CHILDREN across the Limestone Coast joined their peers around Australia for National Simultaneous Storytime yesterday, entering the world of chicken divas Whitney and Britney for the 20th anniversary event.
Students in Foundation to Year 6 took part in the 11am reading of Whitney and Britney the Chicken Divas by Lucinda Gifford as part of the Australian Library and Information Association initiative.
The national annual event promotes the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children’s book that explores age-appropriate themes and addresses key learning areas of the national curriculum.
With COVID-19 restrictions still in place, Mount Gambier North Primary School Year 1/2 teacher Meagan Baldwin said this year’s event had not suffered from impacts brought on by the global pandemic.
“I think this year’s event has attracted more interest than I have seen before and there has been more support shown among teachers online,” Ms Baldwin said.
“I have noticed there has been supplied copies of e-books and PDF versions for students who can not be at school to read.
“We also limited other classrooms from joining us when we read the book or watch any livestream readings.”
Ms Baldwin said yesterday morning’s literacy learning block was completely centered around the quirky Australian book with in-class activities held following the reading.
“It is really just a fun book and it has a lot of interesting vocabulary which allows for the teaching of various parts of literacy components,” she said.
Ms Baldwin said the event was beneficial for students in many ways and praised Mount Gambier Library for providing an e-link and a pre-recorded reading livestream to all registered participants in the region.
“We have a huge interest in reading throughout our classrooms anyway,” she said.
“It is just another way to encourage reading and allows the students to connect artwork with literacy which extends into their writing.
“It does also make for a fun day for all involved.”
