TISA hosted its very first Family Pajama Party Literacy Evening as part of our School Library Month celebrations. Primary School students and their families put on their coziest outfits, grabbed a stuffed animal or two, enjoyed cookies and juice from the PTA, and settled in for an evening of stories and fun.

Staff members from Primary and Secondary, parents, and one brave DP2 student planned a variety of activities for our story-lovers from multi-sensory exploration to traditional storytelling to interactive finger puppets.

Giggles could be heard up and down the hallway of TISA 2 throughout the evening. Mr. Dan’s reading of Walter the Farting Dog gave students a chance to get very silly while Mr. Tom and Mr. Hewa’s dramatic readings of Elephant & Piggie stories brought in a huge crowd to the Primary Library. Ms. Green’s Australian version of There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, titled There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Mozzie, was a hilarious success, and Ms. Eva and Ms. Lori’s bilingual reading of Green Eggs and Ham / Huevos Verdes con Jamón was a speed-reading delight! Some stories had a more serious tone with many traditional tales appearing during the sessions. Ms. Aileen selected a Scottish folk tale to share and Mr. Sean and Ms Fiona chose a Maori legend for their session.

The multi-sensory sessions led by Ms. Caro, Mr. Aj, and Ms. Eva gave our story-lovers the chance to engage in a variety of ways including visual, auditory, and tactile storytelling.

A love of stories is not exclusive to our Primary students, though. Caroline, a DP2 student who still loves a good story, volunteered to share some of her childhood favorites during the evening. Her selections included the classics Uncle Buckle and Gloria and Chrysanthemum.

Two very popular sessions were singalongs with Ms. Lidija and Ms. Erika’s interactive retell of Going on a Bear Hunt. TISA Director Mr. Chris Andre shared a very personal Scandinavian troll storytelling session and Ms. Chris brought oral poetry to life in her session. Mr. Monaghan did not let a missing panda puppet hold him back - he had an amazing interactive story session where the audience were the characters. TISA’s first Family Pajama Party Literacy Evening was a huge success and we cannot wait to do it again next year! Thank you to everyone who joined us and supported this fun event!