gutsy heroes-what I have been reading...

I have a stack of books that I want to briefly review and take to the office! The first is Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park. Okay, I admit it, I am not a baseball fan. I have beeen to the Big O in Montreal a couple of times with my friend's kids when they were small and that was fun but... my idea of a nightmare is a double header! Despite this, I really enjoyed this book which paints a very clear picture of life in the early 50's in Brooklyn. Audience probably would be grade five and up.
The Highwayman's Footsteps by Nicola Morgan. This is a real adventure book based on the famous poem, The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. This reminds me of the books I loved in my childhood full of action, interesting characters in exotic settings long ago, in this case 18th century England.
A friend went to the Key West Literacy Seminar. Now doesn't that seem exotic? She sent me a young adult book by an author that she heard there. Claiming Georgia Tate by Gigi Amateau is a very good book about a girl who has loving grandparents, a mom who apparently died, and a father who is not good. Things begin to go wrong when her grandmother dies. This book shows how naive people can be and the damage that can be done, but this is a book of hope with strong and interesting charactors.
The last book I am going to briefly review is When I Crossed No-Bob by Margaret McMullan. This is another book aimed at upper intermediate to grade eight that I really enjoyed. This is a historical novel set in rural Missisippi just after The Civil War. The characters are great as well as the plot. Addy is a gutsy heroine who overcomes some difficult circumstances and makes difficult decisions!

Science, and David Ward, other odds and ends...

Keeping up a blog seems like a bit of a responsibility! What's new in the world of Later Literacy? An e-mail website to which I have recently subscribed is from Choice Literacy. Choice Literacy is a great website to which you need a membership to access articles and podcasts aimed at literacy coaches and consultants. If you see an article that interests you, do let me know, as I have a membership. The newsletter is free. Contributors include The Sisters of The Daily Five fame and Notebook Know-How's Aimee Buckner. The Sisters are tackling middle schools now so that should be interesting. The Daily Five seemed to be The Book last year, and this year Notebook Know-How has proven incredibly popular.
On the web again I found another interesting website, The National Science Teachers Association and of course I went shopping and found several intriguing books linking science and literacy as well as other great resources you can just download. Becoming a member of the website is free. Now speaking of science, in an action research project last year, Jacob Martens and Moira Ekdahl added to the library's collection of great trade books related to science. Recently Jacob's Physics 11 students did trade book reviews on line. To read some, just visit Gladstone on line and sign in as a guest!
Interested in literature circles at the high school level, Denise Clark and Liisa House have planned a great workshop on this for April 1.

Report cards and Parent-Teacher Interviews will be over, why don't you plan to come to Waverley's library April 10th to LOMCIRA's Spring Fling, Reading and Writing with Children, a presentation with writer and researcher, David Ward. Rumour has it that there will even be a glass of wine and nibblies waiting for you. David is great so check it out!

Finally I just have to give credit to staff members at Maquinna who asked to meet with Barb McBride and I to talk about how assessment can drive practice on a Friday afternoon. A great discussion and lunch! That's what I call dedication.