Registration for Workshops
Please make sure to register by Thursday, September 24th! Registration will close at 6 p.m., or earlier if groups are full!
For a complete overview of all activities, please see the program.
Enhanced Reading Experience & Steelpan Workshop
Facilitator: Colin Bootman & Dow’s Musical Foundation
Target group: students
Time & date: 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 a.m. and 12:30 – 2:00 p.m., Saturday, September 26th
Location: USM Campus
(The optional VR Experience starts at 10 a.m. and at 12 p.m.)
AI Proofing your Newsroom
Facilitator: Alith Singh
Target group: students 12+ (max 15!)
Time & date: 11a.m. – 12 p.m., Saturday, September 26th
Location: USM Campus
Introducing students to AI in media and journalism, teach them how to identify and verify fake or misleading news, and show them how to use AI responsibly. Activities will include a real-or-fake voting challenge, a short introduction to AI in journalism, the PAUSE fact-checking method, a team news-verification challenge, and a responsible AI exercise.
Reading our Roots
Facilitator: Rochelle Ward
Target group: students (max 15!)
Time & date: 12 – 12:40 p.m., Saturday, September 26th
Location: USM Campus
Youth Edition is a one-hour interactive literary and cultural workshop that invites young people to explore natural hair as a doorway into history, identity, culture and storytelling. Through literature, images, discussion and creative activities, participants examine the messages and assumptions attached to hair, discover how hair can carry personal and cultural stories, and reflect on their own experiences. The workshop encourages cultural awareness, critical thinking, self-expression and confidence, while helping young people recognize that their everyday lives and heritage are worthy of literature.
Story Art Studio
Facilitator: Colin Bootman
Target group: students
Time & date: 11 a.m. – 12 p.m., and 1 – 2 p.m. Saturday, September 26th
Location: USM Campus
Meet author and illustrator Colin Bootman! Listen as he reads from one of his books, then paint together with him in a creative story art studio. Discover how pictures bring stories to life and create your own artwork inspired by the tale. No experience needed, just imagination!
Building Literacy through Language
Facilitator: Ché Vonne James
Target group: parents
Time & date: 10:30 – 11:30 a.m., Saturday, September 26th
Location: USM Campus
This one-hour interactive workshop will help parents understand the connection between children’s speech, language development and early reading skills. Through a short presentation and hands-on activities, parents will learn the importance of, and practice simple ways to build phonological awareness, vocabulary, and language skills at home.
Participants will also learn interactive reading strategies that encourage children to talk, think, predict, and retell. The workshop focuses on practical, everyday activities that require little or no additional materials, giving parents simple tools they can confidently use to support their child’s literacy development.
AI Workshops
Please bring your own device to the AI workshops!
AI for Beginners
Facilitator: Marvio
Time & Date: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., Saturday, September 26th
Location: Government Building
AI for Advanced Users, From Prompt to Professional
Facilitator: Marvio
Time & Date: 1 – 3 p.m., Saturday, September 26th
Location: Government Building
AI Smart Students is a hands-on workshop where students learn to use AI responsibly and productively. With Microsoft Copilot, they practise writing strong prompts, fact-checking AI answers, and protecting their personal information. Choose Session 1 for beginners (10 AM – 12 PM), Session 2 for advanced users (1 – 3 PM), or join both. Bring a charged device and your Copilot sign-in.
Read, Play and Explore
Facilitator: Claudia Connor and Juliana Shipley – Hodge
Time & Date: 10 – 11 a.m. and 1 – 2 p.m., Saturday, September 26
Location: USM Campus
Exploring Reading through games, Choral Reading and Family Engagement. Voices, Verses & Scripts and also Where Families Discover the Joy of Reading Together.
Saint Martin, I love you just the way You are
Facilitator: Angelique Romou
Time & date: 2 – 3 p.m., Saturday, September 26th
Location: USM Campus
“Yamir and Friends Explore Saint Martin”
Explore Saint Martin with Yamir & Friends is a high-energy, age-appropriate literacy experience
that combines interactive storytelling, movement, island discovery, creativity and a simple take
home literacy tool. Children listen to the story and become Saint Martin Explorers
Your Voice Matters Too
Facilitator: Marvin Hokstam
Time & date: 1 – 2 p.m., Saturday, September 26th
Location: USM Campus
A writing sessing with Marvin Hokstam: we will start by sharing stories, then reading other stories for inspiration and finally writing our own stories, because your voice matters!