Fall 2007

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the planning department

Salmon Creek

by Brenda Boreham

This is the third in a series of Planning Department articles that suggests ways to organize school-wide literacy events around a single book title. The first two articles are available in pdf format online at www.CanadianTeacherMagazine.com (Winter 2007, Spring 2007).

These were Sumi’s first memories:
Water over stones,
the scent of creek,
darkness so complete
she could barely imagine
another world larger
than the egg case enclosing her.

Sumi was blind,
but she could hear the wind
whispering through the cedars.
She could hear the creek stones
lifting and falling as the salmon mothers built their nests.
And if she pressed against the curve of her egg,
she could hear her salmon mother singing.

Home is the scent of cedar and creek.
Home is the journey’s end.

And so begins the story of Sumi, a Pacific Salmon. This beautifully illustrated and poetic non-fiction book by Annette LeBox and Karen Reczuch describes the little coho’s life journey. As the adventure unfolds, the reader follows Sumi from her birth creek to the ocean and back again. Because Salmon Creek addresses the learning outcomes for almost all areas of the curriculum and for multiple grade levels, our staff chose this book for our third school-wide literacy project.

SCHOOL-WIDE LITERACY EVENTS
In the last two issues of Canadian Teacher Magazine, I highlighted the school-wide projects that our school implemented with Maple Moon and The Great Fuzz Frenzy. Each class from K–7 read the stories and tried some Before, During and After Reading strategies. Our goal was to develop some common language around literacy skills, and teachers were free to key the books into any area of the curriculum. Our debriefing sessions after the two projects revealed a diversity of activities, some great connections, and a willingness to try a similar project again. Salmon Creek was an obvious choice for our third project. Its lyrical text and fine watercolour illustrations have a strong appeal to children of all ages. It also made a direct connection to our school’s salmon egg hatching and release program.

WHAT RESOURCES WERE NEEDED?

MATERIALS

• multiple copies of Salmon Creek by Annette LeBox and Karen Reczuch (Groundwood Books/Douglas & McIntyre, 2002, ISBN 0-88899-458-3)
• lesson plans and instructional materials developed by the staff in grade groups

PEOPLE

• grade group planning teams
• Chris Pagan, a grade 6 teacher at our school, as the facilitator of the salmon egg hatching project
• Val White and Brian Cardinal (our school’s Aboriginal education assistants) as co-ordinators of the winter feast and classroom visits (traditional aboriginal fishing practices, etc.)
• Debbie Lambert, our music teacher, as the music/drama co-ordinator for the assembly performance of Salmon Creek.
  

WHAT WAS THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS?

October

• The choice of book was made. Our school literacy committee shortlisted a number of titles and the staff made the final choice at a staff meeting.

November

• Part of our November Pro-D day was dedicated to creating a time line for the Salmon Creek project and to brainstorm ideas for the following: literacy sequence ideas, field trips and activities, available resources (people, books, videos, music, etc.) and cross grade grouping activities. We also took some time to meet in grade groups to plan specific Before, During and After Reading activities.

December

• Each grade group committee reported out on their planning ideas at the December staff meeting.

February

• We celebrated the beginning of the theme with a mid winter feast. Staff and students sat down to a lunch of baked salmon, salads, buns, fruit and juice. The food was donated by local businesses and prepared by staff from our school as well as staff and students from nearby John Barsby Secondary School. The feast was followed by an assembly featuring another school’s (Bayview Elementary) Aboriginal Dance Troupe.
• Chris Pagan co-ordinated the arrival of 200 Coho eggs available through a local salmon enhancement program. One incubator was set up in the library and the other was located in the school’s learning centre.
• Each class made a weekly observation of the salmon eggs as they developed. A grade three class recorded their observations in a log format that was displayed on the bulletin board just outside the library.
• The development of the eggs became a regular feature of the morning broadcast.
• A contest was established for students and staff to guess the hatch date of the eggs. The prize was the opportunity to participate in the release of the fry early in March.
• Val White began her schedule of classroom visits. Some of the cultural topics that were discussed: fishing practices; the preparation, cooking and smoking of salmon; feasting; salmon legends.
• Each class read the book and completed their sequence of literacy lessons during this month. The book also became the catalyst for lessons that addressed many of the learning outcomes across the curriculum.

March

• Our school regularly engages in cross grade grouping activities. Each staff member leads a group of K – 7 students in an event (art/craft, literacy, sports, etc.) For the salmon theme we chose to decorate the hallways with murals, mobiles, fish prints, collages, paintings and many other artistic interpretations of the book.
• We celebrated the end of the Salmon Creek project with a performance at our monthly assembly. Three primary classes told Sumi’s story through the use of puppets, dance, drama and music.
• Our primary literacy evening was the final closure to the theme. Parents and children were treated to a puppet show and readings of salmon related stories by guests, including Terri Mack, our District Aboriginal Resource Co-ordinator.

WHAT REALLY WORKED WELL?

Staff: Staff collaboration is common at our school, but this project served to open up the planning process and communication across the grades.

Students: This theme was highly visible around the school. Classrooms and hallways were decorated with salmon related displays. Every child had the opportunity to watch the salmon eggs as they developed. Besides the school experiences, many students talked about the personal connections that they made to the theme (fishing trips, visits to hatcheries, etc.) Finally, the feast and the assembly performance connected the entire school in celebration of the shared experience.

SOME LITERACY STRATEGIES THAT WORK WITH THIS BOOK

The following strategies can be adjusted to most grade levels.

BEFORE READING

FOUR ARTIFACTS
Materials

• a copy of the Four Artifacts worksheet
• four items that make a connection to the story (e.g., a stone, a cedar bough, a picture of a black bear, a picture of a bald eagle)

Process

1. Have the students look at the first item. Have them draw and label the item in one of the boxes.
2. Have each student talk to a partner. Share connections to the item.
3. Have students report the connections to the larger group.
4. Repeat the above process with the other items.
5. Ask the students to think of how the items might fit together in a story.
6. Have students talk to a partner.
7. Have students report their ideas to the larger group.
8. Have students write a prediction about the story incorporating the four items that they looked at.
9. Have students share their predictions with a partner.
10. Share some of the predictions with the larger group.

Reflection: After hearing the predictions of others, will your prediction stay the same or will you change it?

DURING READING

WORD HUNT
Materials

• a copy of Salmon Creek
• chart paper

Process

1. Before you read the story, chunk it into several logical pieces.
2. Have the students recall the artifacts from the first lesson.
3. Read the first chunk. Stop to look at the pictures and discuss the events.
4. As you re-read the first chunk, have the students note words that might describe any of the artifacts. Record the describing words on chart paper.
5. Continue for the remaining chunks of the story.

Reflection: Were the artifacts of equal importance in the story? Why? Why not?

AFTER READING

WORD SORTING
Materials

• word sort paper for each student

Process

• Record 20 of the describing words from the previous lesson onto a page containing 20 rectangular boxes.
• Give a copy of the sheet to each student.
• Have the students cut the words apart and sort them according to their own sorting rule.
• Have the students share the sorting rule with a partner.
• Have the students sort the words into groups for each artifact item.

Reflection: Do these describing words make the writing more vivid?

THE SALMON LIFE CYCLE STORY
Materials

• salmon life cycle worksheet for each student*

Process

1. Give a copy of the worksheet to each student and have them cut out and arrange the pictures of the salmon life cycle in the correct order.
2. Have students write the salmon life cycle story.

THE SALMON’S BODY
Materials

• salmon worksheet for each student*

Process

1. Give a copy of the worksheet to each student and have them label the salmon’s body parts.

(*Worksheets available online under “Free Downloads” at www.PacificEdgePublishing.com.)

Brenda is the Literacy Resource Teacher at her school. This .2 position allows her to plan fun literacy events when she isn’t busy in her own classroom.