Novel

We regularly have discussions in class about how everyone is on their own journey.  We learn things at different times and in different ways.  We have different interests, skills, and abilities.  After I read the novel Fish in a Tree I knew I had to read it to our class, it depicts this idea perfectly.

In January, I started reading Lynda Mullaly Hunt's novel Fish in a Tree to the class.  In the story the main character, Ally, is struggling to read and write, as well as to make friends. 

In the story Ally talks about getting headaches when she tries to read. The brightness of the pages hurt her eyes and the print seems to move around. To understand Ally's reading struggle better, we looked at examples of how text can look to some people who have difficulty with reading. The examples come from a book called Reading by the Colors by Helen Irlen. 

Here are 2 examples from this book:

Many children have gone back to look at these texts over the last couple days. For people who had no problems learning to read, it is often hard to imagine how it could be challenging for others, until you can look through their eyes.  

The children are very curious to find out why the book is called "Fish in a Tree". That question will be answered soon.