Month: April 2020

Hello Morley friends! Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? As we enter this last week of April let’s enjoy some poetry together. If you are an EPIC book reader, you will find new collections of poetry in the BOOK LISTS tab above this post.

Below are four poetry videos.

For primary/ELL students: The first two videos are of Canadian poets reading their poems.

For intermediate students: the last two video clips are of American poet and children’s author Kwame Alexander.  Hear him BEATBOXING verse from his amazing novel The Crossover. Also, check out the interview where he talks about reading as a kid, writing poetry and much more.

Dennis Lee reciting Alligator Pie

Here are some questions for you to think about as you listen: Can you make a connection to something in one of the poems? Can you clap the rhythm to Alligator Pie? Did you hear some rhyming words in Alligator Pie?

Elizabeth Crocket reading Haiku poetry from her book

Intermediate Students

CLICK HERE for an excerpt from the Crossover

Earth Day is almost here. Will you be doing something with your family to celebrate this day?

BELOW are two fantastic read-aloud stories about taking care of our environment: the place where we live. Both stories are read by the authors themselves! Also below are some questions to think about during and after the stories. You can try responding to one or or all of them. I’d love to hear what you think! You can share your responses with me in the comments or email them to me: allyson.yee@burnabyschools.ca

For the Earth Book:

• Do you already do some of the things Todd Parr suggests we do to help the Earth? 
• What are some things that you haven’t tried before that you would like to try?
• Do you have some ideas that you think Todd should have included in his story?

For One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay & the Recycling Women of Gambia:

• Isatou Ceesay found a creative (and no cost) way to deal with the plastic bag problem in her village. . . can you think of another low/no cost way of solving this problem?
• When you make something old into something new you can call it ‘upcycling’ – can you think of a creative way to upcycle materials in your house that would otherwise be thrown out?
• We have garbage in the roads and forests here in Burnaby – what are some creative ways we could solve our problem here?

Story for primary students (kindergarten to grade 3):

The Earth Book by Todd Parr, read by Todd Parr!

Story for intermediate students (grade 4 to grade 7):

One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay & the Recycling Women of Gambia by Miranda Paul, read by Miranda Paul.

Watch Isatou Ceesay make recycled bags into purses:

Hi Morley Students!

I miss you all and I miss reading you stories so I have recorded one for you to hear! I love this book: the art work is amazing and the story is simple but beautifully written. If you stay to the end you’ll get to meet a very special guest (there’s a clue in the photo)!

Click the image above for a reading of “Nini Lost and Found”.

What connections can you make to the story? Have you ever lost something really important to you, and you were worried it was gone forever? Or have you ever been lost yourself and scared like Nini?

I would love to hear your connections! Please share in the comments or you can email me: allyson.yee@burnabyschools.ca

Also. . . please check out the ONLINE RESOURCES section above. There are some great links to online stories and educational games, all available for free.