Join our Reading Challenge - NAIDOC Week stories
26 Apr 2022
Every year, NAIDOC Week activities are held across Australia during July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is an opportunity for all Australians to engage in First Nations’ cultural knowledge and history, and for educators, families and librarians across the country, using children’s books and stories can help with this learning. This year, NAIDOC Week is celebrated from 3-10 July with the theme of ‘Get up! Stand up! Show up!’
Encourage young kids to learn more about First Nations stories, voices, cultures and histories, by participating in the Story Box Library Reading Challenge in four steps:
Watch the story read.
Learn more with Short Films.
Play with Activity Time.
Borrow and discover more!
Download the pack of NAIDOC Week Reading Challenge resources here, including a checklist to keep track, fridge cards, bookmarks and certificate of completion.
1. Watch titles in our First Nations’ Stories collection
Find our First Nations’ Stories playlist on your Story Box Library account dashboard, or explore our First Nations’ Stories collection to find more titles suitable for all age groups, including:
2. Learn more with Short Films
Giilang' means Story' in Wiradjuri.
What does Story mean to you?
Meet the storytellers of First Nations’ Stories (formerly known as Indigenous Story Time), as they reflect on what Story means to them and their families, and the ways we share our experiences and identities.
Our storyteller, Yorta Yorta and Wurundjeri actor, writer, director and producer Tony Briggs, introduces Hello, Hello, written and illustrated by 12 young indigenous students from the Laverton, Menzies and Tjuntjuntjara remote community schools.
Meet our Storytellers: Bianca Hunt
“That's the process of education: you learn something, you pass it on and you keep that circle going.” Bianca Hunt, our storyteller for Jasmine Seymour’s Baby Business, shares the power of education, knowledge and family connection.
Behind the Book: Our Home, Our Heartbeat
When Adam Briggs set out to create Our Home, Our Heartbeat alongside illustrators Kate Moon and Rachael Sarra, he wanted it to stand out on a bookshelf, vibrant and contemporary, appealing to young First Nations children, while harkening back to traditional Indigenous art styles.
3. Play with Activity Time
Designed to support the themes of each story and encourage creativity and play in kids of all ages, Activity Time ideas are available for all subscribing public libraries and schools, and their communities. With At Home access, families can even find stories and activity ideas from the comfort of their home. Find Activity Time instructions on the Activity tab via each story page, including:
Our Home, Our Heartbeat - Activity Time
After watching Our Home, Our Heartbeat, kids can create their own frames and collages, to be used as inspiration for who they could be when they grow up.
Find this Activity Time on the Our Home, Our Heartbeat story page.
Little Bird’s Day - Activity Time
Nature plays an important role in Sally Morgan and Johnny Warrkatja Malibirr’s Little Bird’s Day. After watching the story read by Bianca Hunt, make your own story stamps to retell the story or make up a picture story of your own.
4. Borrow and discover more!
Story Box Library connects educators, librarians and families with a world of stories by extending your physical collection, getting young readers excited about reading and making learning fun. After watching stories from the First Nations’ Stories collection, young readers and students can borrow the books at their public library or school library, or insert a bookmark review for the next borrower to discover.
Stay tuned for Story Box Library’s upcoming NAIDOC Week event, which will provide supporting information for educators, librarians and parents. Currently slated for June 2022, it will be the next in our series of popular online events and webinars.
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