The Moniques Go to Shawinigan

Today, photographer Monique Dykstra and I are spending the day at Shawinigan School, where we are working with Miss Fréchette's wonderful Grade Two class. That means I am sitting in a very small chair writing this blog entry (luckily I am a small person!). This morning, Monique D talked about how photography works, and I talked about how I get ideas for my books. Then, somehow, we got to talking about memories. And as if by magic, that became the students' topic for their chapter in this year's Quebec Roots: The Place Where I Live.

I think many of us tend to associate memories with older people. But we learned this morning that even students who are eight years old have lots of memories -- happy ones, embarrassing ones, and sad ones. Also, many of the students here have parents who also went to Shawinigan School, and it will be interesting for the kids to interview their parents about these memories.

Now the vote for a topic was close -- the students were also very interested in writing about the animals of Shawinigan. They have seen squirrels, deer and sometimes even moose. Some of their parents trap animals or go hunting. But we have a solution: the students can also write about their memories that have to do with animals, especially animals they may have seen at school or through their classroom window.

Right now, Monique D is with the kids working in a computer room upstairs. Later today, the Moniques head back to Montreal -- full of memories of our fun trip to Quebec City and Shawinigan.

A word of explanation about today's pic. Miss Fréchette has 21 students -- well, there are 20 plus Lili (Lili is the little redhead sitting on her best friend's lap).