Category: General

It was lunch time, and I was sitting in the little room outside the office prepping materials for an assessment. I was just about to get up and grab some pencils when a teacher passed by and looked in.  “Oh it’s nice to see you!” came her bright greeting, and it was undeniably nice to see her too. I’ve had the opportunity to work with this educator a couple of times now; my system role sees me moving about quite a bit, and at each new school it’s always a bonus to run into people I have collaborated with in the past.  She’s a dedicated teacher, always on the go and brimming with positive energy, someone you always feel better for having spoken with.

Today she seemed a little different, though. A little quieter.

Our conversation lasted about twenty minutes, the third period bell sternly enforcing its end. But while we were chatting, she spoke about how much her students would be able to do if they had adequate supports, and I could hear the frustration in her voice. She had multiple needs in her class, and as the only educator in a room of 30 students, along with vanishing funding for special education and ESL, her worry for her students was palpable.

Such situations are far from isolated. Every day teachers show up and give their best for students, and despite all the challenges still manage to accomplish incredible things. But let’s face it: no matter how devoted the educator, no matter how skilled their pedagogy, the underfunding of our school system can sometimes create an unshakeable type of stress, when we routinely see students who do not have the specialized supports and manageable class sizes they need to truly thrive. Couple that with the worries and struggles we may have in our personal lives, set it all against the backdrop of our roiling world, and you have the perfect recipe for stuckness.

Ugh, stuckness. I loathe it. Stuckness is the worst.  That trapped feeling, like boots you can’t pull out of squelchy mud.  Where solutions to our problems seem so out of reach, so distant, that we feel that we aren’t really making any progress at all.

But – as I discovered not too long ago – there is sometimes a way to make the worry a little more manageable.

It was a couple of years ago now, and I was telling a friend about a problem. It had been bothering me for some time and I felt, well, stuck.  That there was no solution to my dilemma and never would be.  That I was doing absolutely nothing to get to where I needed to go.

But what my friend said next helped, at least a little bit. She told me to imagine I was driving a car, and while not at my destination quite yet, it was important to recognize that I was headed in the right direction. Contrary to what I felt, I wasn’t doing ‘nothing’: I had a list of steps I’d already taken, and I had a plan for steps I’d continue to take. I was aiming for my goal, doing what I could do. And sure, unruly passengers might occasionally climb aboard with me, squawking and screeching and doing their best to remind me I wasn’t there yet (thank you very much, unhelpful thoughts).  But, my friend said, you don’t have to listen. They can spew doom all they like, because you know where you’re going and you have the skills to get there. So instead of absorbing the panic and helplessness, I could continue on, perhaps with a little more self-compassion, knowing that although I hadn’t arrived at the solution yet, I was headed the right way.

So as we continue the cold trudge through February, whenever I feel myself trapped in stuckness I’m going to think of that gradual, winding road trip. It’s the right image for me; it may or may not be the right image for you. But if there is a challenge you are facing in your day-to-day teaching, it is my hope that you can see all the things you are doing, all the little steps moving you forward, knowing you are making a difference in children’s lives every day. And that as we continue to care for students, as we continue to collaborate and help one another, and as we continue to advocate for the supports our students need, we are headed in the right direction together.

 

 

The night sky is mesmerizing. We gaze up into the vast darkness seeing the moon and stars but we can also look for planet parades, meteor showers, the Aurora Borealis and even see the space station circling around the earth. Canadians have had a significant role in space exploration since the 1950’s. This influence continues with astronaut Jeremy Hansen from the London/Ingersoll area. Jeremy’s path to becoming an astronaut is outlined in an article by CTV news which includes photos of him in childhood showing his interest in space. His dreams of becoming a pilot and exploring space started early, when he was in elementary school.  His childhood treehouse included buttons and knobs imitating a rocket ship and this idea was included in an illustrated e-book called, Explorers Club: To the Moon!  from the Canadian Space Agency. The book also features Canadian female astronaut, Jenni Gibbons, who is a  backup astronaut and capcom on the Artemis II mission. 

The Canadian Space Agency website has a section devoted to education with cross-curricular ideas for elementary classrooms where students are learning about space and the contributions of Canadians to space exploration. There are experiments to encourage students to think about how to survive in space. We can also learn about astronauts at NASA who are working on the Artemis mission, including Jeremy Hansen and Jenni Gibbons. 

Another source of inspiration is former Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield who created fascinating videos while on board the International Space Station.  Students sent in questions and he demonstrated how to brush your teeth in space or wringing out a cloth in space. 

The excitement and curiosity about exploring space and living in a no-gravity environment  makes learning very engaging. The Artemis II mission involves taking their spacecraft, Integrity, around the moon and back to earth as part of their ten day mission. The astronauts are trained to test this new type of space vehicle as part of the overall Artemis plan which includes landing on the moon in the next phase. 

The mission is worthy of research and debate with our older students. There are important questions to address:

-How is  the Artemis Mission valuable to Canadians?

-What views do Indigenous Peoples have on space exploration?

-How does the Artemis program and the Canadarm 3 inspire STEM education?

-What is the Lunar Gateway project and how are Canadians involved?

-How will the Artemis program influence our society?

For younger students, I highly recommend reading The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield. He recalls his experience of watching the lunar landing as a child in 1969 and how it inspired his career as an astronaut. Jump ahead to today and we can wonder how our students will be influenced by the Artemis program, which includes doing research on the moon’s surface and having the Gateway station orbiting the moon to support this research. 

Since the science curriculum supports learning about the impact of Canadian scientists on the world, I plan to include information about the Artemis mission in my teaching. There have been many brilliant Canadians leading the way in space research and we have the opportunity to nurture that love of learning in our students. I remember seeing the first female Canadian astronaut, Roberta Bondar, after her space mission. As a woman, I was energized by her accomplishments, commitment, intelligence, and humour. 

I can’t help but ponder the Artemis mission and its implications for the future. 

Brenda

As we step back into our classrooms, I invite you to join me in a different kind of shift. Rather than doing more, focus on doing better in just one area you’ve already started. Maybe it’s something personal in your own practice, or maybe it’s connected to your class.

Like any change, this starts with reflection. Think back over the past year. What have you done that feels good and sustainable? What did you introduce that you genuinely love? Maybe you started something and slowly let it go. Now is the perfect time to bring it back and give it another real chance.

This type of shift requires an intentional pivot in our daily routines. For me, the big focus this year is student independence in the junior grades that I support. When we solve every problem for our students, we unintentionally teach them that they need us for everything. To break that cycle and reclaim my own attention, I’m leaning heavily into a classic strategy.

The “3 Before Me” rule. It sounds simple, but it can create a great shift in your classroom. “3 Before Me” is a strategy I’ve used before and one I get genuinely excited to introduce each year, but if I’m honest, it’s also one I tend to forget to consistently reinforce over time. So this year I aim to be intentional. I will teach, model, and remodel, and use anchor charts to remind myself and my students how to use it.

Here is how it will work. Once I’ve explained the task and addressed any questions, students will try the following before coming to my desk with a “how-to” question:

Check in with themselves: Check the board, the rubric, or their own notes.

Ask a Peer: Ask a neighbour for clarification.

Refer to a Resource: Look at a mentor text or a classroom anchor chart.

If a student comes to me with a question, I’ll hold up three fingers to check if they’ve done their “3 Before Me.” If not, I’ll kindly send them back to give it a try first; if they say yes, I might ask which peer they talked to or what resource they checked, just to keep the habit strong.

What makes this work for my students is that it builds confidence and fosters critical thinking. Students come to see that they can find answers on their own instead of always turning to the educator for answers. And for the educator, it reduces the constant interruptions and quick-fix questions, creating the time needed to support students more intentionally and meaningfully. It creates space for you to facilitate small groups or have deep, one-on-one check-ins with students who truly need your expertise.

As we use the “3 Before Me” strategy, we need to make sure it actually fits the learners in front of us, especially our multilingual learners and students with special education needs. That means teaching it clearly and visually. Try using simple anchor charts with icons, step cards on desks, and sentence stems like, “Can you explain this step?” or “I don’t understand this word.” Model what asking a peer actually sounds like before expecting students to do it independently. And remember, the number doesn’t have to be rigid. For some students it might be “1 Before Me” or “2 Before Me.” Build in safe exceptions for when a student is truly stuck or overwhelmed. When we scaffold it properly and choose peer partners intentionally, “3 Before Me” becomes a tool for building confidence and independence, not a barrier.

Changing your classroom culture is like breaking any old habit. It feels clunky at first. You will have to revisit your expectations and set new goals with your class. You’ll have to resist the urge to give the quick answer and you’ll have to gently point back to the “Ask 3” poster.

But remember this. Every time you don’t answer a question that a student could solve themselves, you are gifting them a bit of autonomy and gifting yourself the energy to be the inspired, present teacher you want to be.

As you look at your calendar for the coming weeks, begin by asking yourself. What is one task I do daily that my students could actually do for themselves? Where am I “performing” teaching rather than “facilitating” learning?

I invite you to make this year the year of the sustainable teacher.

I’ve learned so much this year while working with colleagues in the early learning department. They always leave me with some new learning to ponder in relation to my practice. Recently, we’ve had a conversation about Dr Jean Clinton and her work around something called the C:D:C ratio. For many Designated Early Childhood Educators this is the basis of their work; however, for me, this was a different framing of the student and educator relationship. 

The C:D:C ratio is short form for Correct:Direct:Connect.  Dr. Clinton’s work emphasizes the importance of relationship building between educators and students.  Connection, she says, is key.  The relationships educators build with students can positively transform learning and how students see themselves in the classroom environment. Dr. Clinton encourages educators to think about the ratio of time we spend correcting students, directing students, and connecting with students.  

Correcting might sound like verbal cues “Stop speaking out” or “You’ve made a mistake here”.   It might even appear in non-verbal ways, such as eye contact or moving closer to stop certain behaviour. I stopped to reflect on what this looked like in my teaching; how many times do I correct students?  Are there any students that I correct more often than others?  What reasons do I ‘correct’ (e.g., academic errors, classroom rules, or something else).

Directing students involves directing accepted actions or behaviour.  Perhaps this manifests instructionally, for example, telling students “It’s time to do some math now”. It might also indicate acceptable behaviour, such as “Thank you for raising your hand before speaking out.”  I wondered how many times I directed students in the classroom.  How do my own expectations and biases about a ‘good’ classroom affect our relationship in ways I haven’t noticed before? 

Connecting with students is really where the educator intentionally builds meaningful exchanges with students.  How does this happen authentically in the classroom space?  Dr Clinton offers some guidance by modifying suggestions from the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning.  

A few of those suggestions are as follows: 

• Be at the child’s level for face-to-face interactions 
• Use a pleasant, calm voice and simple language while making eye contact  
• Help children understand your expectations by providing simple but clear explanations (not by directing) 
• Take the time to engage children in the process of resolving problems and conflicts, rather than reiterating classroom rules
• Be genuine in acknowledging children for their accomplishments and effort by clearly saying what it is they have done well 

It feels to me like the connecting part is about building relationships with students.  It’s partly how we interact with them (eye level, eye contact, face to face) and it’s partly how educators are intentional about engaging with students (resolving problems, genuinely acknowledging efforts, trying to understand behaviour).  Directing and correcting seem to be more about student compliance.  We know that students thrive when they feel seen and heard and valued – all of which is expressed through connection.  Dr. Clinton’s research tells educators that if we spend more time on connecting with children, there is less need for correction and directing. 

Dr. Clinton’s work is based in early learning, but her appeal for educators to reflect on their C:D:C ratio speaks to educators at all levels in schools. Of course there are times throughout the day when correcting and directing are necessary; however, it’s valuable to reflect on which interaction is most prominent and why that is. 

There’s so much to learn about in Early Childhood Education.Even if you are not a kindergarten teacher I urge you to read and listen to some of these brilliant researchers.  I promise you’ll learn a lot. 

Learn more about Dr. Jean Clinton’s work by exploring: 

https://etfopley.ca/jean-clinton-well-bring-relationships/

https://drjeanclinton.com/

The Power of Positive Adult-Child Relationships: Connection is the Key

 

 

In an age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms and large language models (LLMs) that generate clear and lengthy texts at the click of a button, it’s not difficult to see how the act of writing may be changed forever. For students, it is all too easy to turn to tools like Copilot or Chat GPT to create a research report, to analyze a poem, or to write a current events article assignment. Adults similarly turn to these tools to make their workflows easier, whether it is writing emails, presentations, or a report.

You may even be wondering if what you are reading right now is an authentic piece of writing, or generated by a prompt. To clarify, I wrote this article but also prompted an LLM to write an article about the topic – as I often do to support and accelerate the work I do as an educator and as a content creator.

To be transparent, the LLM gave me a ton of great ideas, summarized succinctly in seconds. It reminded me that AI has provided educators with “a huge opportunity: we can teach better writing and better research habits by showing students how to use AI as a thinking partner rather than a shortcut.” In fact, the prompt gave me so many good ideas it made me realize how little I really know about leveraging AI effectively in a literacy classroom. It made me realize that while I can’t truly write a fulsome article on using AI in the writing classroom, I can reflect on what human-generated texts really mean to me.

I have always considered myself to be a writer, and after reading so many AI generated texts I’ve really started to deeply appreciate the insights, mistakes, and voice that only us perfectly flawed humans can make when we write. And while I truly believe educators need to lean into AI (as my AI generated text encouraged me, “teach it” don’t “ban it”), I hope there is also a mindset shift toward valuing the very human action of writing as a function, an art, and process of learning and creativity that is unique and special.

Writing is hard work. It only gets easier when we write frequently, and become skilled at spontaneously applying verb tenses, drawing from text forms, and leveraging punctuation and sentence structure to add variety to a draft. It’s easy to see why many kids and adults dislike writing longer texts or being tasked to write a paragraph, and find AI tools so alluring.

As educators and teachers of language and literacy, I think we can play a unique role in helping students to become more aware of what makes human-generated texts so important as a source of enjoyment, a way to express creativity, and a valuable skill that helps us to become more effective communicators and readers. Through human-driven writing, we learn new information and how to use new words.

How can we teach students to use AI effectively in their writing? Here are a few tips that were generated by my Chat GPT prompt:

Create an “AI Use Policy” with students in plain language. Include:

• What AI is allowed for: brainstorming topic ideas, building question banks, outlining, planning research steps, language clarification, vocabulary support, examples of structures (e.g., thesis, counterclaim), and feedback on clarity.
• What is not allowed: submitting AI-generated drafts as one’s own, fabricating sources or quotes, bypassing assigned readings, using AI to misrepresent understanding.
• Non-negotiables: protect privacy (no personal data), verify facts, and always disclose when AI materially assisted the work (“AI Acknowledgment” note at the end).
• Equity check: ensure every student has access to board-approved tools for teacher and student use (in boards that have policies around the student use of AI) or school devices during structured time so policy doesn’t advantage only those with home access.
• Post norms as an anchor chart; revisit them before major tasks.

To be honest, these tips are actually much better than anything I probably could have created about using AI!

While we may be saying goodbye to “old” ways of communicating, I think its exciting to contemplate what the future of writing will look like with so many new tools at our students’ fingertips. It’s also important to remember that guidance does exist for us as we navigate this new and evolving realm: be sure to check the members section of the ETFO website for AI advice, in addition to your board’s own AI policies. And as educators, we should always try to remember that we have the privilege and responsibility of teaching students the value of human-centred writing.

In my previous post I shared how I’m teaching students conjunctions to support their ability to create increasingly complex sentence forms and help them in comprehending increasingly complex written ideas. In this post, I’ll share an initial step I’m taking to help students develop their vocabulary knowledge by having them create vocabulary cards. I’ll also share some thoughts on how I’m planning to use the vocabulary cards to explicitly teach students specific words.

Specific expectation B2.2 in the revised Grades 1 – 8 Language curriculum (2023) calls educators to teach students to demonstrate their understanding of a wide variety of words in addition to helping them acquire and use explicitly taught vocabulary in various contexts. One of the ways that I’ve been striving to support students in acquiring and using new vocabulary is by having them self-select new or vaguely familiar words from the short stories they have been reading then create vocabulary cards.

To begin, I ask students to select a word from one of the short stories they’ve read. I then invite them to create vocabulary cards where they use an online dictionary to find a definition of the word that makes the most sense in the context of their story, identify the part of speech to which the word belongs, find two synonyms for the word, and create an image of what they envision when they read or hear the word. I then ask students to record the word, definition, and synonyms in their language notebook for future reference. Once students create their vocabulary card, I add it to our class vocabulary wall as reference tool that they can use when they are reading or writing. See images of our growing vocabulary wall attached.

I got the idea for vocabulary cards from reading the book, Visible Learning for Literacy: Implementing Strategies that Work Best to Accelerate Student Learning, by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie. In it the authors explain how word cards or what I call vocabulary cards can aid in helping students retain and recall information like new words.

To provide opportunities for students to practice using their new vocabulary in familiar contexts, I’ve been asking them use different vocabulary words during complex and compound-complex sentence practice exercises. From reading students sentences from practice exercises I gained insight to how accurately they use the vocabulary in addition to their ability to create increasingly complex sentence forms. From this teaching experience I also learned that having students identify new or vaguely familiar words, create vocabulary cards, and practice using them in a sentence is insufficient vocabulary instruction. Meaning, I’ve observed that without explicit vocabulary instruction and practice, the students I teach have yet to develop their ability to consistently use new vocabulary accurately in sentences. I now better understand why students require explicit vocabulary instruction and practice to support them in building their vocabulary knowledge.

One of the primary purposes I had students engage in the vocabulary card activity was to have them generate a list of words they do not know and want to learn to inform my instruction. From reading the Grades 3 – 5 Edition of Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom, I learned that for students to really know a word they need to know the individual sounds, how it is spelled, how it is used as a part of speech, and some of the multiple meanings connected to the word.

My next step is to create a list of words that I see multiple students identify and use those to begin my explicit instruction along with using a spelling program called Catch Up Your Code that provides explicit lessons on how to teach all the different spelling patterns found in the English language.

In preparation for instruction, I’m thinking of selecting 3 – 5 words per week to explicitly teach students. I think 3 – 5 words will be a manageable and reasonable amount taking into consideration the range of abilities, needs, resources, and time I have available. My explicit instruction will include a student friendly definition of the word, a review of the pronunciation, spelling patterns, morphemes included in the word, and direct connections to word networks meaning synonyms and/or antonyms.

Again, I gained these instructional approaches from reading the Grades 3 – 5 Edition of Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom.

I think that if we as educators really want to improve students’ vocabulary knowledge, then we must make time to explicitly teach them words which is what I’m striving to do. In a future post, I hope to share additional insights I’ve gained from utilizing these instructional approaches and how they have impacted students learning.

They told me,
“Build relationships.”
“Plan ahead.”
“Collaborate with your teaching team”
“Reflect on your practice”

All good advice.
All true.
All necessary.

But the best advice?
The one that is not said out loud enough?

Rest.

Rest because teaching is heart work.

Rest because your students
need a human, not a hero running on fumes.

Rest because the work
requires presence,
listening,
courage,
and a full battery.

Rest because your joy matters, too.

The best advice as a teacher has been rest.

What is the best advice you have received as a beginning teacher?

Several years ago I was looking through a catalogue of vocabulary-learning apps, searching for one that might work well for multilingual language learners. As I swiped through the demos, a familiar pattern emerged – and it was most clearly illustrated in an upbeat app that was basically a digital version of flashcards. I tapped the screen and the program sprang to life, an enthusiastic voice firing out vocabulary students were expected to repeat while looking at a picture of the word. I can’t remember exactly what the app said, but it was something not unlike this:

“Aardvark! …. Buttons! … Cheesecake! …”

I silently asked myself where I would ever hear those words again, and swiped away.

This unfortunately is the downfall of many vocabulary-learning apps: the words are random, or at best organized into broad categories such as “fruit” or “sports equipment”, but which are not usually the categories of words being used in class, that the student will need to understand lessons.

Going through these apps reminded me of the day I first realized the teaching and learning implications of this ubiquitous resource type. It was near the beginning of my career, and I was attending a teaching conference in Toronto. One of the presenters was a professor of linguistics and language acquisition, and as a newly-hired ESL teacher, I had signed up for her seminar.  The presentation went as usual, the professor walking back and forth across the room, animatedly talking about her own experiences learning English as a child, and her current research focus for teachers of multilingual language learners. There were about 50 of us sitting in those old-style lecture chairs with the swing-out desktop, watching her as she paced back and forth discussing the topic she was so clearly passionate about. I was scribbling notes here and there when she stopped and directly addressed us, punctuating the importance of her statement with gestures:

“Students need to hear and use a word – speaking, listening, reading, writing – in context, at least ten times, for it to be committed to memory.”

This stark number slammed right up against the wall of ESL learning materials and workbooks I had encountered thus far: the picture flashcards full of unrelated words, the grammar-heavy ESL drill books, the word game packages … the kind of resources that saturate the market.  And when we examine these resources, several questions arise. Where is the context in flashcards? Where is the authentic communication for real purposes in grammar drill workbooks? And perhaps most relevant to the professor’s statistic, what are the chances the student will naturally hear and meaningfully use these words at least ten times in the coming days and weeks?

Over the years I have heard adjustments to the number the professor quoted … 15 times to learn a word, 20 times … sometimes more. But the common takeaway in all of the studies is, quite frankly, “a lot”. Students need to interact with words meaningfully and repeatedly in order to retain them. And if there is one place students are going to hear words repeated and used for authentic purposes, it is the mainstream classroom. How many times will we say, read, and write words such as “cloud”, “evaporate” and “rain” in a science unit on the water cycle? Way more than ten, I’ll wager. Conversely, how many times will vocabulary like “cheesecake” come up?  And what then is the chance of the student remembering that isolated lexical item and committing it to permanent memory? Words, words, words … we teachers may get that Hamlet-style reply from students, if we ask them what they learned on one of those popular vocab apps.

I have kept this guiding principle as one of the main starting points for ESL instruction over the years, identifying words students will need for learning and authentic communication, and being intentional about teaching, clarifying, and recycling them.

And on a positive note, there have been some changes in ESL resources in recent years. I have seen some new learning programs that have moved away from generalized word themes to more specific ones that students will encounter, grade by grade, according to curriculum topics. But there are still an overwhelming number of them that do not follow this model.  So I will keep searching.  And although this will never happen in any other context in my life, I think I’ll pass on the cheesecake.

 

When a book begins with a map I get very excited. When a book begins with a map AND has interactive flaps to lift, I’m all in! These illustrative choices make “Mouse’s Wood” a beautiful book to enjoy just for the sake of the creative style but the story also can be a springboard into the curriculum. Alice Melvin created a whimsical woodland where Mouse is found visiting various friends such as squirrels and hedgehogs who live in different micro-environments of the forest. Among them are cherry trees, a strawberry patch and the river bank.

 As Melvin says on her website:

“Mouse’s Wood is my love letter to woods and nature.  The book follows Mouse on a woodland walk through the changing seasons.” https://alicemelvin.com/mouses-wood/

This story can help children see the natural world in a way that feels peaceful and respectful. Isn’t this perspective needed amongst all the negative messages kids get about the environment? The story can be read at any time of the year, since all seasons and months are represented. The book is ideal for kindergarten as well as grades one and two but there are many students over 8 years old who would love to have this book shared in their class or recommended for a small group or reading buddy situation.  Here are some cross curricular follow up activities and theme ideas to go with Mouse’s Wood.

Activity 1: Illustrated Map Primary/Junior

After reading Mouse’s Wood, students create an illustrated map of their neighbourhood or a fictional location. An illustrated map gives the students poetic licence to enhance their favourite areas with illustrations, graphic designs, logos, etc. If you want to follow the model in Mouse’s Wood, encourage them to show details about the location in a particular season. For example, do the plants have buds, blooms, or fruit?

Activity 2: Observing Animal Habitats Primary/Junior

Mouse’s Wood is set in England so some of the plants and animals featured are different from the ones we find in Ontario. As a class, create a chart listing animals in the story and discover more about their habitats. What types of plants and animals live there? 

Compare those habitats to animals in Ontario. Consider including porcupines, skunks, beavers, or study some less common animals like shrews, bats, or voles.

Activity 3: Making Flip Art Illustrations Primary/Junior

Having students analyse the illustrations and develop their own flip art illustrations just takes paper, scissors, glue, pencil and the courage to experiment. These illustrations could be subject based for a science, social studies or health topic. Another suggestion is to turn these illustrations into greeting cards that students can use as thank you cards.  The idea of opening a door or window and seeing what is inside a room piques the reader’s curiosity. One of the illustrations in the book flips up to show the underwater world of the river in the wood. I’ve included a picture of another type of 3-D flip art that students have enjoyed making.

Theme Suggestions

Mice in Children’s Literature

Students are often interested in comparing picture books. There are thousands of choices of picture books with mice as characters. We can read these other books and ask questions about the art and the story, looking for contrasts with Mouse’s Wood. I immediately think of the series by Laura Joffe Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond,  If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Another favourite is the outstanding Canadian book, Subway Mouse, with plasticine art by Barbara Reid. Jan Brett has detailed illustrations for Town Mouse Country Mouse. Also, the Mouse King in the Nutcracker ballet gives us a chance to explore characters in dance as well as literature.   

Months and Seasons

One way to start the new year in January is to review the upcoming months and seasons. To reinforce these concepts, younger students will also enjoy Hap-Pea All Year by Keith Baker. The illustrations in this book are bright and colourful and the little peas do a wonderful job showing activities common at various times of the year. The style of illustrations is quite different from Mouse’s Wood and will make an excellent discussion topic. For an Indigenous perspective, try Kaitlin Curtis’ three books: Winter’s Gifts, Spring’s Miracles and Summer’s Magic. I referred to Winter’s Gifts in my December 2025 post about the winter solstice.

…

If this is the start of a new year for you, I hope it is a wonderful one full of many delightful books that entertain and educate.

Happy Reading!

Brenda