On February 19th, Maywood School participated in the first annual “I Read Canadian” Day. The purpose of the day is to:
- Unite young readers across Canada for a day of reading Canadian books
- Raise awareness of Canadian books
- Celebrate the richness, diversity and breadth of Canadian literature
I think they should add one additional purpose to their list: Think about what it means to “read Canadian.” Because participating in this day made me realize that to me, it means listening, really listening, to the stories we tell each other about ourselves and our experiences. We are unique, we are together.
Everyone was invited to read a Canadian book for at least 15 minutes. We had guest readers from our community come and read their favourite Canadian books to us. There is still a display of books across from the office to give you inspiration. Ask in the library if you want to borrow one of them, or any other books by Canadian authors in our library. We have tons of them.
Students were encouraged to wear RED and WHITE on the day. Classes with the most participants won a book for their Classroom Library. We only meant to give out two prizes but we had not one, not two, but FIVE classes with 100% participation! It is getting to be very expensive for prizes.
Here are some of the books we read in class, and gave away as prizes:
Thank you to all of our guest readers who volunteered to come share their love of Canadian stories:
- Brad Milne, Maywood Run and Read Coach
- Constable Justin Biggs, BC Transit Police
- Constable Matthieu Lesquelin, School Liaison Officer
- Mark Koepke, Maywood Run and Read Coach
- Nick Christophedes, VP Byrne Creek
- Rob Smyth, District Principal, Indigenous Ed
- Members of Willingdon Church congregation, Burnaby
And finally thank you to the hard-working Literacy Committee: Mrs. Baumet, Ms Captein, and Mrs. Thandi. It wouldn’t have happened without you.