CHILDREN of all ages, and those young at heart, descended on the Eureka Centre last Thursday for Australian Reading Hour.<\/p>\n
Coordinated by Ballarat Libraries, the event included early ages book readings and interactive storytelling from City of Ballarat Councilor Amy Johnson, City of Ballarat Children\u2019s and Youth Librarian Julie Bull and Daylesford storyteller Anne E Stewart.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Reading Hour is a national program run across public libraries and it\u2019s about getting people together and making connections,\u201d City of Ballarat Libraries spokesperson Mark MacNamara said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for us to put some of our services outside our normal static library spaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue for families is probably getting to some of the branches, especially the main one, so it\u2019s an opportunity for us to get out into the community at sites like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the centre\u2019s theatre was filled with the chatter of excited kids eagerly taking part in the storytelling, the main aim of the day was to help set habits for active listening and pre-school literacy.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something that Mr MacNamara sees as important to early childhood development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we know from lots of research and experience is that children that have good literacy levels, once they get to school, they\u2019re prepared for school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re providing is that opportunity to prepare your children for school.\u201d Ms Stewart agrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s getting them reading ready with all those different words and ideas,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019ll go into their heads and be brought out when they start to read.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Stewart, who trained at Ballarat Library before heading to the Northern Territory to practice her craft, said she enjoyed the challenge of engaging young children in positive reading and listening habits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a hard age group but I love little kids,\u201d she said. \u201cA famous doyen of Australian literature Maurice Saxby wrote a book called Give Them Wings and he said if you teach kids to read you give them wings to soar.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I always thought my job was to develop listeners and to get them to develop and love of language and literature.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Australian Reading Hour event was the first time the activity had been held at the Eureka Centre, however, Ballarat Libraries regularly hosts similar events across its branches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis happens at all of our branches – Ballarat, Wendouree, Sebastopol – we present programs at those branches throughout the week,\u201d Mr MacNamara said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also provide them at a number of outreach sites, at the Lucas Community Hub and a number of other sites around Ballarat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CHILDREN of all ages, and those young at heart, descended on the Eureka Centre last Thursday for Australian Reading Hour. Coordinated by Ballarat Libraries, the event included early ages book readings and interactive storytelling from City of Ballarat Councilor Amy Johnson, City of Ballarat Children\u2019s and Youth Librarian Julie Bull and Daylesford storyteller Anne E […]<\/p>\n