Yukon Chatter Bug

Last week, our school hosted a book fair (salon du livre), which was hugely successful. There is only one place where one can buy French books in Whitehorse, and the selection is very, very, limited. I love books, and I love (Mum-in-law, close your eyes) to buy ‘em .

It’s been a while since I’ve read French novels, so this past summer I picked up Suzanne Martel’s Jeanne, fille du Roy and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s set in the period when New France was being settled by pioneers living in the boonies and making do with what they had and what they knew.

Jeanne, fille du Roy par Suzanne Martel

The book fair gave me an opportunity to buy a few more books. The funny thing is, in my head, I kept thinking that the above book was written by Gabrielle Roy, so I ended buying one of her books, which apparently is a good read anyway. And along with it, a book by Marie Laberge whose trilogy was recommended by a few (though I decided on this one for now), and another book by an author I’ve never heard of. Christmas, here I come! Oh, (and Mum-in-law, you can open your eyes now) and did I tell you I’m now reading A Christmas Carol for the first time?

Bonheur d'occasion par Gabrielle Roy

Sans rien ni personne par Marie Laberge

Louve des mers par Claudine Douville

Do you like to read? If you’re a teacher and/or a parent, do you want your kids to understand what they read? Of course you do, but what some people fail to recognize is that there’s a huge difference between reading fluency and reading comprehension. They’re both important, but sometimes we tend to emphasize the former over the latter.

Here’s a wonderful resource that was recommended to me by a local teacher:

Reading Power: Teaching Students to Think While They Read – (you can see the book online by clicking on the link)

Written by Adrienne Gear (from Vancouver)

The book is only 144 pages (means you can get through it in no time) and breaks down five strategies (or “powers”) to help with teaching reading comprehension:

1. Connecting
2. Questioning
3. Visualizing
4. Inferring
5. Transforming (Synthesizing)

There are sample lesson plans to help teach each strategy with the use of picture books, and this with primary and intermediate levels. By using picture books, the stories are short, and students focus on the strategy more than the story. Once students learn and practice using each strategy, they apply them to other readings (i.e. novel studies, literature circles, etc…).

The bonus here, is that if you plan on buying picture books for your classroom or your personal library, you can buy with a goal in mind. Included are lists of books that are ideal for each reading power (strategy) for primary and intermediate. Many of the books recommended are already in our elementary school libraries – I checked!

Reading Power is based on and adapted from another longer work called Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goodvis.

Check it out! This book is a real gem.