Multi-arts March: something for everyone at Big Sky Stories.
Throughout the month of March, Big Sky Stories has been abuzz with creative activity. Adults and children alike have been involved in a wide range of creative workshops and events.
Teacher Professional Learning Workshop.
What does it mean to teach English and literacy creatively? How can we ensure learners are engaged and actively involved in developing deeply literate practices as well as nurturing their imaginations, empathy and compassion? Drawing on relevant research, teachers from Broken Hill schools explored a range of creative arts strategies with John Marsden’s Prayer for the 21st Century. This practical evening workshop with Robyn Ewing also considered the importance of choosing quality literary texts.
Storytime at Big Sky Stories: a pirate, an unusual crew and lots of fun.
Pre-schoolers and their parents and caregivers had lots of fun at Big Sky Stories with the story Captain Crabclaw’s Crew (Legge and Watts, 2016). Teacher Jenny Rodgers and Big Sky Stories Co-Director Jane Vaughan shared a favourite story about a captain who advertises for a crew and unexpectedly recruits a duck, a cow an elephant, a giraffe and a hen. Children and adults alike enjoyed enacting the story, playing with finger puppets, creating a stormy sea and making pirate hats.
Storytime at Big Sky Stories: Beware the Storybook Wolves.
Jenny Rodgers and Jane Vaughan led a second multi-arts storytelling session with children aged 5-7 years old. They explored Beware the Storybook Wolves by Lauren Child, where a bedtime story comes to life and challenges the idea of how certain characters should behave. They used drama strategies to embody characters and predict what might happen next in this mixed up fairy tale. Children made fairy godmother and wolf masks, with great crafting skill, to continue the storytelling at home. A very full and fun morning for everyone.
Australian Reading Hour.
Australia Reads is a not-for-profit with the mission of more people, reading more books, more often. They aim to encourage reading for pleasure, an activity which greatly improves our overall wellbeing.
Australia Reading Hour is a national day dedicated to sharing the joys of books, reading and stories. One of the key events this year was a Sydney Opera House livestream ‘The Magic of Storytelling’: a collaborative story telling session hosted by Australian writers and illustrators.
Big Sky Stories shares the mission of Australia Reads and like many schools and local groups across the country, we hosted our own event to celebrate this important national day.
After enjoying the live stream, parents, carers and children explored six self-directed story stations. Time was spent reading, counting bugs, sorting dinosaurs, dressing up in hats and interacting with books through movement and play.
Inklings.
Inklings is a new creative writing group for young people 11-18 years and on March 9 the first gathering was held at Big Sky Stories. A small and enthusiastic group of creatives came along to work on their craft using simple techniques, share their work with others and and receive input from their peers.
The group will meet at Big Sky Stories at least twice a term on Thursdays from 4.30pm-5.30pm with the next gathering on March 30.
After-school Fibrecraft.
Under the guidance of Nicky Wright, a creative grou of 8-13 year olds used a range of specialty yarns to create wall hangings, bunting and keyrings to take home.
Over four weekly sessions, they gathered to cut, knot, weave, glue and wrap, while enjoying the company of their peers. It was no surprise that mums, dads and grandparents couldn’t resist the urge to join in and also left with creations of their own to take away.
Thanks goes out to Big Sky Stories’ social work student Ellyn for all of her help in preparing for and co-facilitating these sessions.
Macrame workshops for Adults.
There are three macrame workshops for adults planned for March. The first, on March 21, brought together a small group of regular workshop participants to try their hand at a half moon wall hanging. Each added their own personal touch through the use of colour, resulting in varied and equally beautiful finished pieces.
Nicky Wright has two more workshops planned for this month - one for beginners and one for those with more experience - that are already at capacity.
If you’d like to join the macrame craze, then register your interest to be first in line to receive the dates for future workshops.