TALES FROM A DILLY BAG Sponsorship Rounds 1 - 5

Information Update

Rotary District 9600 Literacy Project Tales from a Dilly Bag

Sponsorship Rounds 1- 5 Tales from a Dilly Bag

2010 June

Literacy is a key factor in determining children’s educational outcomes. For Indigenous children, learning to be literate can at times be a great challenge. The District 9600 Literacy Project 2008/09, Tales from a Dilly Bag, has been designed to provide enhanced literacy experiences for young Indigenous Australian children and aims to support the very young as they learn to be literate by providing enjoyable experiences with children’s literature.

Current RI President, John Kenny, has prioritised Literacy for the 2009/2010 Rotary year. Throughout the world there are more than 800 million people who are unable to read or write and this makes their lives more difficult and places their families in a very vulnerable position where hunger, disease, poverty and lack of education will affect their lives every day.

The District 9600 Literacy Project, Tales from a Dilly Bag, aims to assist young Indigenous children as they begin to learn to be literate for it is during the early childhood years that the foundations for literacy are established. By sharing stories with young children, talking about the stories and completing activities relating to the texts, there is an expectation the children will enjoy the experience, gain a love of story sharing, learn more about how language is used in books and build a sound foundation for learning to be literate. At the same time when a class is sponsored in a school, principals are being encouraged to appoint older students in the school as reading mentors who will share the stories with young children. Thus, the District 9600 Literacy Project has aims to:

1. Enhance literacy learning opportunities for young Indigenous Australian children and their classmates by providing resources to enable increased opportunities for storybook sharing at school; and

2. Engage older primary-age Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to assist as reading mentors for young children in sponsored schools.

This project has the double benefit of enhancing literacy learning for young children and at the same time enabling older primary-aged children who will assist as reading mentors, to develop their independent leadership skills. The plan is that all young children, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous in the sponsored classes, will benefit from this project.

How Rotary Clubs can participate in D9600 Literacy Project

The project has been designed so that individual Rotary Clubs can sponsor
one or more Preparatory or Year 1 classes where Indigenous
children are enrolled. Sponsorship enables clubs to purchase a
comprehensive educational kit containing children’s books and
other educational materials. The contents of the kit have been
specifically designed to meet the aims of this project.

Each kit contains between 50 and 60 picture storybooks
(including Indigenous stories) presented in a dilly bag,
together with a box of stationery, craft materials, activity
guides relating to the storybooks, scrapbooks and a
digital camera so photographs may be used as a stimulus
for earlywriting. The sponsorship cost for each kit is $750.00.

Sponsorship Rounds 1 and 2 occurred during the 2008/2009 Rotary year and 13 classes of young

children were sponsored. This means that approximately 325 young children benefitted from

listening to stories being read aloud and having the opportunity to practise and enhance their

spoken language interactions with a reading mentor. These activities assist young children to

develop the foundational language skills and understandings about print that are so necessary for

emergent literacy skills in the early childhood years.

In the 2009/2010 Rotary year, 3 sponsorship rounds were completed. By the end of Round 5 we

have sponsored a total of 33 classes in the Tales from a Dilly Bag project. This means we will have

reached 825 young children and a similar number of older student mentors and provided resources

to enhance language and literacy learning. The kits have mainly been donated to schools in

Queensland but we have also sent one kit to the Northern Territory and two to Papua New Guinea.

This is indeed a wonderful achievement for a new literacy project that only commenced in

December 2008. Rotary clubs are to be congratulated for their willingness to become involved in

this D9600 literacy project. Some clubs have been enthused by this project and have sponsored up

to 4 classes.

Schools are offering feedback about the way they are using the Dilly Bag kits and these stories have

been included in the D9600 Literacy newsletters. One of the most exciting and unexpected

outcomes being reported by schools is the way the kit has provided an incentive for some reluctant

older readers. Being a mentor for a young child and being able to read a story with fluency and

expression is something that has engaged older students. Teachers have noted that some children

who have learning difficulties or a disability also have been able to join in as Reading Mentors and

they are carrying out the role very effectively. When I have had the opportunity to visit schools as

they use the Dilly Bag kit, I have noted the polite and responsible way older students communicate

with the younger ones. I also have noted how encouraging they are as they support the younger

ones to think about the meanings in the story and talk about the characters and events.

Sponsoring a Class in 2010/2011 Rotary Year

All clubs are invited to consider participating in sponsoring a class by completing the Sponsorship

Registration Form (located on the District website) and returning it with your payment to Mr Don

Richards, District 9600 treasurer. There will be 3 Sponsorship Rounds during the 2010/2011 Rotary

year. Closing dates for these rounds are:

ROUND 6: Closing date: 13th August, 2010;

ROUND 7: Closing date: 22ND October, 2010 and

ROUND 8: Closing date: 11th March, 2011.

Clubs may nominate specific schools where Indigenous children are enrolled or, alternatively, gain

further advice about schools from me - Janelle Young, Chair, D9600 Literacy Taskforce.

Delivery of Kits

It can take up to six weeks after the closing dates to complete all the orders, label all the books and

boxes and pack the kits. Once they are ready, I will contact the club liaison person to arrange for the

kit to be collected. Individual clubs are asked to make arrangements for the kit to be delivered to the

sponsored class. We have found that kits can be transported by road throughout Queensland for a

reasonable price, so if clubs would like to consider this option, I can provide more information.

Your club’s support for the Rotary District 9600 Literacy Project 2010/2011, Tales from a Dilly Bag,

is encouraged. By sponsoring one or more classes your Club will provide a kit of purpose-designed

educational materials that will enhance language and literacy learning opportunities for young

Indigenous children and others during the early childhood phase of their development. Your

sponsorship also will contribute to the activities prescribed by RI for those seeking to achieve a

District Literacy Award for the 2010/2011 Rotary year. Information about these awards is located on

the D9600 website and can be found under International, Literacy.

Recognition of Tales from a Dilly Bag

In January 2010 I became aware of the Queensland State Government’s

Q2 Partners program and submitted an application to have Tales from

a Dilly Bag recognised as a Q2 Partner. The application was supported

by Walter Buchanan DG (2009/2010). This program “recognises

businesses, community, industry, non-government organisations

and local councils who deliver projects and programs that directly

contribute to the achievement of the Q2 targets. The program is

open to all Queensland businesses, communities, non-government

organisations and local councils delivering programs and projects

that are contributing to the achievement of the Q2 targets.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate how the delivery of their

program or project is directly contributing to the achievement of

at least one of the 10 targets, and the organisation's values must

reflect the five Q2 ambitions.”

(http://www.towardq2.qld.gov.au/tomorrow/q2_partners.aspx)

Tales from a Dilly Bag has been accepted as a Q2 Partner

as it fits within the Smart Education category and seeks to

contribute to Target 1: All children will have access to quality

early childhoodeducation so they are ready for school. The

D9600 Literacy project, Tales from a Dilly Bag, will be

listed on the Q2 Partners website in the near future.

Yours in Rotary

Dr Janelle Young

Chair, Rotary District 9600 Literacy Taskforce

Rotary Club of Samford ValleyEmail: jyoung14@gmail.com

___________________________________________________________

Sponsorship Registration Form

Tales from a Dilly Bag

District 9600 Literacy Project

ROUND 6

Closing Date: 13th August, 2010.

Rotary Club of .......................................................... agrees

to sponsor a class/classes of young children by purchasing
......................... kit/s of materials at a cost of $750.00 per kit.

Total cost: ..........................

Sponsoring Rotary Club contact person: .................................................

Details for the contact person: Tel: ............................

Email: ..........................................

Nominating your school/centre (please list below)

School/Centre name/s: .....................................................................................

If you are not sure of a school/centre for your sponsorship, contact

Janelle Young for assistance.

Please note: If clubs wish to sponsor a school/centre located

outside of D9600, then the club is responsible for paying

for the transport of the kit (approximately 30kg in weight).

Please complete this Sponsorship Registration Form and send it with your cheque to:

Mr Don Richards

Rotary District 9600 Treasurer

PO Box 693

Strathpine Q 4500

Cheques to be made out to: Rotary International District 9600

Please forward a copy of your completed sponsorship form to

Janelle Young by scanningand emailing the form or posting a

copy to the address below.

Kits for ROUND 6 will be ready for clubs to deliver to schools/centres

in late September 2010.

Dr Janelle Young

Chair, Rotary District 9600 Literacy Taskforce

Rotary Club of Samford Valley

Email: jyoung14@gmail.com

Address: 48 Domrow Road, Camp Mountain, Qld 4520