Author Emma Metallic is a member of Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation. Illustrated by Natalie Laurin is a Métis and settler illustrator and interdisciplinary designer, with family roots in the Georgian Bay Métis community. Welcome to Cedar School! Join Liv, Tom, Gus, and Bell as they learn on the land and explore Mi’gmaw teachings with their teacher, Miss Sam, and the school’s Mi’gmaw Elder, Jen. With charming illustrations and simple storylines, this decodable series engages students as they practise their reading skills. Each book includes a pre-reading review of non-decodable words, and many of the books introduce special words related to Indigenous teachings. Talking Together prompts facilitate discussions led by the reading teacher. Developed in partnership with Dyslexia Canada, Cedar School Decodables is a series of 20 decodable books for young readers. Each book is 16 pages. Designed for students who have previously learned short vowel and consonant sounds, additional phonic skills are developed progressively throughout the series. Cedar School Decodables is divided into six sets, which increase in word count and complexity of sentence structure: Set 1 – Short Vowels (40-60 words)Set 2 – Digraphs (60-80 words)Set 3 – VCe (80-90 words)Set 4 – Longer Words (90-100 words)Set 5 – Ending Spelling Patterns (100-110 words)Set 6 – R-Controlled Vowels (110-125 words) This bundle includes 20 books, one copy of each title in the Cedar School Decodables series. This series is recommended for ages 4 to 7 for use in kindergarten and Grade 1 classrooms. This series is accompanied by Cedar School Stories, a set of four picture books that expand on the friends’ adventures. Each read-aloud story can be read on its own or alongside the decodable series to enhance learning. Mi’gmaw language is included in each book, along with a pronunciation and translation guide and additional educator information. The Cedar School Decodables Teacher’s Guide provides two lessons for each book: a Learning to Read lesson to teach reading skills and a Reading to Learn lesson to reinforce Mi’gmaw teachings. Additional ideas for extending the learning to other areas of Canadian curricula and reproducible activity pages are also included in the guide. The Teacher’s Guide will be available at a later date
