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Date of Birth
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Period: to
Mary Louise Crysler
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Vivy - My babysitter
When my mom went back to work after her maternity leave I went to a babysitter Monday-Friday. Her name is Vivy and she is one of the most influential people in my life. She got me started on my love of reading. She was a big reader herself and we would go on weekly trips to the local library. I was allowed to pick out my own 3 books every week and she would read them to me over and over again all week. -
Vivy - continued
Vivy was the one who first taught me my letters and simple word recognition. She had all these letter stencils and she would have me trace my letters all the time. She always made it into some kind of game so I enjoyed doing it. It is because of Vivy that I was able to read and write letters before starting Kindergarten. -
Grade 2 - Mrs. Sinclair
In grade 2 I had a teacher named Mrs. Sinclair who incorporated a lot of reading into the classroom in fun, unique ways. She had this rocking chair on the carpet area that always seemed to be the centre part of the classroom. Once a week the student leader got to read a story to the rest of the class sitting in that rocking chair. Let me tell you - that was my FAVOURITE activity to do when it was my turn. -
Grade 2 - continued
I loved reading for the class and I put a lot of effort into selecting just the right book to read. My favourite were the Berenstain Bears books. My classmates enjoyed when it was my turn to read as well because I was able to hold up the book and show pictures while reading at the same time. It was something so little but it made me very proud of myself. This small exercise continued my love of reading even further -
Grade 5 - Mr. Kahn
Mr. Kahn was my grade 5 teacher and we had book reports galore to complete that year! If my memory serves we had to do 5 book reports over the year. The one that I remember the most was my cereal box book report on "Underground to Canada". For this assignment we needed to take a cereal box and each side had a different element of the story. For example the front of the box we created a new title page, the right side had characters, the left side had setting, and the back had plot summary. -
Mr. Kahn - continued
On the inside of the box we had to include an item that would have been helpful for the main character to have. The item could be anything so long as you could justify why the item was used. Once again this gave me a positive experience with reading and allowed me to love and enjoy it even more -
Mr. Kahn - Part 3
Also in grade 5 we read the book "Tuck Everlasting" together as a class. We would read a chapter every day or every couple days and do activities that went along with the book. As the culminating activity we had to get in groups and create a news report from Treegap (the setting of the book). We actually videotaped the news report we created and I still have a copy of mine. -
Mr. Kahn - Part 4
This took a book report to the next step and had us really apply what we learned in the book by talking about the hard hitting news. It took my reading a step further to an actual application. I think this was the first time I realized that reading was not just very enjoyable but also very beneficial. -
Grade 8 - Mr. Webb
In grade 8 we were assigned books to read and do a book report on. We were split into groups with different books at different levels. I was assigned to read Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain with one other girl. To this day it is the most challenging book that I have ever attempted to read. It was also the first time that I every failed at reading a book. I had an extremely difficult time translating the southern slur that the majority of the book was written in. -
Mr. Webb - continued
It is unfortunate to say but in order to finsih my assignment I used the cliff notes version to learn the ending of the book. I was too frustrated with the book and I have never finished reading it. I was too ashamed to go to my teacher and explain that the book was too challenging for me. I was supposed to be the smart girl - the good reader. It was a hard lesson for me to learn but necessary. I want to make sure that my students feel they can come to me if they are struggling with work! -
Grade 10 - English Class
In my grade 10 English class we read Romeo and Juliet. As part of our culminating assignment we needed to read a novel and write a paper on the themes that were similar in the two pieces of literature. On my search I came across the book Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I had never heard of the book but my Dad encouraged me to give it a try. I feel in love with the characters and the tragic plot line. I wrote my paper about love ending in tragedy. -
Reading with my Mom
As I have grown older I have started to share my love of reading with my mom. My mom has always loved to read and has always shown me how fun the past time can be. We now read all the same books and share quite an extensive collection of books. We have similar taste in books and reading is a hobby that we get to enjoy together always. -
My favourite Books
For the next few dates I will highlight my favourite books and series' that I have not already talked about! <3 -
Stephanie Evanovich
The Plum Novels by Stephanie Evanovich - all 19 of them! -
J. D. Robb
The "In Death" series by J. D. Robb is a collection of murder mystery books (about 30 so far) following a New York police officer -
J. K. Rowling
The entire Harry Potter series I have read many MANY times. I love them all although book 3 has always been my favourite. -
Kristin Hannah
I have enjoyed every Kristin Hannah book that I have read. The are all relatable novels that are quick and entertaining to read. -
Jodi Picoult
All of Jodi Picoult's books touch on really intense subjects that always result in my crying!! My favourite book by her is House Rules which is abot a boy with autism who is being accused of a crime that he didn't commit -
Conclusion
There are many more books and authors that I could mention but I will stop there. Reading has always been a large part of my life and will continue to be. Reading allows me to jump into other worlds for a little while and just relax into my imagination.
