Activity, Digital Resources, Event

National Poetry Month 2023

Poetry_2023

From the League of Canadian Poets:

The League of Canadian Poets invites you to celebrate the 25th National Poetry Month this April 2023 with the theme of joy. 

What will you read this National Poetry Month?  Will you start your own poetry writing project? Will you write your first poem?

What does JOY mean to you?

  1. Selections from: Tea and Bannock Stories: First Nations Community of Poetic Voices (Simon Fraser University, First Nations Studies. Compiled by annie ross, Brandon Bob, Eve Chuang and the Chuang Family, Steve Davis, Robert Pictou)

 

2. Selections from Poetry Foundation: Poetry for Children

Ideas for Teachers: (from the League of Canadian Poets)

Poetry Play Stations

Poetry play stations use different techniques to encourage young readers to craft poems. Here are some great stations to include:

Erasure poetry: Using a page of existing text, use a black marker to complete cross out sections of the text — the words or phrases that remain can be strung together to form an original poem! Part of the beauty of erasure poem is how the entire page looks when completed, blacked-out sections and all.  Try it with a newspaper article!

Found poetry: Found poetry is very similar to erasure poetry — well, erasure poetry is a kind of found poetry — but with a little more freedom. Again using an existing text, participants select words or phrases from the text that they think will make a great poem: using the found words and phrases, they can play with line breaks, stanzas, and other ways of construction an original poem from the found text!

Book spine poetry: This is a great poetic experiment that takes over Twitter every April — using as few as three or as many as… well, as many as you can stack, create a poem using the titles of books as they appear on the spines. These make excellent photos and are great for sharing!

Magnet poetry: A classic! Choosing words from a pile of individual words to string together an original poem. This could be from a magnetic poetry set, but you could also simply prepare an assortment of words for participants to choose from.” (Source: League of Canadian Poets)

Activity, Books, Storyteller, Video

Earth Day 2023

Earth Day 2023:

Earth Day Stories:

Tumblebooks: (access via Learn75, no password required)

What happens when one small boy picks up one small piece of litter? He doesn’t know it, but his tiny act has big consequences. From the miniscule to the universal, What Matters sensitively explores nature’s connections and traces the ripple effects of one child’s good deed to show how we can all make a big difference.

You Are Stardust begins by introducing the idea that every tiny atom in our bodies came from a star that exploded long before we were born. From its opening pages, the book suggests that we are intimately connected to the natural world; it compares the way we learn to speak to the way baby birds learn to sing, and the growth of human bodies to the growth of forests. This innovative picture book aims to reintroduce children to their innate relationship with the world around them by sharing many of the surprising ways that we are all connected to the natural world.

Wild Ideas looks deep into the forests, skies and oceans to explore how animals solve problems. Whether it’s weaving a safe place to rest and reflect, blowing a fine net of bubbles to trap fish, or leaping boldly into a new situation, the animals featured (including the orangutan, humpback whale and gibbon) can teach us a lot about creative problem solving tools and strategies. Wild Ideas encourages an inquiry-based approach to learning, inviting readers to indulge their sense of wonder and curiosity by observing the natural world, engaging with big ideas and asking questions.

Articles  and Activity Ideas from CBC Kids:

Books, Event, Video

February 14th: Have a Heart Day 2023

This message is from the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada (FNCFCS) website:

“Have a Heart Day is a child and youth-led reconciliation campaign that brings together caring Canadians to help ensure First Nations children have the services they need to grow up safely at home, get a good education, be healthy, and be proud of who they are.

Watch “End the Gap – Fair Funding For First Nations Schools”

Activity Ideas:

  • Spread the word through social media like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Use the hashtag #HaveaHeartDay and/or #JourneeAyezUnCoeur.

Explore the Have a Heart Day website to download Have a Heart Day resources.

Through activities like Have a Heart Day, we are creating a movement where the landscape of Canada is only one of honour and possibility for First Nations children.”

FNCFCS also shared this music video by N’we Jinan Artists “Important to Us”, written and performed by students at Pierre Elliot Trudeau School.

Their message is inspiring:

“No matter where you’re from,

let’s fill our home with colour and love.”

Teachers: More resources are available here

  • Borrow Spirit Bear books by Cindy Blackstock from your school or Siwal Si’wes Library.
  • Follow Cindy Blackstock on Twitter (Cindy Blackstock @cblackst) and/or F.N. Caring Society on Twitter(F.N. Caring Society @Caringsociety)
  • Explore the Have a Heart Day website to download Have a Heart Day resources.
Books, Event

Pink Shirt Day 2023

Mark your calendar: Pink Shirt Day is February 22rd, 2023.

PinkShirt_2023

“Today our diversity is becoming more visible than ever as people continue to embrace their cultures, identities, and true selves in more open and direct ways; making the need to Lift Each Other Up and have greater acceptance, respect, and inclusion for everyone so important. This year we are asking you to join us in celebrating our diversity while raising funds to support inclusive anti-bullying programs for kids in our communities.”  (https://www.pinkshirtday.ca/)

Where did Pink Shirt Day come from?

In 2007 in Nova Scotia, Grade 12 students David Shepherd, Travis Price and a few friends saw that a grade 9 student was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school.

They knew they had to do something to show that this kind of behavior was not okay.

They decided to go out and buy pink shirts and hand them out to other students to wear.

By the end of that week, most of the students in the school were wearing pink shirts to show support for the grade 9 student who was bullied.

On February 23rd, wear something pink to show that we are all working together to erase bullying in our community.

Resources:

Book recommendations:

(Educator/Family guide also available.)

Digital Resources, Event

Family Literacy Week 2023

2023 Family Literacy Theme:

Make it count!FamilyLit_2023

Play . Sort . Measure.

“Numeracy is everywhere. Children start using math the moment they start exploring the world. Sorting, counting and measuring are ways of playing with math. Talking about math with children helps build a positive attitude towards math. Math talk helps your child connect math with daily activities.”

Recommended Resource: Math in Mission Website

Additional Resources: Make it Count Activities

Additional Resources

Joyful Literacy Family Literacy Activities:

(developed by Dr. Janet Mort)

Early Learning Families: Check out the Early Learning Page on Curriculum Connections for creative family activities developed by MPSD’s StrongStart Team

Digital Resources, Event, Media

Veterans’ Week 2022

Leave a comment
Here are some resources that connect with the theme of Remembrance:

Veterans Affairs Canada – Veterans’ Week Poster:

VeteransWeek2021

“This special commemorative poster features a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot settling into the cockpit of a CF-18 jet fighter at an airbase in Eastern Europe in September 2018. The Canadian Armed Forces have deployed to the region for years as part of Operation REASSURANCE to support our North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies.

This Veterans’ Week, how will you remember the generations of brave Canadians who have put their lives on the line in the cause of peace and freedom?”  (Veterans Affairs Canada)

Additional Resources:

national-aboriginal-monument

  • Interactive Activity: (Ages 10+)

Over the Top: An Interactive Adventure

“An activity created by the Canadian War Museum to help students understand the First World War from a soldier’s perspective. The activity’s interactive nature and its animation-based format will appeal to younger students. Includes a glossary of terms. (Recommended for ages 10 and up.)”

Activity, Books, Storyteller, Video

Earth Day 2022

Earth Day Stories:

Tumblebooks: (access via Learn75, no password required)

What happens when one small boy picks up one small piece of litter? He doesn’t know it, but his tiny act has big consequences. From the miniscule to the universal, What Matters sensitively explores nature’s connections and traces the ripple effects of one child’s good deed to show how we can all make a big difference.

You Are Stardust begins by introducing the idea that every tiny atom in our bodies came from a star that exploded long before we were born. From its opening pages, the book suggests that we are intimately connected to the natural world; it compares the way we learn to speak to the way baby birds learn to sing, and the growth of human bodies to the growth of forests. This innovative picture book aims to reintroduce children to their innate relationship with the world around them by sharing many of the surprising ways that we are all connected to the natural world.

Wild Ideas looks deep into the forests, skies and oceans to explore how animals solve problems. Whether it’s weaving a safe place to rest and reflect, blowing a fine net of bubbles to trap fish, or leaping boldly into a new situation, the animals featured (including the orangutan, humpback whale and gibbon) can teach us a lot about creative problem solving tools and strategies. Wild Ideas encourages an inquiry-based approach to learning, inviting readers to indulge their sense of wonder and curiosity by observing the natural world, engaging with big ideas and asking questions.

Articles  and Activity Ideas from CBC Kids:

Activity, Digital Resources, Event

National Poetry Month 2022

Poetry_2022_2

From the League of Canadian Poets:

The League of Canadian Poets invites you to celebrate the 24nd National Poetry Month this April 2022 with the theme of intimacy. 

This National Poetry Month, we invite you to celebrate with the theme of INTIMACY.

We crave it. We fear it. We are ready to build walls against it and dive headfirst into its open arms. Intimacy is the closeness we feel with those who love us, given freely through warm hugs. It’s a shared laugh or glance between strangers, a moment of comfort in an anonymous world.

What will you read this National Poetry Month?  Will you start your own poetry writing project? Will you write your first poem?

  1. Selections from: Tea and Bannock Stories: First Nations Community of Poetic Voices (Simon Fraser University, First Nations Studies. Compiled by annie ross, Brandon Bob, Eve Chuang and the Chuang Family, Steve Davis, Robert Pictou)

 

2. Selections from Poetry Foundation: Poetry for Children

Ideas for Teachers: (from the League of Canadian Poets)

Poetry Play Stations

Poetry play stations use different techniques to encourage young readers to craft poems. Here are some great stations to include:

Erasure poetry: Using a page of existing text, use a black marker to complete cross out sections of the text — the words or phrases that remain can be strung together to form an original poem! Part of the beauty of erasure poem is how the entire page looks when completed, blacked-out sections and all.  Try it with a newspaper article!

Found poetry: Found poetry is very similar to erasure poetry — well, erasure poetry is a kind of found poetry — but with a little more freedom. Again using an existing text, participants select words or phrases from the text that they think will make a great poem: using the found words and phrases, they can play with line breaks, stanzas, and other ways of construction an original poem from the found text!

Book spine poetry: This is a great poetic experiment that takes over Twitter every April — using as few as three or as many as… well, as many as you can stack, create a poem using the titles of books as they appear on the spines. These make excellent photos and are great for sharing!

Magnet poetry: A classic! Choosing words from a pile of individual words to string together an original poem. This could be from a magnetic poetry set, but you could also simply prepare an assortment of words for participants to choose from.” (Source: League of Canadian Poets)

Books, Event

Pink Shirt Day 2022

Mark your calendar: Pink Shirt Day is February 23rd, 2022.

PinkShirt_2022

“Today our diversity is becoming more visible than ever as people continue to embrace their cultures, identities, and true selves in more open and direct ways; making the need to Lift Each Other Up and have greater acceptance, respect, and inclusion for everyone so important. This year we are asking you to join us in celebrating our diversity while raising funds to support inclusive anti-bullying programs for kids in our communities.”  (https://www.pinkshirtday.ca/)

Where did Pink Shirt Day come from?

In 2007 in Nova Scotia, Grade 12 students David Shepherd, Travis Price and a few friends saw that a grade 9 student was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school.

They knew they had to do something to show that this kind of behavior was not okay.

They decided to go out and buy pink shirts and hand them out to other students to wear.

By the end of that week, most of the students in the school were wearing pink shirts to show support for the grade 9 student who was bullied.

On February 23rd, wear something pink to show that we are all working together to erase bullying in our community.

Resources:

Book recommendations:

(Educator/Family guide also available.)

Books, Event, Video

Have a Heart Day 2022

This message is from the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada (FNCFCS) website:

“Have a Heart Day is a child and youth-led reconciliation campaign that brings together caring Canadians to help ensure First Nations children have the services they need to grow up safely at home, get a good education, be healthy, and be proud of who they are.

Watch “End the Gap – Fair Funding For First Nations Schools”

Activity Ideas:

  • Spread the word through social media like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Use the hashtag #HaveaHeartDay and/or #JourneeAyezUnCoeur.

Explore the Have a Heart Day website to download Have a Heart Day resources.

Through activities like Have a Heart Day, we are creating a movement where the landscape of Canada is only one of honour and possibility for First Nations children.”

FNCFCS also shared this music video by N’we Jinan Artists “Important to Us”, written and performed by students at Pierre Elliot Trudeau School.

Their message is inspiring:

“No matter where you’re from,

let’s fill our home with colour and love.”

Teachers: More resources are available here

  • Borrow Spirit Bear books by Cindy Blackstock from your school or Siwal Si’wes Library.
  • Follow Cindy Blackstock on Twitter (Cindy Blackstock @cblackst) and/or F.N. Caring Society on Twitter(F.N. Caring Society @Caringsociety)
  • Explore the Have a Heart Day website to download Have a Heart Day resources.
Digital Resources, Event

Family Literacy Day 2022

Family Literacy Day 2022 Theme:

Learning in the Great Outdoors

“Spending time in nature provides many benefits, not just for bodies, but for minds too. This year, get outside and exercise both your mind and body together as a family. You can make outdoor time fun family learning time all while enjoying the wonders of Canada’s Great Outdoors!”

Celebrate Family Literacy Day 2021 Virtually with Honorary Chair Barbara Reid!

Barbara Reid

Join us online on Wednesday January 27, 2021 at 1:30 Pacific Time for a special event with author and illustrator Barbara Reid.

Barbara will be doing a demonstration on how to use clay to create a picture. She will share unique techniques you can use to make different things. The event will end with a Q&A.

This event is ideal for children in grades 1 to 6. To register, please click here. Spaces are limited, so be sure to register as soon as possible to secure your spot.

Looking for additional ways to  participate in Family Literacy Day? Here are some ideas for inspiration:

FamilyLit_2022_2

FamilyLit_2022_3

Download and share these resources  from ABC Life Literacy Learn at Play, Everyday Activities (English and French):

Additional Resources:

GumbootWinter_2022

Joyful Literacy Family Literacy Activities:

(developed by Dr. Janet Mort)

Early Learning Families: Check out the Early Learning Page on Curriculum Connections for creative family activities developed by MPSD’s StrongStart Team

Books, Lesson

Métis Christmas Mittens

The holiday season has always been a very special time for Métis families.  A family-oriented people, the Métis often didn’t have money to buy expensive presents, but instead made practical items with much love.  In this spirit, award-winning author and illustrator, Leah Marie Dorion takes readers back to the Métis tradition of making mittens for loved ones. Métis Christmas Mittens is a touching ode to Métis family life is accompanied by Leah’s distinctive and evocative art. (Source: Gabriel Dumont Institute)

Look for this book in your local school or public library!

Here is a read aloud with Santa, presented by the Métis Nation of Alberta:

Educator Resources:

Digital Resources, Event, Media

Veterans’ Week 2021

Leave a comment
Here are some resources that connect with the theme of Remembrance:

Veterans Affairs Canada – Veterans’ Week Poster:

VeteransWeek2021

“Service, Courage and Sacrifice. At home, around the world and across generations.

Canadian military members have a long tradition of defending peace and helping others. This year’s Veterans’ Week poster reflects several milestones that illustrate this proud legacy of service. From left to right:

A Canadian soldier during a reconnaissance patrol in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province. This year marks the 10th  anniversary of the end of Canada’s combat mission in the country in 2011.

A Canadian peacekeeper on patrol in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the beginning of the first large-scale United Nations peacekeeping mission there in 1956.

A Canadian soldier carrying a sandbag to help fight rising floodwaters. Canadian Armed Forces members often help here at home, like 25 years ago during the devastating Saguenay floods in Quebec in 1996.

A Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry soldier helping a wounded comrade get to an aid station near the Kapyong Valley. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean War’s Battle of Kapyong in 1951.

A Canadian aviator at an airbase in Qatar during the Gulf War. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the end of this tense conflict in the Persian Gulf region in 1991.

A Canadian signaler using a spotting scope in the hills of Hong Kong. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Second World War’s Defence of Hong Kong in 1941.

A pair of Canadian soldiers training near the Somme Valley in France during the First World War. This year marks the 105th anniversary of the Battles of the Somme and Beaumont-Hamel in 1916.

This Veterans’ Week, how will you remember all those who have served and sacrificed in uniform over the years?” (Veterans Affairs Canada)

Additional Resources:

national-aboriginal-monument

  • Interactive Activity: (Ages 10+)

Over the Top: An Interactive Adventure

“An activity created by the Canadian War Museum to help students understand the First World War from a soldier’s perspective. The activity’s interactive nature and its animation-based format will appeal to younger students. Includes a glossary of terms. (Recommended for ages 10 and up.)”

Activity, Digital Resources

Literacy games and Events

Want to practice this summer?

SUMMER READING CLUBS

Crack the Case! Be a super sleuth this summer when you join FVRL’s 2021 Summer Reading Club. There is a club for everyone!

  • Read To Me (0 to Preschool) Share stories, record reading, enter to win prizes and get a medal.
  • Kids (grades K to 6) Record your reading, check out our virtual performers, enter to win prizes, and earn a medal.
  • Teens (grades 7 to 12) Read. Record. Repeat. It begins when you download an SRC reading record. Read every day for a chance to win fantastic prizes!
  • Adults Download a reading record and mark your reading for a chance to win prizes every week all summer. The more you read, the more chances to win!

How do I join? Sign up starts June 1 and continues throughout the summer. Sign up and reading records can be found here.

How does it work? You and your family members can sign up online and download a reading record! Mark, colour, or sticker your reading record for each day that you read for 15 minutes or more! You can read anywhere. For every seven days that you read, you can enter to win a prize!

Summer Reading Club and COVID-19

We want everyone to stay safe and have fun this summer! To ensure physical distancing, all reading records and contests are available online. We encourage you to participate in Summer Reading Club online if possible. If you need a paper reading record, please contact your local FVRL library to arrange for a contactless pickup. If you need assistance to enter the weekly prize draw, please contact your local FVRL library and a staff member will be happy to help.

Offline Literacy Activities:

(inspired by Ann George as part of  the Joyful Literacy initiative developed by Dr. Janet Mort)

  • Play “I Spy”. (I spy with my little eye a letter that is in your name or I spy with my little eye the letter “c” on the cereal box or I spy with my little eye something that makes the “ssss” sound from the letter “s”.
  • Using objects found in nature (sticks, leaves, rocks etc.), write your name, some words, a message or poem and take a picture.
  • Make up a letter dance and some music to go with it.
  • Search for letters older newspapers/magazines and circle the letters.
  • Look for the letters of the alphabet in around the house or in nature. Take pictures of them to create your name.
  • Make a list of 26 things in your house, one for each letter of the alphabet – a/apple, b/book, c/cat etc.
  • Collect little things that you see throughout your house. Try to collect one thing for every letter of the alphabet (e.g. A – ant, B – beach glass, K – kite string, Y – yellow dandelion).

(developed by Dr. Janet Mort)

Online Literacy Games :

Halq’eméylem:

English Alphabet Games:

https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/alphabet-games

English Sight Words:

www.education.com/games/sight-words

English Letter Games:

http://www.abcya.com/

English Sounds, Rhyming:

http://getreadytoread.org/skill-building-activities/online-games 

English Alphabet and Phonics:

http://www.starfall.com/ (free limited use of site, paid member = full use of site)

Activity, Books, Storyteller, Video

Earth Day 2021

Earth Day Stories:

636809

Tumblebooks: (access via Learn75, no password required)

What happens when one small boy picks up one small piece of litter? He doesn’t know it, but his tiny act has big consequences. From the miniscule to the universal, What Matters sensitively explores nature’s connections and traces the ripple effects of one child’s good deed to show how we can all make a big difference.

You Are Stardust begins by introducing the idea that every tiny atom in our bodies came from a star that exploded long before we were born. From its opening pages, the book suggests that we are intimately connected to the natural world; it compares the way we learn to speak to the way baby birds learn to sing, and the growth of human bodies to the growth of forests. This innovative picture book aims to reintroduce children to their innate relationship with the world around them by sharing many of the surprising ways that we are all connected to the natural world.

Wild Ideas looks deep into the forests, skies and oceans to explore how animals solve problems. Whether it’s weaving a safe place to rest and reflect, blowing a fine net of bubbles to trap fish, or leaping boldly into a new situation, the animals featured (including the orangutan, humpback whale and gibbon) can teach us a lot about creative problem solving tools and strategies. Wild Ideas encourages an inquiry-based approach to learning, inviting readers to indulge their sense of wonder and curiosity by observing the natural world, engaging with big ideas and asking questions.

Articles  and Activity Ideas from CBC Kids:

Activity, Digital Resources, Event

National Poetry Month 2021

NationalPoetry2021

From the League of Canadian Poets:

The League of Canadian Poets invites you to celebrate the 23nd National Poetry Month this April 2021 with the theme of resilience. 

“What does it mean to be resilient? We meet resilience in every corner we’ve been backed into, every hardship that we endure. Resilience is geographical, spiritual, historical. It’s the fight against climate change, the inner battle with mental health, the outcry for human rights and an end to systemic racism. Resilience is the backbone of generations of trauma, the silence at the dinner table, the bow to culture’s violin. Resilience is the courage to start each day anew. This NPM 2021, we celebrate, reflect on and respect the resilience that has made us who we are.”

  1. Selections from: Tea and Bannock Stories: First Nations Community of Poetic Voices (Simon Fraser University, First Nations Studies. Compiled by annie ross, Brandon Bob, Eve Chuang and the Chuang Family, Steve Davis, Robert Pictou)

 

2. Selections from Poetry Foundation: Poetry for Children

Ideas for Teachers: (from the League of Canadian Poets)

Poetry Play Stations

Poetry play stations use different techniques to encourage young readers to craft poems. Here are some great stations to include:

Erasure poetry: Using a page of existing text, use a black marker to complete cross out sections of the text — the words or phrases that remain can be strung together to form an original poem! Part of the beauty of erasure poem is how the entire page looks when completed, blacked-out sections and all.  Try it with a newspaper article!

Found poetry: Found poetry is very similar to erasure poetry — well, erasure poetry is a kind of found poetry — but with a little more freedom. Again using an existing text, participants select words or phrases from the text that they think will make a great poem: using the found words and phrases, they can play with line breaks, stanzas, and other ways of construction an original poem from the found text!

Book spine poetry: This is a great poetic experiment that takes over Twitter every April — using as few as three or as many as… well, as many as you can stack, create a poem using the titles of books as they appear on the spines. These make excellent photos and are great for sharing!

Magnet poetry: A classic! Choosing words from a pile of individual words to string together an original poem. This could be from a magnetic poetry set, but you could also simply prepare an assortment of words for participants to choose from.” (Source: League of Canadian Poets)

Event

Pink Shirt Day 2021

Mark your calendar: Pink Shirt Day is February 24th, 2021.

“This Pink Shirt Day, our focus is working together and treating others with dignity and respect. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all and shown the importance of helping one another and advocating for those who need it. Help us “lift each other up” and support programs that encourage healthy self esteem and teach empathy, compassion and kindness.” (https://www.pinkshirtday.ca/)

Where did Pink Shirt Day come from?

In 2007 in Nova Scotia, Grade 12 students David Shepherd, Travis Price and a few friends saw that a grade 9 student was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school.

They knew they had to do something to show that this kind of behavior was not okay.

They decided to go out and buy pink shirts and hand them out to other students to wear.

By the end of that week, most of the students in the school were wearing pink shirts to show support for the grade 9 student who was bullied.

On February 24th, wear something pink to show that we are all working together to erase bullying in our community.

Resources:

“Kindness is……”

Book recommendations:

 

Books, Event, Video

Have a Heart Day 2021

This message is from the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada (FNCFCS) website:

“Have a Heart Day is a child and youth-led reconciliation campaign that brings together caring Canadians to help ensure First Nations children have the services they need to grow up safely at home, get a good education, be healthy, and be proud of who they are.

Watch “End the Gap – Fair Funding For First Nations Schools”

 

Activity Ideas:

  • Host a socially distanced Valentine’s Day party to raise awareness in your school or community. Choose a day leading up to Valentine’s Day that makes sense for your class or community. Click here for a link to a poster you can use.
  • Spread the word through social media like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Use the hashtag #HaveaHeartDay and/or #JourneeAyezUnCoeur.

Explore the Have a Heart Day website to download Have a Heart Day resources.

Through activities like Have a Heart Day, we are creating a movement where the landscape of Canada is only one of honour and possibility for First Nations children.”

FNCFCS also shared this music video by N’we Jinan Artists “Important to Us”, written and performed by students at Pierre Elliot Trudeau School.

Their message is inspiring:

“No matter where you’re from,

let’s fill our home with colour and love.”

Teachers: More resources are available here

  • Borrow Spirit Bear books by Cindy Blackstock from your school or Siwal Si’wes Library.
  • Follow Cindy Blackstock on Twitter (Cindy Blackstock @cblackst) and/or F.N. Caring Society on Twitter(F.N. Caring Society @Caringsociety)
  • Explore the Have a Heart Day website to download Have a Heart Day resources.
Digital Resources, Event

Family Literacy Day 2021

Family Literacy Day 2021 Theme: Travel the World Together!

“Use your imagination to go exploring and travel the world together as a family – you never know what you’ll learn! Plan your dream trip, learn about another culture and open your mind to the world.”

Celebrate Family Literacy Day 2021 Virtually with Honorary Chair Barbara Reid!

Barbara Reid

Join us online on Wednesday January 27, 2021 from 4:30-5:00pm ET for a special event with author and illustrator Barbara Reid.

Barbara will be doing a demonstration on how to use clay to create a picture. She will share unique techniques you can use to make different things. The event will end with a Q&A.

This event is ideal for children in grades 1 to 6. To register, please click here. Spaces are limited, so be sure to register as soon as possible to secure your spot.

Looking for additional ways to  participate in Family Literacy Day? Here are some ideas for inspiration:

 

Resources:

Joyful Literacy Family Literacy Activities:

(developed by Dr. Janet Mort)

Kindergarten Families: Check out our post from September for creative family activities developed by MPSD’s StrongStart Team

Learning for the 21st Century