Libraries bursting with children
Buk bilong Pikinini libraries are literally bursting with children!
News
Staff Training
Buk bilong Pikinini ran its first ever week-long annual training programme in January this year. In total, 27 of our staff attended the
programme, including our librarians from Goroka, Lae and Alotou.
The training programme was filled with new ideas, teaching strategies and improvements for 2012. Some of the focus areas included:
- Phonics training
- Classroom Management
- Teaching Virtues
- Using library resources
- Arts and Craft ideas
- Awareness raising
- Monitoring and Evaluation
Phonics was a major focus of the training. Our main goal as a library is to get books into the hands of children who need them the most.
However, in order to get the most out of books, we recognize that we need to get children reading. So, using the Jolly Phonics Course as a
reference, Buk bilong Pikinini designed and introduced a new phonics syllabus for allthe libraries. After introducing the new material at the training programme, all our librarians are now becoming well acquainted with thenew phonics syllabus, and we are already seeing results in the
libraries.
The training course also focused on encouraging the librarians to share ideas. All of our librarians have their own unique ideas and
teaching strategies. However, with nine libraries spread across Port Moresby, Goroka, Lae and Alatou, they rarely all get a chance to sit
down and talk about their individual strengths and weaknesses. The training programme provided an invaluable opportunity for librarians to
share and learn from each other. Each librarian is sure to return to their respective library with new ideas they have learned from their
colleagues.
We were also lucky to have external facilitators visit the Koki Library to deliver training sessions to our staff. We had Amy
Phillips, a former teacher at Ela Murray International, come anddeliver a talk on how to organize books and readers into reading
levels. We were also lucky to have brilliant facilitators from Colgate Palm Olive and the RSPCA to come and talk to our librarians about
delivering messages on oral hygiene and animal rights to young children. NASFUND and Westpac also delivered some very useful advice
to our staff on super and banking.
The children attending sessions in Buk bilong Pikini libraries are sure to benefit greatly from the new changes
introduced and fantastic ideas shared throughout the week.
Koki Community Library
The first anniversary of the Buk bilong Pikinini library at Koki Markets was celebrated on the 11th of November 2011.Ocean theme: looking after the sea
On 1st. June 2011 Rachael James, Miss PNG came to launch Buk bilong Pikinini's theme for the month of June which is OCEAN. Buk bilong Pikinini is supporting the Bank of South Pacific's campaign of Go Green to try to encourage the children who attend our libraries to be more aware of their environment. This month, as well as focusing on the whole aspect of what is in the Ocean, learning how to write, read, draw and make some of the marine life that lives in the sea off the coast of Port Moresby, Buk bilong Pikinini wanted to emphasise the importance of keeping the sea clean. The kids were very interested in all of Miss PNG's slides and they seemed to understand the value of their neighbour, the sea!
On 7th. June 2011 these 12 lucky kids from the Buk bilong Pikinini Koki Markets Library went on a field trip to Fisherman''s Island. The theme for June is OCEAN and to explore this even further, we decided to take 12 of the kids who have been the most regular and attentive and those that are really trying to make progress with their reading, on an Ocean visit. We went by speedboat (kindly loaned plus crew to us for the morning by POMSAC, the Port Moresby Sub Aqua Club, life jackets supplied by the Royal Papua Yacht Club) to the Island and the children marvelled at the seas different colours.
Once again Miss PNG and the BSP Go Green campaign joined us for this trip, to promote the importance of keeping the ocean clean and protecting this valuable marine environment. Once on the island Buk bilong Pikinini spent time with the kids at the school and others, who don't attend school because they are too young or, parents do not think education is important! Books were read, pictures were drawn and shells were gathered from the sea to make an Ocean Collage.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the trip, librarians, staff, BbP kids and the Fisherman Islanders. One of the outcomes of the visit was that we are hoping the Islanders will use our library at Koki Markets when they come into town to sell their fish and that we can send out a box of books on a regular basis for the Island to read and then exchange for another box when all are read.
