Thank you to the Australian Chinese Charity Foundation for their generous grant to fund the translation of PTTR’s ‘How to Feed Your Baby’s Brain’ into Chinese. Home language is so important for parents to use to read, talk and sing with their babies, so we are thrilled that we can now translate our most popular resource into Chinese.
Monica Chu, Chairperson of ACCF, with Barbie Bates, Executive Director of PTTR, at ACCF’s 2019 Annual Dinner, where the grant was announced.
Congratulations Paint Mackay REaD, who in partnership with F5F at Mackay library, won the Queensland Local Government Authority Award for outstanding community service for their Berky Birthday Books.
The Mackay team celebrating their award at the Queensland Public Libraries Association Conference Dinner last Thursday.
I am delighted to become Patron of Paint the Town REaD.
There are few things I am more passionate about than encouraging our young people to read, sing and rhyme. Many of us take these foundational skills for granted but it is far too common for children to arrive at school without the skills necessary to make the most of their early education. That is why Paint the Town REaD’s efforts are so critical. The more we encourage parents, carers and communities to read with children the better off they will be as individuals and we will be as a country.
I’m looking forward to supporting your cause and celebrating your efforts over the next five years.
Paint the Town REaD is thrilled to partner with Street Libraries across Australia, both at a strategic and local level.
Strategically we are forging communication and purchasing links, and locally we are looking together at some joint branding, as well as PTTR groups being invited to ‘adopt a Street Library’ for orphan libraries.
Our inaugural meeting L to R: Nic Lowe, ‘Captain’ of Street Libraries, Cecile Schuldiener, its General Manager, Barbie Bates, ED PTTR Ltd, Lindy Alwis and Vivi Martin, Co-ordinators of Paint Marrickville REaD.
Thank you to everyone who has made this year so special by increasing the opportunities for children to enjoy the wonder of being read and sung with.
From our amazing local community groups – now 50+ over five Australian states, through to funders like the St George Foundation, the AMP Foundation, the Eureka Foundation, the Commonwealth Bank, private donors and the many many probono supporters.
Here are two of them – wonderful woman, Roxanne Kiely (song writer) and Anne Donnelly (author). Roxanne, ran a Songwriting Workshop for Early Educators in Paint Cumberland REaD NSW, and Anne visited a combined playgroup in Mt Druitt NSW, where she grew up, to encourage young mums to reach for the stars.
Paint Doonside Read, whose partners include Wentwest’s Thrive@5, Relationships Australia, Crawford Public School, Community Health’s Child and Family Nurses, Blacktown City Libraries and Dr Michael Fasher, launched their Books for Babies project this month. Nursing staff, who have received training from PTTR Ltd, and Blacktown Library about the whys and hows of reading with your baby from birth, will be sharing books and information with all new babies born in Doonside this year – and their families!
The books were purchased from generous donations by the The Funding Network and the AMP Foundation. Thank you!
And for a completely serendipitous moment, See Me Move – the main book to be given to babies, is written by Sascha Hutchinson, a champion in one of our newest communities, Paint the Westside REaD, in Adelaide.
Dr Michael Fasher reading to Doonside’s first baby to receive a copy of See Me Move. He is ably assisted by Rooby Roo and Thrive @5’s Angela McCole.
Rooby Roo in her new vest with the young Aboriginal artists from North St Marys Public School, with Auntie Maureen Silleri and Maryanne Wallace.
Under the support of local Elders including Auntie Maureen Silleri and their Aboriginal Support teacher, Maryanne Wallace a mob of enthusiastic Aboriginal students at North St Marys Public School NSW, drew special pictures about what reading with Rooby Roo (the Paint Penrith REaD mascot) meant to them.
These images were then transferred onto Rooby’s vest with help of Frances Zammit from Community Junction Ins. The students gave Rooby a very big surprise last week when they presented her with the vest. ‘We want you to wear it for NAIDOC Week this year’.
Paint the Town REAd’s Reading Bug has had a busy time in Moree. She brought a magical mascot egg to the children in Moree East’s Playgroup, delivered the first book for the Books for Newborn Bubs in Moree Hospital and received a very generous cheque from the Commonwealth Bank to keep reading with children from birth in Moree.
Through the creative genius of La Salle teacher, Danielle Calleja, and Paint the Swan Coordinator, Fiona Lee, students from La Salle College, wrote, designed and created children’s books, which they then read with children at a recent Paint the Swan REaD event.
Danielle then presented the outcomes of this project at the Australian Literacy Educators Conference in Adelaide recently.
La Salle College is a co-educational Catholic secondary school situated in the Swan Valley, Perth. The College caters for 1400 students in Years 7 – 12.
This is a terrific example of how High School students can support the early literacy development of young children in their community.