literacy for Life in action. They train volunteers from Aboriginal communities to work with the adults in the community starting with the assumption that the adults feel shame about needing to attend classes so they bring them in with the children and both learn at the same time. It is a whole family and storytelling approach which allows for two way learning and for community commitments to take precedence.
There is a need for young role models in the community. The model removed the power structure and gave it to the “educator” in the community. When the program left the area, the ‘educators’ are still there. Community members still come to those 'educators' and the other participants in the program for help and guidance.
Popular education of this type helps people self-actualise. In the Aboriginal sphere it is also a de-colonising journey which forces the 'white experts' to stand back and let go of the power and allow the community educators to do it better in their own way and with the different perspective needed for success.

Next installment soon
Jacinta

Borrowbox Rates Notice Campaign

2019-09-12T20:04:00.003+10:00

In July the Library distributed this flyer with the Rates Notices to 70,000 households in the Shire. The first flyers made it into homes from Friday, 19 July 2019. Let's take a look at the impact of the campaign.

The flyer advertising Borrowbox distributed with rates notices to households across the Shire

Campaign Details

Campaign Cost: $643.72
Number of Flyers distributed: 70,000
New Users Acquired: 200+
Cost per new user: $3.21 (and falling)

How many people acted on the flyer?

The flyer that was delivered advertised Borrowbox ebooks and eaudiobooks. It included a special URL that linked to the Library website, which allowed us to identify people who used that link separately from the general traffic to the Borrowbox page.

As the Rates Notices made it into homes we saw a sharp spike in campaign traffic, peaking at 30 users (33 sessions) on Wednesday, 24 July. The campaign traffic then slows down over the next couple of weeks with a long tail still showing 1 or 2 users every day or so right up to the time of writing on 9 September.

This graph shows the number of users who visited the Library website after receiving the Borrowbox flyer with their Rates Notice

So far, 199 users have initiated 303 sessions on the website that can be attributed directly to the Rates Notice campaign.

We can see that some people saw the flyer and it prompted them to visit the website but is this traffic significant or just a drop in the bucket of normal usage? Well, it turns out that if we look at all the visits to the Borrowbox page during the same time period there is a clear indication that the increase in traffic from the campaign is indeed visible. The spike in the graph below corresponds closely with the one above, showing that the number of times the Borrowbox page was viewed increased with the extra campaign traffic.

This graph shows the number of times the Borrowbox page on the Library website was viewed from all sources. The spike shows the increase in views during the campaign.

Taking a deeper look into the Google Analytics I can see how much of the total traffic to the Borrowbox page came from the campaign. Google searches are, without exception, the major source of traffic to the website - full stop! Typically, Google is the source of just over 50% of traffic to the Borrowbox page. During the campaign period, however, that figure is slightly lower and the Rates Notice campaign generated 21% of the traffic to the page - 1 out of every 5 page views can be attributed to the campaign.

This chart shows the proportion of traffic to the Borrowbox page from different sources.

What impact did the campaign have on Borrowbox usage?

It's one thing for people to visit the website as a result of the flyer but that does not tell us whether they joined Borrowbox or borrowed and ebook (or audiobook). Unfortunately, we can't directly tie new user sign ups or loans to the campaign material. The best we can do is look at the long term growth trends and see if there is any noticeable changes on and after the campaign flyer was delivered. There are 2 aspects that we can investigate – users and loans.

The graph below shows new Borrowbox sign-ups over time. Prior to the campaign we were averaging 107 new users per month. We can see that during July and August, after the flyers were delivered, we roughly doubled the typical number of new Borrowbox users, illustrated by the two bars for these months spiking way above the trend line. And we can see that we have 58 new users to date in September with two-thirds of the month remaining. I would expect that by the end of September we will have another month that is well above our trend.

This graph shows the number of users who signed up to Borrowbox each month.

I have to reiterate that we cannot tie any of these new users directly to the campaign but I think it is reasonable to assume that without the campaign we would have continued along a typical monthly trend. Therefore, I would be reasonably confident that to date the campaign has resulted in 200+ new Borrowbox users that we wouldn't have acquired otherwise.

As well as new sign-ups, the campaign flyer may well have reminded some existing users to try the service again after a lapse. The next graph shows the number of active Borrowbox users over time. While the impact is not as pronounced in this instance (because the numbers are larger the change is not as obvious), we can still see the months of July and August significantly above the long term trend. In addition, September is on track to be the highest number yet. While the September figure is just below the total for May 2019, the graphs were made with data up to the 10 September. I can tell you that by 12 September the Active User count was up to 1257 – higher than any month pre-campaign – with 18 full days remaining in the month.

This graph shows the number of active Borrowbox users each month.

Lastly, we should take a look at the trend for Borrowbox loans over the same period. In the following graph we can see a slowly growing trend in the total number of loans, similar to the growth in active users. Once again, however, the total loans in July and August 2019 sit significantly above the long term trend. Indeed they are the top two highest monthly totals since Borrowbox has been available.


This graph shows the number of loans of ebooks and eaudiobooks from Borrowbox each month.

Success?

So what have we learnt?

There were at least 200 people who acted on the campaign and visited the website.
Something like 200 users more than we might otherwise have expected signed up to Borrowbox in the 2 months following the campaign.
Both Active Users and Total Loans reached their highest totals in these two months.

When I first started looking at these numbers I was inclined to think it wasn't that great an impact for 70,000 flyers but I've changed my mind. I think this campaign was well worth the cost (under $650).

What I haven't shown in the graphs above is the average number of loans per Active User each month. That figure is very stable. It ranges from 3.1 to 3.7 but is generally either 3.3 or 3.4, which makes sense. There's a limit to the number of books a person can read in a month – and 3 or 4 sounds about right. Some people read a few more, some less but it always averages out around that number.

Thinking long term, if the loans per active user stays constant, the only way to grow usage is to increase the number of people wo borrow books, i.e. active users. As shown in the graphs, there is a natural growth rate over time, however, if you can increase that number of active users above the long term trend the impact on loans is more pronounced because every active user is worth 3.4 loans per month. And those users who only discovered Borrowbox as a result of the campaign may become long term active users, providing growth to the Borrowbox loans into the future. Over their lifetime they may represent dozens or hundreds of loans that we wouldn't have otherwise had.

Not every household in the Shire will want to use Borrowbox to download ebooks and eaudiobooks but you only need a relatively small increase in active users to grow loans over time. And when you look at it from this perspective the impact of the distribution of flyers was well worth it.

Martin