Forward:Dedicated to my mom who made reading effortlessly a part of my life.
Chapter 1
Dick and Jane
In grade 1, we began our day with Dick and Jane. The Ginn reading series that has been parodied for generations was the first memory I have of reading. I don't remember learning to read with the series, just effortlessly reading it. I remember thinking that Dick and Jane were pretty boring! "See Dick run. See Spot run. See Jane run. See the dog run away." I remember retelling the story "Dick and Jane have a naughty dog named Spot. He constantly runs away from home. That dog needs a leash."
My mom was a registered nurse that loved literature, poetry, opera and the scriptures. We were raised by a working mom in the 70's in Cardston. This was counter-culture in that era. Women were supposed to stay home with their children, not be up at 6:00 am, making soup in the pressure cooker and at work by 7:00 am. Therefore, I would have to say, that I was raised in a rich environment where I remember experiencing literacy firsts!
In grade 1, we began our day with Dick and Jane. The Ginn reading series that has been parodied for generations was the first memory I have of reading. I don't remember learning to read with the series, just effortlessly reading it. I remember thinking that Dick and Jane were pretty boring! "See Dick run. See Spot run. See Jane run. See the dog run away." I remember retelling the story "Dick and Jane have a naughty dog named Spot. He constantly runs away from home. That dog needs a leash."
My mom was a registered nurse that loved literature, poetry, opera and the scriptures. We were raised by a working mom in the 70's in Cardston. This was counter-culture in that era. Women were supposed to stay home with their children, not be up at 6:00 am, making soup in the pressure cooker and at work by 7:00 am. Therefore, I would have to say, that I was raised in a rich environment where I remember experiencing literacy firsts!
Chapter 2
Sesame Street
In November of 1969, I began coughing uncontrollably and was very ill. My mom, being the delegater that she was, told me to make my own appointment at the medical clinic and walk the half block over to the clinic, At the competent age of 8, I did as I was instructed. I visited the clinic and found out I had deep-double ammonia. (deep-lung, double pneumonia) Taking advantage of the situation and the charge account at the pharmacy, I filled my prescription and got Canada Dry ginger ale (the panacea whenever you were sick) and trundled home. I walked home, and turned on the television (a circlular screened, black and white television) and flipped the channels between the three that we had. I landed on what looked to be a puppet show. Intrigued, I watched the entire program! There were so many different characters: a big yellow bird, a trash-can dwelling monster, a blue, cookie eating monster and two hosts: Bert and Ernie. CBC began airing Sesame Street on November 10, 1969. I was home for six weeks with pneumonia and watched Chez Helene, the Friendly Giant, Mr. Dressup and my favorite, Sesame Street, religiously, daily. I can't tell you for sure who was my grade 3 teacher, but I do remember the characters of my morning television programming. Engaging, entertaining and enlightening: the keys to a great literacy experience.
In November of 1969, I began coughing uncontrollably and was very ill. My mom, being the delegater that she was, told me to make my own appointment at the medical clinic and walk the half block over to the clinic, At the competent age of 8, I did as I was instructed. I visited the clinic and found out I had deep-double ammonia. (deep-lung, double pneumonia) Taking advantage of the situation and the charge account at the pharmacy, I filled my prescription and got Canada Dry ginger ale (the panacea whenever you were sick) and trundled home. I walked home, and turned on the television (a circlular screened, black and white television) and flipped the channels between the three that we had. I landed on what looked to be a puppet show. Intrigued, I watched the entire program! There were so many different characters: a big yellow bird, a trash-can dwelling monster, a blue, cookie eating monster and two hosts: Bert and Ernie. CBC began airing Sesame Street on November 10, 1969. I was home for six weeks with pneumonia and watched Chez Helene, the Friendly Giant, Mr. Dressup and my favorite, Sesame Street, religiously, daily. I can't tell you for sure who was my grade 3 teacher, but I do remember the characters of my morning television programming. Engaging, entertaining and enlightening: the keys to a great literacy experience.
Chapter 3
Carnivals
Theatre has been one of the loves of my life. At the very young age of 8, my friends and I created a club to make money. My friend had been seriously burned while playing with her older brother's chemistry set. She made many trips to the Primary Children's Hospital Burn Unit in Salt Lake City, Utah. We decided to put on carnivals and charge money so we could send the money to the burn unit to help our friend.
My yard, being central to all of our friends was the location for the carnival. We had games (ring toss, shoot the target, pin the tail on the donkey) attractions (sleeping beauty-a dead robin dressed in doll's clothes, a fortune-teller- me dressed as a gypsy using my aunt's crazy 8 ball, and a strong man-a beefy neighborhood boy that would lift you over his head) and food (frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts and ice cream-all out of my mom's fridge and freezer) and last but not least: a play. We wrote the plays that were generally based on fairy tales. We costumed them and provided a soundtrack: the opera records provided by my mom's collection.
These carnivals made money, made memories and kindled a fire for the theatric that I am still stoking to this day. This April, I was a major character in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". Creative, collaborative and communicative are the pillars of a meaningful literacy program.
Theatre has been one of the loves of my life. At the very young age of 8, my friends and I created a club to make money. My friend had been seriously burned while playing with her older brother's chemistry set. She made many trips to the Primary Children's Hospital Burn Unit in Salt Lake City, Utah. We decided to put on carnivals and charge money so we could send the money to the burn unit to help our friend.
My yard, being central to all of our friends was the location for the carnival. We had games (ring toss, shoot the target, pin the tail on the donkey) attractions (sleeping beauty-a dead robin dressed in doll's clothes, a fortune-teller- me dressed as a gypsy using my aunt's crazy 8 ball, and a strong man-a beefy neighborhood boy that would lift you over his head) and food (frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts and ice cream-all out of my mom's fridge and freezer) and last but not least: a play. We wrote the plays that were generally based on fairy tales. We costumed them and provided a soundtrack: the opera records provided by my mom's collection.
These carnivals made money, made memories and kindled a fire for the theatric that I am still stoking to this day. This April, I was a major character in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". Creative, collaborative and communicative are the pillars of a meaningful literacy program.
Chapter 4
Money
The best teacher of number literacy is the usage of money. The summer before we put on the carnival, my best friend Dixie and I set up a lemonade stand. This is my first memory of handling money and being responsible for the outcome. Her dad owned a lumber and hardware store, We decided to sell lemonade. Her dad gave us some money to buy Kool Aid and supplies. We had to decide how much to charge per glass based on how much all the supplies cost. (lesson #1 from her dad the business owner) We decided to charge 10 cents a glass which would give us 5 cents profit. (At the time, a glass bottle of pop was 12 cents so we thought 10 cents for lemonade was reasonable.) The first couple of days went reasonably well, until her dad suggested selling bags of buttered popcorn as well. We bought our supplies with the money we made from the lemonade stand. We decided to charge 10 cents for the popcorn as well. Our business took off: the combination of salty and thirst quenching was a hit! The business could have taken up all our free time, so the decision was made to limit it to to mornings a week so we could go swimming and play at the park with our friends. Ah the joys of the young entrepreneur! Financially rewarding, fiscally responsible and free enterprise, are all great numeracy lessons.
The best teacher of number literacy is the usage of money. The summer before we put on the carnival, my best friend Dixie and I set up a lemonade stand. This is my first memory of handling money and being responsible for the outcome. Her dad owned a lumber and hardware store, We decided to sell lemonade. Her dad gave us some money to buy Kool Aid and supplies. We had to decide how much to charge per glass based on how much all the supplies cost. (lesson #1 from her dad the business owner) We decided to charge 10 cents a glass which would give us 5 cents profit. (At the time, a glass bottle of pop was 12 cents so we thought 10 cents for lemonade was reasonable.) The first couple of days went reasonably well, until her dad suggested selling bags of buttered popcorn as well. We bought our supplies with the money we made from the lemonade stand. We decided to charge 10 cents for the popcorn as well. Our business took off: the combination of salty and thirst quenching was a hit! The business could have taken up all our free time, so the decision was made to limit it to to mornings a week so we could go swimming and play at the park with our friends. Ah the joys of the young entrepreneur! Financially rewarding, fiscally responsible and free enterprise, are all great numeracy lessons.
Chapter 5
Music
Math, music and second languages are all located in the same area of the brain. Growing up with "La Traviata", "La Boheme" and Nana Mouskouri, provided a home that encouraged the love of music.My first memory with learning music was taking piano lessons at the age of seven. My piano teacher was a stiff and disciplined woman that used a ruler to smack my knuckles if I got lazy in my form or made a mistake. I can't remember anything about reading music, but I did memorize the tune. I got my mom to play the song and I would copy her. I still get sick to my stomach when I hear "Hot Cross Buns"! I disliked that teacher... a lot! My mom could tell I hated music lessons as I would do anything to get out of going. She decided to change piano teachers. My mom's cousin taught me music for the next six years. I was never a great pianist (a bit undisciplined, we now know as I am ADHD), but I did take six years of choral music, six years of concert band and four years of marching band. (playing and marching was coordination I grew to develop) My love of musical theatre has its roots in the music I learned to listen to, read and interpret and perform music of many genres.
Math, music and second languages are all located in the same area of the brain. Growing up with "La Traviata", "La Boheme" and Nana Mouskouri, provided a home that encouraged the love of music.My first memory with learning music was taking piano lessons at the age of seven. My piano teacher was a stiff and disciplined woman that used a ruler to smack my knuckles if I got lazy in my form or made a mistake. I can't remember anything about reading music, but I did memorize the tune. I got my mom to play the song and I would copy her. I still get sick to my stomach when I hear "Hot Cross Buns"! I disliked that teacher... a lot! My mom could tell I hated music lessons as I would do anything to get out of going. She decided to change piano teachers. My mom's cousin taught me music for the next six years. I was never a great pianist (a bit undisciplined, we now know as I am ADHD), but I did take six years of choral music, six years of concert band and four years of marching band. (playing and marching was coordination I grew to develop) My love of musical theatre has its roots in the music I learned to listen to, read and interpret and perform music of many genres.
Chapter 6
Second Language: French
In grade 11 I began my second language learning. But, to be fair, when Canada declared itself bi-lingual, I began reading cereal boxes. I was intrigued with the fact that there were so many words that looked similar: cereal, cereale, address/adresse, nuts/noix, almond, amande and prize/prix.
I took two semesters of high school French. The government was contemplating making French a diploma exam, so our school did site testing for the exam. I got 100% on the exam, and was offered a bursary/scholarship to Faculte St. Jean at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. I could diagram a sentence and read French with the best students, however, unless I had headphones on, I couldn't speak a word of Quebecois French. The school was French Immersion and educated students all along the spectrum: anglophones, francophiles, and francophones from Europe and Canada. On the anglophone spectrum there were immersion studants and core French students, the majority having 6 years of study. There was NOBODY, with 2 semesters of French language learning. the first day of school, in the registration line, I was met with my first experience with practical French: "Quel est ton nom?" I stared blankly. The lady repeated the question, "Quel est ton nom?" Another blank stare, she then rolled her eyes "What is your name?" I was horrified! I had learned European French "Comment-vous-apelez vous?" Unheard of in Canada except in court, or getting married!
For the next 2 months, I sat behind francophones with excellent handwriting and copied their notes, went home and translated them! After about a month, my ear "clicked" and I began understanding the language. Since then, I have traveled, with students to French speaking areas in Canada, Europe and New Orleans and have taught thousands of students to speak French.
In grade 11 I began my second language learning. But, to be fair, when Canada declared itself bi-lingual, I began reading cereal boxes. I was intrigued with the fact that there were so many words that looked similar: cereal, cereale, address/adresse, nuts/noix, almond, amande and prize/prix.
I took two semesters of high school French. The government was contemplating making French a diploma exam, so our school did site testing for the exam. I got 100% on the exam, and was offered a bursary/scholarship to Faculte St. Jean at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. I could diagram a sentence and read French with the best students, however, unless I had headphones on, I couldn't speak a word of Quebecois French. The school was French Immersion and educated students all along the spectrum: anglophones, francophiles, and francophones from Europe and Canada. On the anglophone spectrum there were immersion studants and core French students, the majority having 6 years of study. There was NOBODY, with 2 semesters of French language learning. the first day of school, in the registration line, I was met with my first experience with practical French: "Quel est ton nom?" I stared blankly. The lady repeated the question, "Quel est ton nom?" Another blank stare, she then rolled her eyes "What is your name?" I was horrified! I had learned European French "Comment-vous-apelez vous?" Unheard of in Canada except in court, or getting married!
For the next 2 months, I sat behind francophones with excellent handwriting and copied their notes, went home and translated them! After about a month, my ear "clicked" and I began understanding the language. Since then, I have traveled, with students to French speaking areas in Canada, Europe and New Orleans and have taught thousands of students to speak French.
Chapter 7
Literacy with Children
At the age of 20, I became a mom. By the time I was 23, I had 3 children, 3 and under. I completed my education degree a year later. During this time, I read daily to my children. My favorites to read were Dr. Seuss, Where The Wild Things Are, Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Harold and the Purple Crayon and The Velveteen Rabbit. There is a literacy that comes with reading to children. You need to use expression, mimic voices, make sound effects and create a mood. I am grateful to a mom who put me in voice lessons. My legacy of literacy is the love of reading I have passed on to my children and grandchildren.
At the age of 20, I became a mom. By the time I was 23, I had 3 children, 3 and under. I completed my education degree a year later. During this time, I read daily to my children. My favorites to read were Dr. Seuss, Where The Wild Things Are, Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Harold and the Purple Crayon and The Velveteen Rabbit. There is a literacy that comes with reading to children. You need to use expression, mimic voices, make sound effects and create a mood. I am grateful to a mom who put me in voice lessons. My legacy of literacy is the love of reading I have passed on to my children and grandchildren.
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