Description
Written by Valdine Björnson, Emma Metallic from Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation, Diana Mumford and Betty Schultze. Illustrated by Natalie Laurin, a Métis and settler illustrator and interdisciplinary designer. She is from the Dusome-Clermont family line with roots in the Georgian Bay Métis community.
Cedar School Decodables Teacher’s Guide: Sets 1–6 supports a phonics-based early primary curriculum using the titles in Sets 1–6 of the Cedar School Decodables series.
The series reviews over forty foundational phonics patterns, including short vowels, digraphs, the VCe pattern, suffixes and multi-syllabic words, ending spelling patterns, and r-controlled vowels. With each book, students will develop their reading skills and knowledge of Indigenous teachings through narratives where learning takes place in the classroom and on the land. Before reading the Cedar School Decodables series, students should be familiar with all consonants and short vowels.
This comprehensive teacher’s guide provides two lessons for each book: a Learning to Read lesson, which focusses on literacy instruction, and a Reading to Learn lesson, which builds on the story’s content and cultural connections. Additional activities are also included to address broader areas of Canadian curriculum.
This teacher’s guide provides:
connections to literacy knowledge and skills common to Canadian kindergarten and Grade 1 curricula
Indigenous cultural information
lesson plans for each book that build essential literacy skills—including phonemic awareness, letter-sound connections, and an understanding of syllables and basic morphology—in an explicit and sequential manner
opportunities for students to develop knowledge of syntax and semantics through reading, discussions of text, and written composition
strategies to develop students’ fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
suggestions for extending the learning beyond literacy with additional activities that relate to arts and crafts, cooking, environmental awareness, Indigenous history and culture, math, music and movement, science, social studies, and social-emotional development
reproducible handouts
Cedar School Decodables Series Information
Welcome to Cedar School! Join Liv, Tom, Gus, and Bell as they learn on the land and explore Mi’gmaw teachings with their teacher, Miss Sam, and the school’s Mi’gmaw Elder, Jen. With charming illustrations and simple storylines, this decodable series engages students as they practise their reading skills. Each book includes a pre-reading review of non-decodable words, and many of the books introduce special words related to Indigenous teachings. Talking Together prompts facilitate discussions led by the reading teacher.
Cedar School Decodables and Cedar School Decodables Teacher’s Guide: Sets 1–6 are designed for use in kindergarten and Grade 1 classrooms but may be useful for older students with emergent reading skills. Audience: Grades K-1.