Bookaburra Storytime

Last year I noticed an advert for a pilot project that our local council was starting. It caught my eye because it had my favourite word in it.

It was called the "Bookaburra Storytime Volunteer Project"... Can you see the word? STORY!

I signed up for the training and enjoyed both days of learning about storytelling to pre-school aged kids in storytimes at playgroups, libraries, after-school care and more. I was assigned two schools and was excited to start.

Then the tumour saga began. So, I never got to go read stories to the little kids at the schools I was supposed to go to.

This year, the Bookaburra Project reached the end of it's funding for a staff member. This meant the program would fizzle to a stop unless there were some willing volunteers to keep it running. Having served in numerous leadership roles, I got very excited! Two other volunteers also accepted the leadership challenge and we met together with the outgoing staff member to be handed the project. After than meeting, one of the other volunteers was forced to withdraw from the leadership team because her Mum is sick and needs her full time care.

So, Fiona and I are now the two coordinators. Fiona's background is in team leadership and coordination roles in the banking sector but she is now retraining in Primary School Teaching. She is a passionate library supporter and a fantastic storyteller.

Yesterday, we ran our first "Story Sharing Session" in which the volunteers (of whom there are currently eleven) can swap book kits and stories about how they are going in their storytelling roles. The counsel has invested in a huge stack of books and props to go with the books. I sorted through them all and seperated them into easily transferable kits. This makes it easier for the storytellers to grab a kit (about 5 books and a couple props) and go. The Story Sharing Session was lots of fun and the ideas shared were fantastic.

One of the messages to come out of the meeting is that our storytellers needed an easy way to access information about the books, training, sharing sessions, etc. So, I started a blog. Have a look! And, please, take the one question survey on the sidebar!

http://bookaburrastorytime.blogspot.com.au