9 Books for National Aboriginal Day

So you're teaching in Canada and the year is wrapping up.

You look to your calendar and discover that Wednesday is National Aboriginal Day.

Uh oh, what can you do this late in the year to ensure students continue to learn about the cultures that make Canada?

BOOKS!

The first peoples to come to the land we call Canada were the Native Canadians 15000 years ago (or more). Experts say that they crossed the Bering Strait during the Ice Age.

Today the Native Populations of Canada are divided into many groups, but generally can be divided into three main groups:
1. First Nations
2. Inuit
3. Metis

As a whole, they should be referred to as Aboriginal.

Only One province (Saskatchewan) requires aboriginal content in all grades and most subjects, but many make efforts to ensure students learn about aboriginal contributions to Canada (The Prairies and BC especially).

Today, teachers have many options at their disposal to bring aboriginal cultures into the classroom regardless of whether it is mandated by their province or board.

I believe every student deserves to see themselves represented in the books their teacher reads in class.

Therefore, when I was teaching in Manitoba I began my collection of books which showed characters who looked like my students.

Below is a picture of the books from my collection at home today:

Granny's Giant Bannock
Lark and his Grandmother do not speak the same language, but she still wants to bake him some Bannock while she visits him in Winnipeg. So with his minimal Cree and her minimal Engish, he manages to figure out what she's asking him to buy to bake for him, or so he thinks. (This is a favourite of my daughter Helen, she loves Bannock, and misses it from when we lived in Saskatchewan)

Helen and her Bannock 2014

Nanabasho Series
Until coming to make this list, I didn't realize how many books in this series were discontinued. It has been almost ten years since I bought them.
Nanabosho is a friend and trickster and has different adventures in each book.

How Summer Came to Canada
This was first read to me in the 80's at school. It's the story of How Summer and Winter came to be. Based on Micmac legends from the region of Canada I'm from. Summer persuades Winter to let her wake up the world while he goes back North to rest for half the year.

A Boy Called Slow
The story of a boy who desperately wants to be given a name likes his father. He grows up to be named Sitting Bull.

Stu Bear Goes on A Mission Visit
I'm not actually sure where or how I acquired this book. And I can't find a link to it on Amazon for you, but it might be available in libraries! In this book, Stu Bear goes on a Mission to inner-city Winnipeg.

Sootface
Sootface is treated poorly by her sisters, much like Cinderella was treated poorly by her step sisters. You could easily use this book in class and compare via a Venn diagram to Cinderella, there really are that many similarities.

The Rough-Face Girl
Honestly, this is basically the exact same story as Sootface! So check out both and pick your favourite, or do another Venn diagram.

Mikissuk's Secret 
This book takes place in Nunavut. Mikissuk and her brother have always been very close, but now he is going off on the dogsled to hunt, and she wants to join him but she is too young.

Mwakwa Talks to the Loon
A hunter can talk to animals, but when he becomes too proud of himself, he loses his ability, and the people become hungry.



Are these all the books you could read on National Aboriginal Day?
Definitely Not!

But I implore you to add some to your collection if you haven't already.
In the comments below, please share your favourite books to read to your class with a Native Canadian theme/author/etc

If you're looking for an activity to use for National Aboriginal Day, or for inclusion all year, check out one of my TWO Scrambled Sentences Resources perfect for this day!

Pictured is My National Aboriginal Day Four Sentence Resource, and below is a link to the Seven Sacred Grandfathers, which could also be used this day, and throughout the year!

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Do you look at the styrofoam from buying meats, and empty egg cartons, and think "I need to save this?"

Do you go to Michaels searching for deals?

Do you LOVE dollar stores and dollar sections of large retailers?

If you answered yes to one or more of these, you MAY be a craftsupplyaholic.


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If you are interested in being a guest blogger, or would like me to guest post on your blog, please comment below or email me. I would LOVE to collaborate.

Want to find awesome resources for your Early Childhood Education classroom?
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Question of the Day: Did My TPT Purchase gave an Update?

I had a Question recently,

How do I know if my Purchase from you has been updated?

I realized this lovely teacher may not be ALONE in not knowing how to easily find out, so I made you this AWESOME graphic to help you out. I hope it answers any concerns!

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If you are interested in being a guest blogger or would like me to guest post on your blog, please comment below or email me. I would LOVE to collaborate.

Want to find awesome resources for your Early Childhood Education classroom?
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The Simplest Ways to Make Use of Poems

Poetry in the Classroom?

Of course!

I love using poetry, don't you?

Of course you do, it's awesome.

You'd have to be a Beast to not see the benefits, lol.

Ok, not a beast, but maybe you just haven't found the right way to use poetry for YOUR classroom just yet.

How Can I use Poetry in my Class?

There are more ways to use poetry in a classroom than I can mention in one simple article, but I will share some of my favourites with you.

1. During Circle Time have a poem or twenty on your chart stand that your class reads together over the course of the year. Throughout the course of the year, change up how you interact with your poems. I recommend laminating so they can be reused all year, and brought out again next year with a new group. 

Suggestions for use:

-Teacher Read Aloud (with pointer)

-Students read along with the teacher

-Teacher Reads the line and pauses at the rhyme and prompts students to complete

-Students circle sight words (see picture)

-Students circle rhyming words

-Students read alone

-Students locate the random line the teacher quotes

2. Use as part of Word family or Sight Word studies- Write together a poem using as many words as they can from that week's word family or the most recent sight words.

3. On Posters around the Room and to Remember Rules. Take a picture of your kiddos standing how they are supposed to and put it up by the door. You can do similar things for other rules too! Poetry is a great way to remember rules. A rule at my house is, "You get what you get, and you don't get upset." Helen always remembers the rule because as soon as a start saying the short rhyme she can easily remember what comes next.

4. To Teach curriculum outcomes or character education.
Math? Sure!
Bullying? Got you covered!
I even wrote a few poems for anti-bullying as part of my popular Pink Shirt Day Resource.

5. Do you have a Christmas Concert? You could sing a song, or you could have the kids recite a rhythmic poem, complete wth drums. It's really up to you! You could introduce a few poems in November and go over them with the kids and have them vote on their favourite to share with their families at the concert. See More of my Christmas Songs

6. As books to read! (includes affiliate link) After all, we need to expose our kids to a variety of genres, why not poetry? Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on! Run into the library or bookstore and try a few different authors until you find one whose style you like.

Recently I introduced my daughter to the works of Sheree Fitch. Our first poem by her was the classic Mabel Murple. Check out Helen's review below:

Mabel Murple (PB) What if there was a purple planet with purple people on it? Sheree Fitch answers this question with a zany tongue-twister of a poem featuring Mabel Murple, a daredevil who rides a purple motorbike through purple puddles, skis on purple snow, and on her pancakes pours maple syrup. With a rich and vivid purple palette, Sydney Smith's brand-new illustrations reflect the wild joy in this classic poem. Originally published in 1995, Mabel Murple won the Ann Connor Brimer award for children's literature.

Oh, and if you like Mabel Murple, you should check out Helen's previous review of Red is Best Here!

Your turn!

What's your favourite way to add poetry to your class?

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Today's featured resource: Perfect for writing some Superhero themed poems!

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130 Things Students Know we LOVE

Complete this Sentence: 

Every Student I've ever Taught Knows I LOVE...

Recently on Facebook and Twitter, I asked you this question. I received an OVERWHELMING response from all you wonderful educators. Thanks so much!

So as promised, I have compiled your answers below. Hopefully, I grabbed all the answers!

The top three answers are listed first, but the rest of your answers are listed in a seemingly random order.

1. Them (My Kindies, My first graders, my second graders, etc)

2. Coffee (Starbucks, Timmies)

3. Chocolate

4. Cake

5. The Number 15

6. The beach

7. My husband

8. My sister

9. Pink

10. Teammates

11. Family

12. Friends

13. Green

14. Books

15. Harry Potter

16. Coca-Cola (Coke, Diet Coke)

17. Candy

18. Chickfila

19. Dinosaurs

20. My Dog

21. Ketchup

22. Cats

23. Punctuation

24. Lighthouses

25. Taco Tuesday

26. Being Silly

27. Dancing

28. Cincinnati Bengals

29. The Reds

30. Frogs

31. Mac n' Cheese Day

32. Guinea Pigs

33. Unicorns

34. Purple

35. My Kids

36. My Grandkids

37. Laughter

38. Red

39. Teaching

40. Swedish Fish

41. Home time

42. Hello Kitty

43. Big Red

44. Art

45. Peanut M&Ms

46. Mint Gum

47. Clemson Tigers

48. Jelly Beans

49. ...and respect their differences and we learn from our mistakes

50. When they Understand a Concept

51. UNC Basketball

52. Peanut Butter

53. Donuts

54. Animals

55. Express

56. Big Foot

57. Tea

58. The Chicago Cubs

59. Reading

60. Singing

61. Everything!

62. Cherries

63. Chickens

64. Snickers

65. Being Mindful

66. Pot Noodle

67. Purdue

68. Luke Bryan

69. Playing Bagpipes

70. Owls

71. English

72. Bagel Bites

73. Chips and Guacamole

74. The Word Groovy

75. Being Corrected

76. Working with Slow Answer

77. Teaching Drama

78. Diet Pepsi

79. Snoopy, Charlie Brown

80. Coloring

81. Tacos

82. Target

83. Mermaids

84. Blue

85. Math

86. New Adventures

87. Disney

88. Peanuts

89. Sharks

90. The Buffalo Bills

91. The environment

92. John Cena

93. their heart

94. The Wizard of Oz

95. Elephants

96. Hugs

97. Fancy Post-it Notes

98. Pizza

99. A Clean Room

100. The Number 22

101. Booboo Kitty

102. Sprite

103. Mountain Dew

104. Sneakers

105. Reese Cups

106. Polka Dots

107. Glitter

108. Reader's Theater

109. Lobster

110. Butterflies

111. To talk with them

112. Pumpkin Everything

113. Scrapbooking

114. Justin Timberlake

115. John Bon Jovi

116. Frappes from McDonald's

117. Daryl from the Walking Dead

118.  The Number 11

119. Bacon

120. Psalm 1

121. Wine and Food

122. Broncos

123. Hokies

124. Orange

125. Sports

126. Penguins

127. Disneyland

128. Carlton

129. Porcupines

130. Leopard Print

Wow, we are all so different, yet so much alike! It was overwhelming how many of you answered THEM as what you think they would say you LOVE. At least 100 of you after I tally up all the places I know this post was shared.

Please comment below with what YOUR students would say!

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If you are interested in being a guest blogger, or would like me to guest post on your blog, please comment below or email me. I would LOVE to collaborate.

Want to find awesome resources for your Early Childhood Education classroom?
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How do you find dollar deals on TPT?

I want dollar deals!

You do? 

Me too!

Yay!

Great minds think alike, right?

Are there any on right now?

I'm so glad you asked! 

Yes!

How do I find resources by participating stores?

Click on THIS link to TpT!

Or you can type in #happyeasterdeals in the TpT search bar, but why do that when I've already done it for you? :)

How can I find just the resources Reading with Mrs. D has up?

I have both resources written up below for you so you can click on the hyperlinks there, or you can click on THIS link to the Reading With Mrs. D Store.

Can I put my products up too?

If you're a TPT seller you can join the Facebook Group Wallflower TpT Think Tank.

After you join, find the post about this sale and follow the rules. 

As ALWAYS in a seller hosted TPT sale, you mark ONLY two resources down, and you must help to promote the sale.

EASY PEASY!

What Resources did you mark down Desiree?

I picked my 20 Spring Scrambled Sentences and my Letter Reversals Dice!

I thought about the Easter Sentences instead, but I figured by now you have this week planned, lol. 

About the Resources

1. Spring Scrambled Sentences are part of a HUGE growing bundle I have been working on this year. 

I started with Halloween, and have made a set for almost every holiday and every season since then. 

They vary in length (the number of sentences included) so this is reflected in their individual prices.

For example, The Spring set has TWENTY sentences. Each coordinating recording sheet has space for FOUR of these sentences, so you could easily use FOUR sentences a week for FIVE weeks! 

I have also included a generic recording page so YOU can choose which four sentences to use any given week.

Here's a look for you:

Each sentence is five or six words long. I try to vary the sentences so they start with different words, and there is at least one questioning sentence in each pack.

The cards should be cut up and laminated for durability so students can shuffle them around to build a sentence that makes sense. Most sets each sentence can only make one good sentence, but there are a few sets where two words could be reversed. 

There are THREE recording sheet options in this set. COLOUR, B&W and a generic numbers only version.

2. Letter Reversals Dice are part of my HUGE Letter Reversals Bundle. 

So many early years students struggle with one or more set of easily confused letters.

This set (and ALL the sets) includes the following common reversals:

b/d/p/q/g (all possible pairs)

u/n/h/y (all possible pairs)

M/W m/w

s/z

f/t

Don't see the set of letters you were hoping for, or have an unusual confusion in your class? I can make you a Custom Set!

The Dice are very easy to use once you've taken the time to build the cubes (May I suggest it's a great job for a parent volunteer?) Just laminate, cut out and fold in place. I sealed mine with packing tape, which I also suggest for you.

To use, give the student the die with the two letters they are working on TODAY and the coordinating worksheet. Students roll the die, and then use the blue background to help them orient the die before recording the letter they rolled on their page. 

EASY PEASY!

Here's a look for you:

Each die has the letters written on primary lines, with a blue rectangle behind the bottom section to help students orient the top and bottom of each letter. This is especially helpful when orienting tall or long letters.

The recording page has the letters again with primary lines. 

Students will simply record the letters they record UNDER the matching letter. 

It is up to YOU as the teacher if they will copy the letter or make a tally. 

Perhaps the first time they play they can make a tally, and the second time they might copy the letters?

That's it for today! Happy Shopping!

35 Acronyms for Silent Reading Time

As a student in the 80s and early 90's, my junior high (middle school to most of you, but it was 7-9) had silent reading every day right after lunch before the first afternoon class.

Here is my compiled list of Silent Reading Acronyms
Is yours on the list?

1. Our school called it USSR- Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading.

2. SSR- Sustained Silent Reading (or Self Selected Reading)

3. I've also had a lot of schools call it DEAR- Drop Everything And Read.

4. My first student teacher placement had it called OTTER Time- Our time To Enjoy Reading

5. I've heard of SQUIRT- Super Quiet Uninterrupted Independent Reading Time (or solitary) (or unique) (or Individual, interesting)

6. How about WEIRD?- We Enjoy Independent Reading Daily

7. ZYLAR- Zip Your Lips And Read

8. FUR- Free Uninterrupted Reading

9. DIRT- Daily Independent Reading Time (or Individual)

10. IRT- Independent Reading Time

11. WEB- We Enjoy Reading (or Wonderfully Entertaining Books)

12. FVR- Free Voluntary Reading (or reverse the VF)

13. POWER- Positive Outcomes While Enjoying Reading

14. HIP- High Intensity Practice

15. What about HERO? Helping Everyone Read Outstandingly?

16. WART- Writing and Reading Time

17. BEARS- Being Excited About Reading Stories (or Enthusiastic)

18. GROW- Go Read Others Writing

19. GRAB- Go Read a Book

20. FART- Families are Reading Together

21. BARF- Be a Reading Freak

22. RABBIT- Read a Book Because it's There

23. ERIC- Everybody Reads in Class

24. FRED- Free Reading Every Day

25. FROG- Frequently Reading Our Goal

26. NIB- Nose in Book

27. OSCAR- Our School Cares about Reading

28. PAR- Pause and Read

29.QBT- Quiet Book Time

30. ROAR- Reach Out and Read

31. STAR- Students, Teachers, All Reading (or Sit together and Read)

32. SURF- Silent Uninterrupted Reading Fun

33. Who RAH!- Who Reads At Home?

34. ART- Active Reading Time

35. READ- Read Everyday and Dream



What do you call it? Or did you find a new idea?

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If you would like me to review other books for kids please leave a comment. It must be useful to either teachers or parents of children age 4 to grade 2.

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