National Simultaneous Storytime – Too Many Elephants in this house by Ursula Dubosarsky Pictures By Andrew Joyner.

Observation was made of the National Simultaneous Storytime event that was run by the TAFE Sydney St George College Library that was run for the children attending the childcare centre attached to the college, Kameruka Cottage. For this event the staff first read the book to the children using the powerpoint provided by ALIA who organised the event. This was followed by the staff reading the actual book with the children. The staff then sang Ten Grey Elephants Balancing with the children while the children balanced on the string that had been set up on the floor. Part of the story was about the boy making a cardboard house for the elephants to live in, therefore as part of the activity a cardboard elephant house was made for the children to play in and pretend to be elephants. The final thing that the children did before returning to the centre was to have a look at the artworks that were displayed in the library that had been done by the children about elephants balancing on a piece of string. While this technically not a book award the aim of the National Simultaneous Storytime is to draw attention to notable books and to encourage wide reading in all ages. (National Similtaneous Storytime, n.d.). The repetition of the story through it being read twice as well as reinforcement through the singing and other activities that were carried out assists to reinforce the idea of pleasure that can be brought by reading. This idea of reinforcement is also reiterated in the blog by Cox, (n.d.) who states that by learning through repetition which can help people later in life to learn new skills as well. So by giving children skills to repeat and reinforce new skills then they can be set for life and reach their full potential not only in the love of reading or in whatever they put their mind to.

Cox, M. (n.d.). Repetition + Reinforcement = Retention. Business is child’s play. Retrieved from http://businessischildsplay.com/2011/03/repetition-reinforcement-retention/

National Simultaneous Storytime (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.alia.org.au/nss