Can you imagine going through life with the literacy skills of a six-year old? Sadly,
this is a reality for many Indigenous Australians living in remote communities today.
Being able to read is fundamental to learning and opens doors to the future.
Now your school can help buy books and literacy resources for Indigenous children
living in remote communities and make that future a reality for them by getting
involved in the 2012 Great Book Swap Challenge and raising funds. The Challenge
is supported by The Children’s Book Council of Australia and National Literacy &
Numeracy Week and can be held during these weeks.
The Great Book Swap Challenge is an initiative that links literacy across the curriculum
and provides a multiple discipline focus for your school.
What is it?
The Great Book Swap Challenge is a fundraising event in which students swap books
with one another. Participating students bring along a gold coin and a book they’ve
read and enjoyed. All these pre-loved books are put together in a central location,
eg. the library, and students then choose a ‘new’ book they would like to keep.
When is it?
You can hold your Great Book Swap at any time throughout the year or:
- On Indigenous Literacy Day, Wednesday 5 September 2012
- During Children’s Book Week 18 - 24 August 2012
- or during National Literacy & Numeracy Week 22 August - 2 September 2012
Be sure to register!
How does it work?
- Register here. We will send you a ‘How to'
kit with Teacher’s Notes.
- Choose the day for your fundraiser.
- Invite your participants – students, teachers, staff, parents – to bring a book
from home that they have really enjoyed but can bear to part with. Ideally books
should be not just an unwanted item but a book that they think someone else would
enjoy as much as they did. You may wish to ask them to record why they cherish the
book on a
GBS bookplate
that can be included with the book.
- Ask your participants to bring their book(s) to school in advance of your swap.
You may need to organise a drop-off point for books during the preceding week or
students can just bring their books and coins on the day.
- Display the books, perhaps grouped according to reading age or genre, in a central
local, e.g. a library or hall. Hold discussions about them.
- Perhaps you could invite a local author or high profile person in your community
to swap their favourite book with you too! Why not include some extra activities
on the day. For example:
- Ask the school staff to recommend their favourite books and ask them to read passages.
- Invite a local author to speak at your school on the day.
- Get school bookclubs or classes to read a book from the
Indigenous reading list.
- On your swap day display the books brought by participants on a ‘shop’ table. Invite
participating students, either a class or a year level at a time, to donate a gold
coin in exchange for the right to choose a book.
- Send the collected money to ILF by December 1 (click
here for submission options).
Raising money on Indigenous Literacy Day
We hope that schools will use the The Great Book Swap Challenge to raise awareness
and funds to address the current crisis in
Indigenous literacy.
Schools can help by either holding The Great Book Swap Challenge or by running an
alternative fundraising project (e.g. a raffle or literary soirée). In the past,
the Indigenous Literacy Foundation has suggested a $5 donation per participant for
your own activities but you are free to vary this.