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Author: Nancy Carson

Puppets Casey and Finnegan

Puppets Casey and Finnegan alive and well on Hornby Island Adapted by cbc.ca by Nancy Carson Level 2 Listen to Casey and Finnegan– Level 2 Reading by Jessica Heafey For 27 years, a little child and a dog made many Canadian children very happy. Casey, the child, and Finnegan, the dog, were puppets. They were part of…

Culture
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B.C. man’s harpsichords

B.C. man’s harpsichords used around the world Adapted from The Northshore News by Nancy Carson Level 3 Craig Tomlinson was 16 and living in Coquitlam. It was the 1960s and folk music was very  popular again. Many folk musicians played the dulcimer.* Tomlinson looked everywhere for one. *dul-si-mer Never gave up Tomlinson said, “You could…

Culture
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A bouquet you can eat

Adapted from WE Vancouver by Nancy Carson Level 2 We often visit friends or family for a meal. Sometimes we take flowers as a gift for the host. Flowers are nice but they last about a week. Sometimes we take chocolates. However, some people do not want to eat candy. They don’t want their children to…

Food
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How old is a lobster?

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Level 1 Now scientists know the age of a lobster. They count the lobster’s rings. We do this with trees. We count the rings in the wood. Visit the link: Some interesting facts about lobsters for teachers Crustaceans, like lobsters and shrimp

Animals
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The spirit bear

The Spirit Bear Adapted from CBC News by Nancy Carson Level 3 A creature of legend lives on the central coast of British Columbia. This is the only place in the world where it can be found! This creature is the Kermode Bear. It is also called the “Spirit Bear” or “Ghost Bear”.

Animals
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Solly’s cinnamon buns go around the world

Adapted from WEVancouver by Nancy Carson Level 2 Leah Markovitch owns Solly’s in Vancouver. Solly’s is a bakery and deli. The bakery makes Jewish baking. They serve soup and sandwiches, too. You can sit down. You can have a snack. Or you can eat a nice lunch. Visit the link ]Watch bagels being made in Seattle…

Business
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Two paws in the ocean, and two paws on the land

Two paws in the ocean, and two paws on the land The fish-eating gray wolves of B.C.’s coastal islands Adapted from CBC News by Nancy Carson Level 2 The Heiltsuk* people of Bella Bella knew something special about B.C.’s gray wolves. For 6,000 years the Heiltsuk have lived in that area. They have always known…

Nature
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The youngest teachers in B.C.

Information adapted from Roots of Empathy Program by Nancy Carson Level 3 Roots of Empathy (ROE)  is a school program. It educates the mind and the heart. The program is for children from Kindergarten to Grade Eight. ROE is about “emotional literacy”.  It teaches important life skills. Watch a video on the program. Roots of Empathy:  Introduction

Education
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Who’s speaking, please?

Who’s speaking, please? Biases can affect communication Adapted from The Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Level 3 Many people have stereotypes. A stereotype is a strong belief about a whole group of people and every person in that group. You feel that everyone in the group is the same in some way. Positive and negative…

Culture
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An octopus “sees” with its skin

An octopus “sees” with its skin Adapted from cbc.ca by Nancy Carson Level 2 Cover the eyes of an octopus with your hands. Or put a blindfold over its eyes. It will not be blind! New Study Researchers studied pieces of skin from a California two-spot octopus. Octopus skin is different from its eyes. The…

Nature
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Bee B&B

Adapted from The Vancouver Courier by Nancy Carson Level 2 Travellers know that B&B means bed and breakfast. B&Bs are popular in many parts of the world. They are cheaper than big hotels. B&B rooms are in small hotels or in someone’s home. B&Bs usually do not offer other meals. You sleep, you have breakfast,…

Animals
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Female “Sherlock Holmes”

Female “Sherlock Holmes” Still practising law at 95 Adapted from The Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Level 3 People ask Constance Isherwood when she will stop practising law. She tells them, “Well, if you keep practising, eventually you’ll get the hang of it.” This Victoria lawyer, 95, still runs Holmes and Isherwood. She and her…

Social Issues
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Gurdial Oppal’s 100-year journey

Gurdial Oppal’s 100-year journey Adapted by Nancy Carson from the book 100 Year Journey  Level 1 It is the early 1900s. South Asian people begin to come to B.C. In 1932 in Punjab, India, Gurdial Oppal gets married. She is young. She is under 20. Two years later, she travels on a ship to Duncan,…

Life Stories
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The shop that cuts for charity

The shop that cuts for charity Adapted from The Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Level 2 Iveta, 47, and Anna, 37, live in Vancouver. And they cut hair. They cut men’s hair. “No women, no children. Just men,” Anna said. A shop for men The shop has two TVs. The TVs show sports. The walls have…

Business
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Vancouver students climb highest African mountain

Vancouver students climb highest African mountain Adapted from cbc.ca by Nancy Carson Level 3 Some students in East Vancouver are in a special school at Britannia Secondary School. This school is called Streetfront. Students take classes in math, science, Social Studies and English. They also go camping and hiking. They must be in a running…

Education
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Teacher dances with his students

Teacher dances with students Ray Brendzy encourages square dancing Adapted from The Vancouver Courier by Nancy Carson Level 2 Ray Brendzy likes to be active. He says this leads to a healthy life. Brendzy is a teacher in a Vancouver elementary school. He wants all students to be active. He says kids need to try…

Education
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The Last Great Race

The Last Great Race Racing with sled dogs in Alaska Adapted from The Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Level 2 People remember the brave rescuers. And they remember their faithful dogs. Do you want to enter a race? This race is 1,609 km long. It lasts six to ten days or more. You will be…

Animals
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Norooz with Saha

Submission by Saha Mousavi  Saha is now in Grade 8 at Magee Secondary School in Vancouver. She wrote this story while she was a Grade 6 student at Vancouver’s Lord Roberts School in 2013. The word Norooz means “the new day” in the Persian language. Norooz is the name of the important Iranian or Persian New…

Holidays
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Afghan refugee wins scholarship

Afghan refugee wins university scholarship Adapted from The Vancouver Courier by Nancy Carson Level 1 It is over three years ago. A young girl comes to Vancouver. She and her parents are refugees. Her name is Somaya Amiri. She cannot write English. She can only write Dari. She can only say two words: “Hi” and…

Education
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Artist paints family stories

Artist paints family stories Adapted from The Vancouver Courier by Nancy Carson Level 3 Jazmin Sasky is an artist. And she loves stories. Recently she listened to the stories of single mothers. Then she painted one large picture about each family. The paintings show each family story with beautiful, bright colours.

Life Stories
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Half-blind fish gets new eye

Half-blind fish gets new eye Half-blind fish fitted with fake eye at Vancouver Aquarium Adapted from CBC News by Nancy Carson Level 2 A copper rockfish lives at the Vancouver Aquarium. The fish is getting older. One of its eyes is blind. It looks weak and sick. Underwater bullying The other fish attack it. Dr. Martin Haulena…

Animals
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Today is Pink Shirt Day

Adapted from CBC News by Nancy Carson A pink shirt Level 1 It is 2007.  A boy wakes up early. It is his first day of school. He is excited. He puts on his new shirt. It is pink. Listen to the story “A pink shirt” – Level 1 Reading by Nila Gopaul Visit the link: Anti-bullying video for…

Social Issues
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Artificial hand can feel

Artificial hand that can feel Adapted from CBC News by Nancy Carson Level 3 Igor Spetic of Ohio lost his right hand four years ago in an industrial accident. Spetic had phantom pain after losing part of his arm. Limb is gone, pain is real Phantom pain feels like it is coming from a body part….

Technology
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Hector has new legs

Hector has new legs Adapted from CBC.ca by Nancy Carson Level 2 Hector is a very happy dog. He is not homeless anymore. Lisa Korol adopted Hector. He now has a loving home in Regina, Saskatchewan. A homeless dog Hector did not always have a good life. Hector’s mother was a stray. She had no…

Life Stories
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Nam is the man!

                          Nam is the Man! Young skater, Nam Nguyen, wins gold. Adapted from the Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Level 1 In 2010, people saw a small boy skate at the Vancouver Olympics. He was only 11 years old. Everyone loved him. He…

Life Stories
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A different kind of library

Adapted from The Vancouver Courier and The Vancouver Tool Library website by Nancy Carson Level 2 Many people go to a library. They borrow books. They read newspapers. They use the computers there. The new library in Surrey is different. You can borrow people at the Surrey library. They are called “living books”. You can…

Life Stories
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Respect the ring

Adapted from CBC News by Nancy Carson Level 2 Respect the Ring Ringette deserves the same attention as hockey. Grace Kemp is 11 years old. She lives in Surrey, B.C. And she plays ringette. When she was in Grade 2, she met a player from the National Ringette League (NRL). Grace was inspired and she…

Life Stories
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Coconut Boys from Kelowna

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Level 3 Two men from Kelowna are friends. Kevin Carta and Ryan Geni both wanted to start a business. Carta likes healthy, organic food. So, he thought about making a special pasta. It would be gluten-free. Geni is a vegan. He wanted an “ice cream” without using…

Life Stories
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Don’t eat the marshmallow … yet!

Adapted from CBC News by Nancy Carson Level 3 (Video, recipe and slideshow on next page) In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Walter Mischel designed an experiment. Mischel is a psychology professor. He wanted to study self-control in young children. The children were ages four to six. Read the PDF. Don’t eat the marshmallow…yet

Food
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Artist weaves pictures of cities

Adapted from The Province by Nancy Carson Level 1 Sola Fiedler,78, is a fiber artist. She makes beautiful pictures. She makes pictures of cities, like Vancouver. She makes these pictures with yarn. No paint She does not use paint to make her pictures. Paint is expensive. She uses old sweaters! Where does she find them? She goes…

Life Stories
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Vancouver chocolate bar wins gold medal

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Level 3 Marc Lieberman is a very happy man. He started a chocolate company in Vancouver. He opened Mink Chocolates eight years ago. Now he has two stores. The other one is in Surrey, B.C. Read the PDF: Vancouver’s chocolate bar wins gold medal” “Going nuts” A few…

Food
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Elephants know the voices of their enemies

Level 3 Adapted from The Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Can you recognize different languages? Do you say, “Oh, that sounds like Spanish,” or “That sounds like French.” Can you do it when you do not understand the words? Elephants can! Listen to the story Elephants know the voices of their enemies. Reading by Nila Gopaul-Level 3 Read…

Nature
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Why can’t girls play baseball?

A girl from Vancouver becomes part of history. Adapted from The Province by Nancy Carson Level 2 South Vancouver’s Little League baseball team was in the U.S. for two weeks this summer. The team won the Canadian championships in Quebec, in early August. So, they won the chance to go to the Little League World Series. The series…

Social Issues
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Monkey business: A monkey selfie starts a fight

Adapted from CBCnews by Nancy Carson Level 1 Everyone knows what a selfie is. It is a photo you take of yourself. Teenagers take many selfies. President Obama and the Pope took selfies. Some animals take selfies – if they can touch a camera. A nature photographer David Slater takes photographs. He photographs life in…

Life Stories
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Duke and Sophie are best friends

Level 1 Adapted from Castanet.net Duke lives on an organic farm near Armstrong, B.C. He is a big brown dog. He is five years old. The Quiring family owns the farm. They raise pigs and cows. Duke is the family’s pet. An interesting story A pig on their farm has babies. She has 12 baby…

Animals
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Celebrate International Literacy Day

[pullquote]September 8 is International Literacy Day. Learn more at UNESCO.org[/pullquote] This story, “Family, the first school for young children,” first appeared on WCR online in January, 2013. Adapted from The Vancouver Sun Level 2 How does a child become a good reader? How does a child become a good speaker? The answer is simple. The…

Holidays
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Dorothy Arey, a champion for 23 years

Level 3 Adapted from the CBC website For 23 years, Dorothy Arey was a CBC radio announcer-operator. She worked in a town called Inuvik, which is in the western Canadian Arctic, in Canada’s North. Arey helped people keep in touch. The main language in Inuvik is English. But Arey was a champion of her own…

Community
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Mary makes chapatis in Kenya

Level 1 Mary lives in Kenya. Kenya is in east Africa. She has a son and two daughters. Mary has many friends. She likes them to visit her. I live in a small apartment in Mary’s yard. I am in Kenya for a few months to help teachers. I like to watch Mary cook. Sometimes…

Life Stories
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Women in Trades

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun Level 3 Members of B.C.’s building trades have worked on most big projects in B.C. The skills of these people have made many dams and pipelines. These projects give us power and heat our homes. The bridges and highways take us to work, and home again. We travel on them…

Employment
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New lungs, new life

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun Level 2 Colleen Kohse, 53, lives in Vancouver. When she was in her 20s she received new lungs. At that time, Kohse was very ill. She had cystic fibrosis (CF). CF is a disease. CF affects the lungs. People with CF have a hard time breathing. They also get infections…

Health
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Nelson Tagoona, hip hop artist from Nunavut, Canada

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Level 1 Nelson Tagoona is nineteen years old. He is from Baker Lake, Nunavut. Baker Lake has less than 2,000 people. Nelson is a hip hop artist. But he is a different hip hop artist. Nelson learned something when he was little. He learned throat singing. Read the…

Culture
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Injured bird gets a peg leg

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Level 1 Rare birds are living near a golf course in Richmond. The birds are called sandhill cranes. About 12 are in Richmond, Delta and Pitt Meadows. Years ago, many cranes lived in those places. But humans now have homes there. The cranes are losing their habitat. Visit…

Animals
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The sound of bells

Adapted from The Vancouver Courier Level 1 You can make music many ways. The handbell is an old way to make music. In the 1600s, two brothers made handbells in England. People today use them, too. Read the PDF. The sound of bells-PDF Visit the links: The Bells of Shaughnessy handbell choir tour in 2009…

Culture
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Blind Beginnings

Adapted from the Georgia Straight and the website of Blind Beginnings Level 3 Shawn Marsolais, 38, has had a very interesting life. Like many people, she has had ups and downs. In 1999, Shawn got her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia. At 25 years old, she went to England to…

Life Stories
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Ringette is 50 years old

Adapted from The Vancouver Courier and information from Ringette Canada Level 2 Ringette is a Canadian game on ice. It is one of Canada’s favorite sports for girls and women. Young men are playing ringette now, too. There are over 50,000 people working with ringette across Canada. Some of these are coaches and volunteers. This…

Sports
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The loonie turns 25

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun Level 3 On June 30, 1987, 45 million golden dollar coins were released in Canadian cities. These coins had eleven sides. The new money replaced the $1 paper bills. People were curious to see them. The coins had a bird on one side. A picture of Queen Elizabeth was on…

Business
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Climb every mountain

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun and The Province by Nancy Carson Level 1 Esther and Martin Kafer are 85 and 84. They are active seniors. They hike, climb and ski. The Kafers have climbed more than 500 mountains. They have named over 73 mountains. Why?  They were the first to climb these mountains. Read the…

Life Stories
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Hallelujah for K.D. Lang!

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun and CBC Radio One Level 1 There is an award party on April 23, 2013. The party is in Regina, Saskatchewan. This party is called the Juno Awards. The Junos are Canadian music awards. On this night, a famous Canadian singer will be there. Her name is “k.d. lang”. Visit…

Culture
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Tracing fish

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun Level 3 People want to know where their meat comes from. Some also want to know where chickens are raised. Now you can find out where your fish comes from. “This Fish” A small Canadian website called This Fish can help. Ecotrust Canada started a fish tracing tool in 2010….

Food
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A cooking program opens doors for First Nations

Adapted from The Vancouver Sun by Nancy Carson Level 2 Vancouver loves local food. But there is little First Nations food in the city. Chef Andrew George Jr. hopes to change this. In early November, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (slay-wa-tuth) in North Vancouver celebrated. The first class graduated from its own professional chef’s program. And local chef…

Food
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