Fluency in Perspective

This is a collection of passages designed to be used for fluency instruction in grade 8. Developed by Lisa Rogers, Laura Bross, Ayesatta Conteh, Teresa Oud, and Catherine Shawana, each passage focuses on a diverse changemaker from across Turtle Island – individuals who stood up for themselves and others, who fought hard to overcome obstacles,…

Literacy Learning for Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers

This book is an excellent, reader-friendly resource for kindergarten teachers and Early Childhood Educators. While infant and toddler development takes place before the Ontario curriculum kicks in, the authors are American. Their recommendations for preschoolers generally align with the age of our Year 1 kindergarten students. Much of the research and advice in the book…

Maya’s Book Nook: Beyond the Book Resources

Maya’s Book Nook is a website created by Speech-Language Pathologist Dr. Lakeisha Johnson. The Behind the Book section houses a bank of materials to accompany a diverse, culturally relevant children’s book. Equally useful for both parents/caregivers and educators, these handouts include target vocabulary words, as well as questions to support dialogic reading to build language comprehension.

Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books

Children’s books reflect the attitudes in our society about diversity, power relationships among different groups of people, and various social identities (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, economic class, sexual orientation, and disability). The visual and verbal messages young children absorb from books (and other media) heavily influence their ideas about themselves and others. Depending on the…

Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy

Bringing together theory, research, and practice to dismantle Anti-Black Linguistic Racism and white linguistic supremacy, this book provides ethnographic snapshots of how Black students navigate and negotiate their linguistic and racial identities across multiple contexts. By highlighting the counterstories of Black students, Baker-Bell demonstrates how traditional approaches to language education do not account for the…

Informational Texts Qualitative Analysis Tool

This is a rubric to support educators in analysing an informational text, and planning for instruction. It is organized around the four categories of qualitative complexity: purpose/meaning, language, structure, and knowledge. Within each category, educators will first analyze the complexity level of each category, drawing from the Literary Text Qualitative Rubric, to determine what makes this…