Writing Tip of the Week Use the Em Dash ("long dash") to strengthen your writing. When it's used appropriately, this quirky punctuation adds emphasis to your writing—a touch of dash! Use a dash to connect two parts of a sentence Sometimes when linking sentences, use a dash rather than a conjunction to make the sentence more interesting. Good: The homeless man had one loonie in his pocket, but he gave it away. Better: The homeless man had one loonie in his pocket—he gave it away. Use a dash to show parenthetical (by-the-way) expression I moved to a small town—it was in the middle of nowhere—after university. Use a dash to indicate a long appositive (a description of the subject) or an apposit

Imagine yourself separated from your loving family at the age of eleven and sent to an institution intended for the feebleminded, and living your eighty years of life in a body that doesn't work properly; not able to walk, talk, feed yourself or make sense of your place in the world? Buddy's Story, a fictional memoir, is based on the life of Bernard Akerman, born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1920. Buddy, afflicted with cerebral palsy, unfortunately labelled a "crippled idiot," is finally given a voice to tell the story of his life. He lived during a time when the handicapped were locked away, an embarrassment and a burden to their families and society. His niece, Ellen, finds her voice,

Enjoy Advent this year with a picture book that's lots of fun: The Year Heavy Hail Halted Christmas. What will Santa and the Elves do when a freak storm interrupts his visit with the children? Having modern methods, will it be the reindeer with their red boots who save the day? Join Ellie and Abby as the school closes, and they get ready for Christmas. An excellent read at bedtime up to and including Christmas Day! Get the Year Heavy Hail Halted Christmas for your child this holiday season. https://authorhaleybelinda.net/

Do you hear a collective groan in your classroom when you ask kids to write? They may read without complaining, and love it, but when asked to write, well . . . Or maybe you hear complaints from just a few--the kids who have learning disabilities. Regardless, use the 10 Tips to Motivate Reluctant Writers and you'll engage your entire class in the writing process. 1. Memory Pictures Draw and colour (paint) a detailed picture of your neighbourhood or backyard while thinking of a favourite memory in this setting. List words associated with the picture and memory (begin with nouns/adjectives and verbs/adverbs; progress to words of emotion). Organize your memory to describe beginning, middle and

Xat'sull Chief Bev Sellars spent her childhood in a church-run residential school whose aim it was to "civilize" Native children through Christian teachings, forced separation from family and culture, and discipline. In the first full-length memoir to be published out of St. Joseph Mission at Williams Lake, British Columbia, Xat'sull Chief Bev Sellars tells of three generations of women who attended the school, interweaving personal histories of her grandmother and her mother with her own. She tells of hunger, forced labour, and physical beatings, often with a leather strap, and also of the demand for conformity in a culturally alien institution where children were confined and denigrated fo

Writing Tip of the Week Let's look at the ellipsis (three periods), which is often used inappropriately in advertising to imply hidden meaning or to separate groups of words. When should the ellipsis be used? Check out Five Facts about the Ellipsis: 1. To Indicate a Slow-down in Thought or Conversation Use an ellipsis to show a pause in dialogue. "He's . . . awesome!" she announced. He gazed into her eyes until the moment was right, then slowly . . . gently . . . a kiss. 2. To Show Omitted Words Use an ellipsis to indicate that one or more words have been left out of a quotation: Premier Kathleen Wynne's complete quote: "There's a lot of work that has to be done in the math curriculum," sh