Grandma, Let's do my Chapter Book

Hello Reader,



A few of my friends know that I can go on and on about early literacy issues.  Every once in a while they give me the signal that they are willing to engage in a conversation  about the role that caring adults play in passing on the legacy of literacy.  I know that my window of opportunity for these grand conversations is fleeting and so I promise not to dip into  my acumen on  arcane matters about literacy.  If I fail in restraining myself, the consequences are swift and predictable...rolling of the eyes and body language that screams..."Nobody cares!" 





But I am hoping we can talk today.

 I want to get this off my chest or I think I will burst! 

Jayden, age seven, is writing his first chapter book.  He  arrives at my door to announce "It is time to do the Chapter Book".   I am told to sit down at the computer, to record the story as he dictates it to me.   I must  follow his directions about  necessary edits and changes as his  story line gallops along. All this literary activity has been going on for almost a month and Jayden's characters  have been getting into all sorts of crazy adventures at Brannenbrook on a daily basis. 


Because of my role as secretary to the authour, I have been privileged to many insights about how  chapter books work.  (according to authour Jayden Nickel) 

1. Chapter books must have twelve chapters
2. If your baby brother is going to be in the story, he has to be made older or it will be too dangerous for him to keep up with the big kids
3.Animals can talk and be understood only by certain special individuals like  Ari, 
4. You know it is time to end a chapter if something big or scary is going on...this makes the reader come back for more.
6.If you get two story ideas going, you have to get them connected somehow.  (This isn't easy)
7. When you get to chapter eleven you have to solve all the problems because everyone has to be happy in Chapter Twelve.
8. It is best to get a really good artist and make lots of copies of your book so that people all around the world will read your story.



 Who knows?  Someday, you might notice Jayden's Chapter Book in a book store. The story might be about these little leaves surrounded by rocks. 

But dear friends, I suggest that the  story is also about Jayden's parents, grandparents, and teachers who have taken the time to share stories, books, and conversations with him  since he was just a tiny baby.  

  
 All of those caring adults in Jayden's life helped wrap him in a  "Blanket of Literacy".    And this is why Jayden is writing his very first book with twelve chapters  at seven years of age.  

Which brings me back to the Big Ticket item here:
Caring Adults Pass on the Legacy of Literacy.

Thanks for letting me share.
Donna aka The Book Lady aka Grandma

Print-Rich vs. Story-Rich B.C. Early Childhood Educators Understand that Play Serves Early Literacy Learning

Arianna  loses the (fake) sweep and replaces it with matching each  spoken word with the correct written word...OMG! 

"It's easy...You just have to listen. Watch...Don't help me...Pete . the. Cat .Takes. the.Train...Cat"

We count the words, we clap the words, we do it again and she nails it  every time!

She knows that the five spoken words must match with the five written words.

I know you must be thinking that this isn't really a big deal... but I disagree!  This is huge!
Ari has created a new schema around how reading works today.  She is matching each spoken word with a printed word; evidence  that the numeracy milestone/concept we educator types refer to as: one-to-one-correspondence is now being applied to literacy issues.
She has somehow tuned into the space  between each word and mastered the ability to count words she hears in a sentence...   Or at least this is what I think she has done.  


I want to deconstruct the glorious event so I ask, "Ari, how did you get so smart?"

 " It's like the egg story (Emily Gravett's "The Odd Egg" that we read - over a year ago) and remember when we were making cookies and we cut out the egg word. (also took place over a year ago) It's like that...you have to say egg -E G -G that is egg, and that is the way it works.

Now I decide to video Ari reading the whole Pete the Cat Takes the Train book to her new doll, Leoni.  I am thinking that I will get more evidence that Ari has mastered some of those "concepts about print"   and a whole new day is about to begin. Hmm...

Here is what happened next: 
She gets her doll all comfy and settled, then starts her story. To my surprise, she retells the whole story (according to Ari, of course),  sans  her new found discovery about how reading works.  Ari was now all about the  drama and big effects.  All her  her energy was channeled into her  story retell.   

Except for  the title and title page, Ari's reading  is all about the (fake) sweep again. She  is back to using flowing speech instead of the halting word by word approach she applied to the title page. She occasionally presses on the black squiggly lines really hard or stabs at the page for emphasis. Her voice is raised or lowered to match the character's voices or  to make a point about some dramatic action in the story.

 I try a little fancy teacher talk..."What about the little spaces between the words Ari?  Can you find the "Pete" word?

She looks at me with a slightly annoyed expression- ignores me any carries on with her story.  

Now I have a lot to ponder!  Could it be that Ari is telling me that the story line is paramount in this whole reading experience... not the matching of each word to each spoken word?

Sure, this matching the number of words to the number of spoken words is a nice trick. 

And telling me that she can tell that Pete says "Pete" and not cat because Pete starts with "P" and cat starts with "C" makes any grandma proud, but in Ari's world, it is just a nice touch.  
And it is certainly isn't the story.

I took a picture of Ari reading to her new doll.  
She  is focused on making eye contact with the listener (her doll) and using lots of facial expression and gestures.  The pictures in the book cue her story telling but she makes an effort to show the listener that the actual "talking stuff" is bound up in the black squiggly lines. 

It occurs to me that with this much energy going into: 
1.engaging the listener, (Leoni the doll),
2.remembering all the details of the story, 
 3.working in the drama that the story requires, 
4. remembering all the correct sequence of events 
5. pulling off the funny ending,
well, no wonder  remembering  that "each  spoken word should match each written word",   would get dumped. 

Ari has reminded me that Reading is NOT decoding...print -rich is one thing, but STORY- RICH is the BIG THING! 


I am telling you all this because I am so interested in how kids make sense of squiggly lines and I think that there may be others out there who are also interested.  

However, when I picked up the January, 2016 issue of the Atlantic and read the article,  How the New Preschool Is Crushing Kids,  I  was desperate to talk to someone/anyone!

The article described the American preschool classroom today as an environment where pedagogy and curricula embrace common core state standards that promote a greater portion of the day to completing "seat work".   There is extensive use of tightly scripted teaching known as "direct instruction" to teach pre-academic skills to three, four and five year olds.   They describe today's  pre-school environments as the "New Grade One".

I won't "spill the beans", about the results of this approach because it is so heartbreaking. Let's just say that the article reveals that  requiring  very young children to finish their "seat work" before they can play is resulting in less inquisitive, less engaged kids than those of earlier generations.  It describes children who lack the language skills needed to retell a simple story or to use basic connecting words and prepositions.  Making analogies, exploring the environment, and  engaging in activities that extend the child's  sense of wonder and curiosity are replaced with test taking and skills and drills.  

 Canadian early-childhood educators are to be celebrated for their solid understanding of early childhood development  and the important role  of play, language development  and play-based early literacy experiences. 
B.C. early educators do not believe that pre-school and kindergarten are the new Grade One! 

Educators in B.C know that play serves literacy.  Play provides a platform for narration and socio-dramatic play.  The roles that shared stories inspire, reveal a child's understanding about relationships.  Through "story" they learn how  to deal with all sorts of novel situations resulting in self-regulation and understanding of new concepts

Early literacy experiences that are play-based in their design, provide opportunities for questioning, wonderment, curiosity.  
 A book  helps anchor conversations, and  keeps those conversations going. 
This is what we want! It is through all those turns taken in a conversation that new understanding are consolidated and vocabulary grows.


Ari, let's continue to play, role-play and retell our favourite stories every single day.   That is what early-literacy is about...NOT teaching reading.  Unhurried learning is everywhere and it is fun for both of us.   Grand conversations happen when we "book chat" together.  It isn't a tiny thing that the language of play connects to the language of literacy! It's a very BIG DEAL!   I just love learning with you.      


I 
 

Signing off.
Grandma, Donna aka, The Book Lady

Remember friends: Three Stories a Day- Anchor Conversations and Play!

THIS IS HOW YOU TEACH YOUR ANIMAL STUFFIE HOW TO READ

Greetings to All

It  started because I have a Mouse friend who really likes books.  He is always getting me to find him "Just Right Books".  This  mouse is enthusiastic about reading. He has all his forest friends joining him for story hours, book clubs and book exchanges.  It is really quite unusual! 

I guess I was getting quite used to my reading mouse, because when he told me that his friends would enjoy getting more one-on- one time with Little Children, it seemed to make sense to me.  

He was of the opinion that Little Children are very good with animals and have the knowledge and kindness needed to help all types of animals to make progress in their reading skills. He also reminded me that Little Children have a good sense of humour and can make reading fun. 

As you may recall, Jayden and Ethan have a welcoming teacher who doesn't seem to mind animals (stuffies) in her classroom. She decided that because it was almost the holidays, the kids could read and teach the animals-as long as it didn't take up too much time!  

That was all I needed to get myself into to gear and match 24 animals with a "Just Right Winter Holiday Book", put both into a nice new zip-lock bag.  I arrived on the last day before the winter break with a book and an animal for each student.


  All I said to the class was that the animals wanted their help to learn to read and to hear some fine winter holiday stories.  I wasn't sure how interested the class would be in this request...I thought if they gave it a go for ten minutes I would be really impressed. Everyone knows, Grade Twos don't have that long of an attention span and they are really just learning to read themselves, so who knows if this is a good idea?  But I had promised my Mouse I would give it a go.



Well I learned that Grade Twos have a very long attention span, they know a lot about reading and they are the best darned teachers I ever met! (And I have met a lot of teachers!)






This is a picture of Jayden's table forty-five  minutes into the session.  Kids have introduced themselves to their animal, given them cuddles, reassured them that they were welcome and loved. They made word lists to help focus on some key words and vocabulary, they reviewed those pesky sight words and always used a gentle encouraging voice.  All this was accomplished without a word of direction from moi! 







They thought of creative ways to engage the reader, made up a "Reader's Response" pages and  wrote follow up stories for their animal to take home with them.   






I noticed the children were able to gently, but firmly, re-direct a distracted  little seal pup. Notice how the little beaver kit is encouraged to keep "eyeballs to print ". 


I have included these pictures to provide  you with evidence  that the animals and the Grade Twos were incredibly focussed and directed.  But what the snaps don't show are the conversations that were taking place between reader and the children.  A particularly artistic illustration sparked long grand conversations that went back and forth.  The children posed interesting open ended questions, such as..."What do you think might happen next?" , or "What does this make you think about...Have you wondered about..?"


OMG! Those Grade Twos didn't even want to go out for recess...they were too busy teaching.  So much for short attention spans! 


Thank you Madame Kim for allowing your class to pass on the Legacy of Literacy to all the animals.  

Enjoy your Winter Celebrations.
Donna, aka the Book Lady, aka Grandma

Ernie the Elf Returns to Brannenbrook

Hello Dear Readers, 
Here is an update on what has been going on at Brannenbrook this December, 2015

Jayden and Ethan have a kind and welcoming teacher this year.  She  doesn’t mind me coming in to her classroom every Tuesday morning to listen to the Grade Two class read. 
 If  all goes well and there is no special field trip, or famous entertainer scheduled for an assembly, Madame Kim lets me test- run my new stories I am writing.   I feel that this is a very good deal because the Grade Two class happens to give me excellent feedback on the Pine Forest Adventures series.
The students in this class already know about Raven’s outrageous behavior because I have been  reading  these stories to them since kindergarten. ( Unfortunately, Raven  has shown minimal  improvement in managing his impulsive behaviours  over the last few years.)

The kids always tell me straight up if the story is funny...or not funny.  This is good feedback for a writer because kid’s are the best ones to ask about things being funny. 

My weekly visits were humming along.  My story time was also well received.  That tricky story , Pine Forest Community, got rave reviews and imagine my surprise when Aramondo figured out the joke at the end of the story.  (That kid is always “on-it”!)

But things changed one  dreary Tuesday morning in December.  I tried out my newest story about Moe the Mouse wanting to have a party so that he could show everyone his new canoe.  I decided that Moe’s canoe had magical powers and could transport both animals and Little Children by land, river or air! I was curious to see if Madam Kim’s students liked the idea of a flying canoe.   The good news is the story was a hit, the bad news was that the story was shorter than I had remembered and so I had extra time to fill before the recess bell.  

Like all experienced teachers, I had a handy bag of books by my side for just such an emergency. 

But this is when things started to go downhill fast! 

The only book in my bag was Mystery Visitor at Brannenbrook.  I have no idea how that book got into my bag because I had not seen it since December 25^th, 2014. 



                   Mystery Visitor at Brannenbrook

                               December, 2014

You might remember that this book has all of the outrageous adventures of Ernie and his horrible elf friends. 

The book brought back memories of chaos and confusion for the twenty days before Christmas Eve, 2014.

The last thing I wanted to do was read this book to the Grade Two class.  What could I do? There was no way out...so I read that first line.

“It wasn’t expected, it wasn’t requested.  No one predicted it.” 

The whole class was completely focused.  They  hardly made a sound until we came to the end of the story.

Then Arabella announced in a confident and bold way that Ernie the Elf who caused so much chaos and daily confusion for twenty days before Christmas was going to be back. And I better get ready for it. 

“NOOOOO!  THAT CAN”T BE TRUE Arabella!”, I wailed.

 I had enough of Ernie’s bad behavior to last me a whole life-time.  He was not going to be back because he was not invited back and that was that, Arabella!

But Arabella was right.  Ernie  did come back.  I knew her prediction was spot on when a huge box mysteriously arrived at my front door.  The return address said something about the North Pole.  The postal code: HO HO HO HO. 

A RED BOOT AND A SKINNY LEG was poking through the wrapping paper. 

Chaos and Madness at Brannenbrook, 2015

     Jayden, Come Over, I Think The Elves are                                Back!

“This isn’t looking good.”, I groaned to myself.

I stuck my head out my front door and yelled

JAYDEN, I THINK YOU HAVE A VISITOR

Scott, Kamala and Baby Brody accompanied Jayden to his Grandma’s house.  (You might recall that we live 29 steps from each other).

We examined the mysterious package for several minutes. Finally, the whole bunch of us, had to admit

Ernie and his friends were BACK!

Scott was the first to point out that the “skinny little shelf rat” owed him a whole lot of shaving cream.  Kamala remembered that Ernie had squished toothpaste all over her bathroom sink and, of course, I had not forgotten how many piles of candy, cookies and licorice were gobbled by those hungry short creatures!

Oh the craziness that those  little elves brought to our lives at Brannenbrook Farm  last year. How will we endure another bout of Elf Madness?

Kamala, Scott, and I decided to make up a bill for Ernie.  It was the right thing to do.  
  

“There has to be consequences for poor decisions, Ernie.”

We wrote out our bill and left it by the big box.  We all hoped (except for Jayden) that Ernie would get the message that he was not exactly welcome.

Our idea was that he would see the bill and pay up, then make his way to somewhere else...anywhere else but Brannenbrook Farm, thank you very much!

If our plan worked, the problem would be solved and peace would return to the farm.

Here is what I woke up to the next morning!

All the chocolate Turtles (my favourite Christmas treat!) and  all the brownies I had made for tomorrow’s dessert were completely devoured.
 And for some strange reason, Ernie and friends got into the dog treats and taste-tested them.

Oh and just to let you know, the elves did not even mention the bill we had so carefully written up.

Instead Ernie left us  a letter advising that the dog treats were less than delicious and we should not leave them for Santa.  GRRRRR!

Things went from bad to worse with each day!  I am showing you the evidence of the nonsense that went on every night at Brannenbrook Farm so that you can understand how difficult things were for all of us at the farm.  (Well, except for Jayden, Ethan and Ari.  They seemed to think Ernie was hilarious.)

Here is what happened on Ernie’s second night of nonsense.

Now I remember from last year that Ernie and his friends liked to pretend that  they are trapeze artists, but I did not give permission for a bunch of elves to go flipping and flying through the air all night long in my living room. 

AND they rearranged the Santa Village display.  It seems Ernie thought Jayden and I had placed the reindeer’s stable in the wrong part of town.  ( I guess he would know better than the two of us  about such matters, but still!!!)

The next night I thought I had heard a lot of zoom, zooming but every time I got up to check things out, everything was quiet and peaceful...until I woke up and saw what the short little trouble makers were up to all night long.  

How had they got their little tiny mitts on those miniature motorcycles?  And the cars and Monster Trucks, the old ambulance car, the tractors and diggers!   Jayden and Ethan had not played with those toys for years. I had no idea elves could search out and rescue discarded toys that were not even stored in my house!

But I would soon find out that this Elf seemed to know where all the good toys were tucked  away.  Like those Lincoln Logs that Ethan got last Christmas.   Ernie remembers everything.  He even remembered that Ethan’s Nana had found the most incredible fire truck at a second hand store in Vancouver and carried it home on the ferry and gave it to Ethan one Christmas when he was only three years old. They had a blast building a cabin and creating a tiny village.

 On the fourth night I thought I heard weird sounds.

The morning we woke up to toilet paper everywhere. This made us  all laugh.  You have to admit that they probably had heaps of fun.

Well the truth is we are getting used to our elf friends.  Maybe they aren’t as troublesome as we thought.  
On Christmas Eve they worked hard to make cookies for Santa.  



The usual four bales of hay went missing, along with a bag of oats. You have to give it to the tiny little creatures...they have the strength of super-man and they always look after Santa and the reindeer on Christmas Eve. 

This year we didn’t really mind Ernie and his Elf friends visiting.  We  were reminded that there are a lot of fun things to do during the dark December nights.  Old toys can be a lot of fun and it is important to think about  feeding Santa's hungry reindeer on Christmas Eve.

Arabella, you predicted Ernie would be back...You might consider inviting him to your house next Christmas? We could use a break!Oh and I have an idea for the Grade Two class.  How about writing up a report card for Ernie and the Elves.  This might help them improve their manners and be more socially responsible. 
That way, Arabella’s family won’t have a ton of Christmas candy disappear!

Tune in next year, same time and I will let you know how it all goes.

Love and kindness to all from Donna, Jayden, Ethan, Arianna, and Brody 

Moe the Mouse Inspires and Motivates Early Childhood Educators Across Canada

Dear Readers,

You know that warm happy feeling you get when you connect with an old friend?  I was wrapped in that  warm and fuzzy feeling  last month.  Moe the Mouse, asked me to join him and a few of his friends in Tofino B.C., for an education  get -together he was organizing.  

 I gathered my favourite children’s books, my trusted forest animal stuffies, (they all begged to come) and my enthusiasm for the important role that early literacy/language plays in our shorter friend’s lives.

And “Bing Bang Boom”- I was Tofino Bound!

 

When I arrived, I noted that  my good friend, Moe the Mouse, was strategically seated in an obvious place of honour and distinction in the participant’s circle.  Turns out Moe was the Keynote speaker for this event , the VIP, and the primary conference coordinator!  

I knew Moe had made it big in the field of early language development and was pretty busy on the the educator’s speaking circuit, but I had no idea he had accomplished so much in the last few years!  
The conference format was  a kind of “think tank”.   Moe asked his friends from across Canada to  plan -forward thinking,  creative strategies to support his important work with young children.

The circle of participants included early childhood educators from all over Vancouver Island, every one of Moe’s ELFs  (early language facilitators), speech-language therapists, community grants coordinators, behavior experts, his program coordinators, various supporters-aka Moe Champions- like myself, his financial associates along with his “peeps” from B.C. Aboriginal Child Care Society, and  of course, Moe’s, ever present and constant campaigner, his god-mother and my friend, Anne Gardner.

 (I won’t list Moe's  entourage  of forest friends. They  got word of the event and quietly joined the circle when no one was looking.)

Moe and his  friend Lorraine, guided the conversations and collaborative planning tasks over three sun-drenched October days.  The dedicated group hardly took a break... well that is not quite accurate...we  enjoyed  gourmet meals, boat rides and evening strolls on sandy beaches in between work sessions.

The work that was accomplished was recorded on chart paper that wall- papered our meeting room.  New curriculum directions, funding strategies and  renewed commitments around promoting and sustaining all of Moe’s good works, are just a few of the outcomes that came out of this extra-ordinary event.  I met new friends and left inspired and energized. 

I am writing to you, dear readers, to share some of my latest early literacy fun-filled adventures ideas and new stories that were realized as a result of the energy and enthusiasm generated from r the Moe gathering. 

However, before I get to all that,  will you allow me to give you some background information on my good friend Moe, the Mouse? I think it will help explain my enthusiasm and creative energy.  And when you get to know Moe, he might inspire you in your work with our shorter friends.

When I first met Moe the Mouse, back in the early nineties,  he was just a little bit of a young pip-squeak.  He was so small, I didn’t notice him at first.  Anne and I were visiting Joe Martin on Echachis Island, just a short boat ride  from Tofino. 

Joe was  a great person to visit because he was a consummate story-teller.  While Joe was sharing a traditional story about a hummingbird,  I noticed a tiny young mouse hiding under  a pile of cedar bark shavings scattered on the floor.  (Joe  liked to work on his new cedar dug-out  canoe while he shared stories).

This curious little mouse seemed to have a real interest in everything Joe was up to.  I remember first thinking the mouse  was just keen on watching the chips of wood fly from Joe’s adze, as they probably would make great stuffing for a mouse duvet.  (You know how west coast mice love to be cozy and comfy especially when the winter rains start pounding on the carving shed roof. )

But the more I watched, it was obvious this mouse was  was not only listening to Joe’s story, but he was understanding every word!    

Anyway, it wasn’t until much later when a whole group of us from Wikaninnish Island gathered in Joe’s carving shed that I was formally introduced to Moe the Mouse. 

Laterra, Cosy Lawson’s four year old daughter, did the intros.  Apparently Moe and Laterra are best buddies! (This little tiny mouse squeaked with delight every time Laterra looked at him.)

Over the years, Laterra and Moe  were inseparable.  They laughed together, paddled in their  canoe together, and played hide and seek until the sun set on the west coast beach that was their home. 

Anne, and Cosy kept me up to date on Moe’s accomplishments over the years.   

 Moe loved little kids and had heaps of shorter friends.  He blossomed into  a natural born teacher and has friends all across Canada.  He has a way of encouraging even the most reluctant and  shy child  to try new sounds and difficult words.  He is  so gentle and sweet that kids try their hardest because they love him so much.  

Moe is  also  famous as a knowledgeable mouse who knows traditional teachings.   Turns out he had learned all of Joe’s family stories and could tell them almost as well as Joe Martin himself! He was also considered a knowledge keeper of Ojibway traditions-thanks to  Cosy’s  father , Steve Lawson.

So that pretty much brings you up-to-date.  Now I will try and give you a thumb-nail sketch of some of the activities that Moe and I have been up to over the last month.  If you can use the ideas or want more details, just email me  at:  dklockars@shaw.ca.  Oh, and thanks to all the workshop participants for sharing.  Your ideas were a springboard for all sorts of fun times. Just like Moe says  about TEAM work..."Together Everyone Achieves More!”

Moe and Donna are Invited to Quw’atsun Territory to talk about Early Literacy/language Learning

This invitation was certainly timely because Moe and I were  pumped and super- keen to share our enthusiasm with twenty-five early childhood educators.  The group was so happy to see  Moe the Mouse, as they were already devoted fans.   Even though I wasn’t the star attraction, the teachers were receptive to my ideas   

I have squished the agenda so it won’t take up too much room. You might be able to use some of the activities in your territory. 

Acknowledge the Quw’utsun Mustimuxw and Territory

Introductions-Including Moe

The Big Learning Intentions for Today (Moe will help me with introducing the Three Strands we use to Weave the Literacy Blanket )

The Nurturing and Sustaining the Literacy Relationship Strand: 

The Nurturing and Sustaining Understandings about how Books Work 

The Nurturing and Sustaining the Love for Reading 

You are ready to create a Literacy Blanket for the little people you care about 

Weavers Need to Know What the Very Young like to uncover in their books, and what makes a good book “Just right”

Our Elders Gifts Seagull Steals the Sun    Mabel Mitchell, Ellen White   Donna shows her Theme bin for Seagull.  It is all about Play and Responding to story in a playful way.

Books can help with understanding feelings and frustrations  

Rhymes and Songs are Fun and so is the Drum .

Moe likes it when his Caring Adult Friends use the Medicine Wheel to Plan Going Out to the Land  Donna explains that Moe likes to go out on the Land  (Physical ) :Let’s brainstorm with our language leaders how we can bring shared teachings and vocabulary to our Outdoor School time.  Make up songs about going to the river, collecting shells for Moe’s Blanket, Moe helping  Grandma pull cedar or gather soap berries, camus, or moss for his house........Our Going out on the Land Learning Story can be recorded on a phone and then made into a mini-book for Moe.

Reflecting on our Learning  Do we have the three strands we need to weave the Literacy Blanket  now in our basket? Can we do Moe Math?  Did we hear three stories today?, Did we have lots of talking time together? 3000 words....Did we look at lots of cool books that might be just right for your little people friends? 1000X5 Books before K makes us READ ready.

Uy... then Hay ce:p ‘qa au siem and s’ulxwe:n and nah si:yey’u     Heyweulth

Uy yatul ct ‘I’ cic uwatul ct           (Treat each other well as we work together)

Moe is very excited to be joining the staff at the Quw'utsun Centre in February for a Moe the Mouse refresher course.



Here is a picture of one of my friend at the Aboriginal School in Nanaimo.  When I explained how Moe is "crazy" for books and has a special burrow just for his books, my friend  decided to write a tiny book for Moe.  The whole class got into filling Moe's Book Burrow.  WOW!  Moe you really are lucky to get all those tiny books.  Will you share?  Have you ever thought of starting a Moe, the Mouse lending library.  A library would  help make Pine Forest a strong community.   

Moe is a great travelling partner.  I take him with me every time I go to play with my shorter friends.  Two year old Jack, adores Moe, and even though he has a hard time getting out what he wants to say, Moe always listens carefully.  They have fun practicing all the  animal sounds together and play with dump trucks and front-end loaders. (When I watch Moe and Jack play I am reminded that  Moe is a natural when it comes to digging and moving dirt.)

Well, dear reader, I have babbled on far too long.  Perhaps you will check in later and find out more of our latest and greatest visits.  Moe, is a big hit, even with the primary kids at the Ecole Hammond Bay!.  But I will save those stories for a later date.

In friendship,

Moe and Donna

P.S.  If you have not met Moe or would like to learn more about his work just contact the B.C. Aboriginal Child Care Society or email Anne Gardner annegardner@shaw.ca.