Pre-schoolers develop love of reading

Thu, 26 February 2009

“We enjoy reading a book to our children every day. We ask the children questions about what they hear from the story and they sometimes re-tell the story, or correct us if we miss a passage. They are really enjoying the books.” – Goodhope Crèche and Preschool

Final Report: Equipping Early Childhood Development Centres

Biblionef provides children in disadvantaged communities with new books, many of them African-centred and in the children’s mother tongue, to strengthen their self-esteem and stimulate learning. Through this project, Biblionef provided steel trunks containing 80 storybooks (in English and the children’s mother tongue) and 10 toys to 10 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in Limpopo. These centres were already affiliated to the Project for the Establishment of Pre-Primary and Primary Schools (PEPPS), an established training organisation working with preschool teachers in the rural areas surrounding Polokwane in Limpopo. By providing children's storybooks in African languages and training teachers how to use them, this project will stimulate a love of reading and improve school readiness.

Impact

Ten under-resourced crèches or pre-schools were selected to receive the trunks. These crèches or preschools:

• Did not have any books available to them.
• Had practitioners who had undergone training that covered school readiness, storytelling, rhymes, visual literacy, and interaction with books, including paging and listening.
• Have storytelling as part of their daily activities.

Biblionef selected 78 appropriate books and 10 toys and puzzles for each of the Early Childhood Development centres, in accordance with the languages spoken and the age groups of the children. The trunks were delivered to the schools, benefitting 600 children.

Following feedback from the Early Childhood Development centres, four were selected to receive a further donation of 20 books each.

Through the Early Childhood Development centres’ involvement with the PEPPS Training Centre, teachers from seven of the centres have been selected to study for their National Certificate in ECD (Level 4) and a Higher Certificate in ECD (Level 5), with the Department of Education. The teachers from the remaining three Early Childhood Development centres will be included in the government training during their next intake. This training will further the practitioners’ teaching skills, thereby enabling them to provide better education to the children in their care. In addition, the training has the potential to improve the teachers’ self-esteem, income and employment prospects.

Activities

Implemented in January and February 2008:

• Liaison with PEPPS training centre
• Obtaining list of beneficiaries
• Selecting and ordering of appropriate books
• Ordering steel trunks, keys and locks
• Handover function

Feedback from the PEPPS Training Centre was received in May 2008 and October 2008.

Following feedback from the Early Childhood Development centres, four were selected to receive a further donation of 20 books each.

Expenditure

The cost of the project was R53,409.

Description	Total Budget	Expenditure
Materials
Books	32 000	34 000
Toys & Resource Materials	5 000	5 000
Steel trunks	4 000	4 000
keys & locks	300	300
Organisational Costs
Funders acknowledgement: printing and laminating A3 poster	200	200
Distribution Costs	3 000	1 102
Staff Time
Books Stock Librarian - Selecting ordering and packing of books	480	480
Project Co-ordinator - Liaison with the ECDs, selection and handover of books	1 200	1 750
Travel for training at Book Handover Travel	6 200	6 000
Accommodation	800	476.80
Staff subsistence allowance	200	100
TOTAL	53 380	53 409.23

Challenges

The PEPPS Training Centre submitted their report to Biblionef late, which meant that Biblionef needed to contact each of the Early Childhood Development centres in order to submit their progress report to SASIX on time. This resulted in the Project Coordinator costs being higher than planned.

As the teachers and children are immensely enjoying using the resources provided by Biblionef, PEPPS Training Centre reported that some of the Early Childhood Development centres have requested more books and puzzles, small shelves to display the books and tables and chairs for their classrooms.

Monitoring and evaluation

The feedback received from the Early Childhood Development centres and PEPPS Training Centre shows that each of the 10 centres are using the books effectively as part of their daily programme. The books are used during Story Time, as well as in the book area, on a daily basis.

Conclusion

The books and educational toys donated by Biblionef have provided resources for the teachers at the Early Childhood Development centres to develop a love of reading in 600 children. The children are not only learning to love books, they are also developing their listening and language skills and their imaginations as they answer questions about the stories being read to them, interpret pictures, and tell their own tales.

Story books boost literacy skills for 600 Limpopo children

Thu, 29 May 2008

“Learners developed skills such as socializing, sharing, matching, and counting as well as shapes and colours. With books, the learners are enjoying stories that are read to them by their teachers and are developing the love of reading and listing to stories”

REPORT 1: Biblionef South Africa: Equipping Early Childhood Development Centres

Biblionef provides children in disadvantaged communities with new books, many of them African-centred and in the children’s mother tongue, to strengthen their self-esteem and stimulate learning. Through this project, Biblionef is providing steel trunks with 80 story books in both English and mother tongue and 10 toys to children and teachers at 10 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in Limpopo province. These centres are already affiliated to the Project for the Establishment of Pre-Primary and Primary Schools (PEPPS), an established training organisation working with preschool teachers in the rural areas surrounding Polokwane in Limpopo. By providing children's storybooks in African languages and training teachers in how to use them, this project stimulates a love of reading and enhances school readiness.

Impact

Ten under-resourced crèches or pre-schools were selected to receive the book trunks. All the crèches or preschools:

• Did not have any books available to them.
• Had practitioners who had undergone training that covered school readiness, storytelling, rhymes, visual literacy and interaction with other books, paging and listening.
• Have storytelling as part of their daily activities.

Biblionef selected 78 appropriate books and 10 toys and puzzles for each of the ECDs in accordance to language spoken and age groups of the children. Book trunks were delivered to the schools, benefitting around 600 children.

Activities

Implemented in January and February 2008:

• Liaison with PEPPS training centre
• Obtaining list of beneficiaries
• Selecting and ordering appropriate books
• Ordering steel trunks, keys & locks
• Print acknowledgement
• Arranging handover function
• Obtaining acknowledgement from preschool/ECD

A final report on impact from the training centre is still to be received.

Expenditure

The cost of the project is R53, 380.

Description	Total Budget	Expenditure
Materials
Books	32 000	31 200
Toys & Resource Materials	5 000	5 000
Steel trunks	4 000	4 000
Keys & locks	300	300
Organisational Costs
Funders acknowledgement: printing and laminating A3 poster	200	200
Distribution Costs	3 000	1 102.43
Staff Time
Books Stock Librarian - Selecting ordering and packing of books	480	480
Project Co-ordinator - Liaison with the ECDs, selection and handover of books	1200	1 200
Travel for training at Book Handover
Travel	6 200	6 000
Accommodation	800	476.80
Staff subsistence allowance	200	100
TOTAL	53 380	50 059.23

Challenges

With the full co-operation from PEPPS Training Centre the project ran smoothly and there were no difficulties.

Monitoring and evaluation

At the book handover, Biblionef staff spoke about the care and use of books that were provided to the 10 preschools and that each preschool had to ensure that within 10 days after receipt of the donation that they complete the Acknowledgement Form and return it to the PEPPS Training Centre. The Training Centre will provide ongoing training to the preschool and also evaluate which schools need further support.

Conclusions

The PEPPS Training Centre will provide ongoing training to teachers and will visit the 10 preschools regularly to ensure that the books and educational toys are optimally been used. They will also ensure that a basic training is given in storytelling so that the practitioners are taught how to make the stories interesting, exciting but more importantly get the message across that reading stories is fun. Once Biblionef has received the preschools’ reports it will be assessed and, if satisfactory, another donation of books will be provided.