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Literacy Pack: The Snail and the Whale

September 1, 2022 by Ashley Zhinin.
From the creators behind The Gruffalo is a delightful tale of adventure and friendship with Julia Donaldson’s trademark rhyming text and Axel Scheffler’s brilliant, characterful illustrations. When a tiny snail meets a humpback whale, the two travel together to far-off lands. It’s a dream come true for the snail, who has never left home before. […]
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Literacy Pack: Skunks in Trunks

August 1, 2022 by Ashley Zhinin.
A gang of excitable skunks is off to the water park for a fun afternoon. Their aquatic antics soon land them in trouble – but perhaps they can put their swimming skills to good use! This engaging, eye-catching series makes learning phonics fun.
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Literacy Pack: Shark in the Park

July 1, 2022 by Ashley Zhinin.
Oh no, there’s a shark in the park! Or is there? This entertaining story for beginner readers has simple rhyming text and colorful illustrations by Stephen Cartwright – and you can also listen to the story online. A delight to share with young children, or for beginner readers to read themselves, with parent’s notes on phonics at the back.
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Literacy Pack: Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain

June 1, 2022 by Ashley Zhinin.
A cumulative rhyme relating how Ki-pat brought rain to the drought-stricken Kapiti Plain (Kenya). Verna Aardema has brought the original story closer to the English nursery rhyme by putting in a cumulative refrain and giving the tale the rhythm of “The House That Jack Built.”
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Literacy Pack: A Frog in the Bog

May 1, 2022 by Ashley Zhinin.
A clever introduction to counting, filled with bouncy text and zany illustrations, follows a small, hungry frog sitting on the log in the middle of the bog as he counts the many delectable delights around him, from one tick on a stick to three flies buzzing in the skies.
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Literacy Pack: Hiking Day

April 1, 2022 by Ashley Zhinin.
A young girl and her family go hiking up a nearby mountain for the very first time. As they climb up and up the path, they see everything from a friendly toad to a prickly porcupine, tall leafy trees to tiny red berries. Anne Rockwell and her daughter, artist Lizzy Rockwell, celebrate a day the little girl will never forget, especially when she reaches the mountain’s summit. With simple, lyrical text and bright illustrations that jump off the page, Hiking Day brings the joys of spending an afternoon outdoors to life.
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Cultural Relevance and Informal Reading Inventory Performance: African-American Primary and Middle School Students (2018)

March 1, 2022 by Ashley Zhinin.
This study was prompted by educators noticing a discrepancy between their students’ performance on standardized assessment tools and their performance on lessons in the classroom. Students appeared to perform better on the texts provided in the classroom, especially when they appeared culturally relevant to the students’ lives. To explore this further, researchers reviewed current research […]
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Literacy Pack: One Duck Stuck

March 1, 2022 by Ashley Zhinin.
Can two fish, tails going swish, help? Will three moose, munching on spruce, be able to pull the unlucky duck out of the muck? Perfectly sized for small hands, this counting rhyme is a feast of sounds and numbers that will have young listeners scrambling to join the slippy, sloppy fun!
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