Maureen Bush

Another One School, One Book

Thursday I spent another day in Lethbridge, at Lakeview School. This is the second school I’ve visited using Feather Brain for a One School, One Book project.

All the kids in the school received a copy of the book (in a bag with dinosaur goodies, packed in an egg for each classroom to open.) The parents were asked to read Feather Brain to their kids (and siblings), one chapter a night. Reading ahead was not allowed!

Then the school launched into all kinds of projects – decorating the entire school with dinosaurs, including one that roared; a classroom door decorating contest; novel studies. Papier maché dinosaurs are on display near the front door. These are wonderful, with pistachio shells and golf tees for texture.

One of my favorite ideas was smart and sneaky: the teacher had his kids begin making papier maché dinosaurs before they started the book, so that by the time they were reading about Lucas making a dinosaur, they had already been doing the same thing.

I met with all the kids, in five sessions through the day, and signed their books. I talked about where the idea for Feather Brain came from, and explained my writing process. We made up our own stories, sending kids to other planets, inventing androids taking over the school, and playing with the  idea of living shadows.

Parents came, too, and often took time to introduce themselves and thank me. One couple said that reading Feather Brain as a family had made an enormous difference to their family life, and they planned to continue reading together. Then the dad asked if I’d intended that when I wrote Feather Brain; I had to admit I just tried to write a good story, and had no idea it could be used this way.

After seeing two schools using Feather Brain for One School, One Book, I’m totally impressed with the program. The energy in the schools is amazing, and the excitement about reading and books tremendous.

Maureen

Dawn Near Lethbridge

One School, One Book

Wednesday I spent the day at Park Meadows School, in Lethbridge. The entire school (K – 5) is reading Feather Brain, as a One School, One Book project. Each class is doing special activities – novel studies, spelling lists, visits to the dinosaur exhibit at the Galt Museum, dinosaur songs.

I wondered if the youngest kids would have trouble sitting through it, without any pictures, but I asked a grade 1 class and they said they loved it. I heard that a grade 1 teacher was using Feather Brain as a bribe: “If you’re really quiet, I’ll read another page.”

It turns out I use great verbs – who knew? The teachers are using them to teach vocabulary, and the kids are having fun slouching, strutting and stomping around their classrooms.

I did sessions with all the kids, so I was exhausted by the end of the day, but we had a lot of fun.

In one session, we turned the teachers into androids training the kids to work for them, trying to take over the world, one computer network at a time. This gave a whole new meaning to their school motto, “Many Hearts, Many Minds, One Purpose.”

In another session, part of the group descended into the earth and discovered a raptor race track. One teacher was eaten by a raptor and barfed up again – we decided we’d let her live after inflicting that on her.

One class wrote a song. Yes, Feather Brain now has a song! How cool is that? I’ve asked for a recording of it – I’d love to post it as a podcast.

Now I can’t wait for my next visit to Lethbridge in February, to a second school using Feather Brain for One School, One Book.

For now, back to writing.

Maureen

Writing?

I just realized my blog hasn’t been much about writing lately. That’s because – well, because I haven’t been writing much. I’ve been derailed by travel, pre-Christmas chaos, Christmas chaos, bad weather (all through everything else), and a post-Christmas cold that I could putz through but not write anything new. The kitchen is cleaner than it’s been in years, my desk is excavated, Crow Boy is edited, and I’ve been working through administrative stuff. The best of that is planning two trips to Lethbridge to visit schools using Feather Brain for a One School, One Book program, where all the kids in the school read the same book, as a way to build community and foster excitement about reading.

http://www.readtothem.org/program.php

Somehow, Feather Brain has a big fan base in Lethbridge. I find that quirky and wonderful.

The cold is gone, both in my head and outside. The forecast is for above freezing all week. And I’m hoping this week will be a great writing week.

Maureen

Road Trip!

Saturday Mark and I drove to Lethbridge for a book reading at the Galt Museum. It was, for both of us, the windiest drive we’ve ever had. Someone at the Museum said, “Oh, this is pretty normal.”  I’m hoping that’s not true. We were almost blown off a street corner later in the day.

The drive was beautiful – golden stubble in the fields, cerulean blue sky with indigo smudges. We passed a wind turbine farm (for those who don’t know, that’s where they grow wind turbines). The mountains were mostly obscured by low clouds to the west, but we saw lots of the foothills and the prairies. As we neared Lethbridge we passed rugged river valleys that reminded me of the badlands around Drumheller, except not as extreme.

We drove around the University of Lethbridge, with buildings set into the steep bank of a river valley.

The Galt Museum is across the valley, an old brick building that used to be a hospital, with a gorgeous modern glass structure overlooking the river valley. I read to a great bunch of kids, many of them too young for Feather Brain, but they sat still and listened and seemed to really enjoy it. We played “What If” and invented a shadow monster and an evil alien robot; afterwards the kids made up their own stories.

Following great advice from the women at the gift shop, we drove into downtown Lethbridge, with it’s old brick buildings, wide main street and small-prairie-town angle parking, and had a fabulous lunch at a coffee shop.

On the way home, I found Carmina Burana on Mark’s IPod and cranked it up just as we drove through Claresholm. Claresholm is definitely not a Carmina Burana kind of town – KD Lang would have been more appropriate. As we drove back to Calgary the sky turned periwinkle and then a deep teal blue.