Last week Sandhya Koirala, the assistant librarian at the Inuvik Public Library and I were lucky enough to attend the Training Institute 2016, held by the Centre for Family Literacy in Edmonton. It was a great week filled with learning, fun, and getting to meet others in the family literacy field.
Our training started off with a two-day Introduction to Family Literacy. Our instructors, Donna and Cheryl, were full of information and enthusiasm. My favourite activity was choosing books. Everyone got to pick a children’s book and then tell the group about it — the age group it would be good for, what type of book it was, if we liked it or not, and if it would be useful in our programs. Sandhya and I both will be more thoughtful about the books we use in our programs in the future.
On our third day of training we got to choose a more specific session and Sandhya and I both chose Storysacks. Both the NWT Literacy Council and the Inuvik Library frequently use Storysacks, so we thought it would benefit us to get some new ideas. The facilitators, Wendy and Megan, did a great job explaining the ins and outs of what makes a good Storysack. In the afternoon we split up into smaller groups to make our own Storysack. Sandhya and I made a Storysack for Stella Star of the Sea. We made the main characters and some of the ocean animals that were in the book. We also added a non-fiction book about sea creatures and story extenders like bingo, a matching game, songs, and comprehension questions. We had a great time brainstorming different ideas and putting our Storysack together. We were proud of our finished product.
For our final day and a half of training both Sandhya and I opted to take B.O.O.K.S, which stands for Books Offer Our Kids Success! I came away feeling more confident to teach parents how to choose books and help their children read and do literacy activities related to books.
The week made me appreciate how good the NWT Literacy Council’s own Family Literacy Training is, and gave me ideas about how it could be even better. Stay tuned for the dates for our annual Family Literacy Training Institute next fall.
In the meantime, check out the Storysacks that you can borrow from us.
