Literacy Coach

Mrs. Sharon Wygal is our Literacy Coach.  This is her third year at San Pablo.  Mrs. Wygal has been with our county many years. 

Reading Sites:

Houghton Mifflin	Read Across America
Funschool	Zoboomafoo
Wordsmith	Reading Planet
Storyline Online -Famous Readers	Learning Vocabulary Can Be Fun
Children's Reading Room	Kids Read
Reading Workshop	Primary Games

Books Of the Month

August How I Spent My Summer Vacation By Mark Teague Some kids spend their summer vacation at camp. Some kids spend it at Grandma's house. Wallace Bleff spent his out west...on a ride, a rope, and a roundup he'll never forget.

The Tin Forest written by Helen Ward & illustrated by Wayne Anderson UK Publisher: Puffin Books, 0142501565, 2001 In the middle of a windswept wasteland full of discarded scrap metal and devastation lives a sad and lonely old man. In spite of his gloomy surroundings, he dreams every night of a lively forest full of trees, birds, and animals. When he finds a broken light fixture that looks like a flower, his imagination is sparked. He begins to build a tin forest, branch by branch, creature by creature. In time, real birds arrive, bearing seeds, and soon the artificial forest is taken over by living vines and animals until it looks just like the forest of the old man's dreams. This book conveys the important message that where there is imagination, there is hope.

BROTHER EAGLE, SISTER SKY Susan Jeffers & Chief Seattle `We did not weave the web of life. We are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.' Nearly 150 years ago, Chief Seattle, a respected and peaceful leader of one of the Northwest Indian Nations, delivered a compelling message to the government in Washington who wanted to buy his people's land. He believed that all life on earth, and the earth itself, is sacred, and that man's heedless abuse of nature will lead to his own destruction. Inspired by his words, Susan Jeffers has created a powerful plea for conservation, illustrated with gorgeous pictures that will set any child's imagination on fire. Recommended for children aged 6-9, although younger children, too, will enjoy talking about the pictures and hearing the story if suitably paraphrased by their parents.   A lonely, elderly woman visits the park each day, where she notices a lonely boy, who sits on the bench by her. He is silent, watching the other children play. The unhappy youngster reminds her of her own childhood when she was comforted by a special closeness with her grandfather. She especially enjoyed her grandfather's stories, including one regarding a stone she'd found. Her grandfather calls it a worry stone, and spins a tale around it involving the Chumash people. When her grandfather dies, the child remembers it and is comforted. Now an old woman, she shares the stone and its stories with the boy on the bench. This sincere effort has a heavy touch. The telling is marred by an excess of sentiment and cliches (e.g., a "hacienda on the edge of time"). Gerig's watercolor illustrations are pretty, but overly romanticized, awash in lovely if unlikely color. Dengler's tale itself is profound and moving, if less than convincing. This book will find its most sympathetic audience among adults who have felt the power of stories in their lives.? A lonely, elderly woman visits the park each day, where she notices a lonely boy, who sits on the bench by her. He is silent, watching the other children play. The unhappy youngster reminds her of her own childhood when she was comforted by a special closeness with her grandfather. She especially enjoyed her grandfather's stories, including one regarding a stone she'd found. Her grandfather calls it a worry stone, and spins a tale around it involving the Chumash people. When her grandfather dies, the child remembers it and is comforted. Now an old woman, she shares the stone and its stories with the boy on the bench. This sincere effort has a heavy touch. The telling is marred by an excess of sentiment and cliches (e.g., a "hacienda on the edge of time"). Gerig's watercolor illustrations are pretty, but overly romanticized, awash in lovely if unlikely color. Dengler's tale itself is profound and moving, if less than convincing. This book will find its most sympathetic audience among adults who have felt the power of stories in their lives.?Marilyn Taniguchi, Santa Monica Public Library, CA Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc   Yolen explores a tropical rain forest in an entrancing poem full of internal rhyme, alliteration, and evocative images. "But it is not all green/ in the hot green house:/ a flash of blue hummingbird,/ a splash of golden toad,/ a lunge of waking lizards,/ a plunge of silver fish . . . ." These are only a few of the many creatures that the author catalogs and Regan depicts in her lush gouache paintings. The illustrations include all of the animals mentioned in the brief text, but readers are left to their own devices to identify the extra treats the artist includes. Ideal for introducing rain forest ecology in the primary grades, this book may be also be used by preschool teachers. Its many animal sounds and closeup views of snakes, sloths, and primates will perfectly suit their inquisitive students. A page of remarks about the continuing destruction of tropical rain forests and an address where youngsters may write to obtain information about preserving them is appended. The next best thing to a guided tour.

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