The Wonderful World of Kindergarten : First Peoples week in Residence

Monday:

Today we had a welcoming ceremony for our First People Week in Residence. This week we will partake in workshops led by our cultural facilitators.

The workshops that we are signed up for have to do with seasons and local plants. In order to link to our weaving project we started to look at the importance of weaving to the Coast Salish people. We learned that cedar trees were used to harvest the soft inner bark to weave baskets, blankets, mats, and more. We completed our Cedar prints and found a spot on one of the cedar trees out front where we were able to feel the soft inner bark.

Mr. Dekerf has lent our class a Cedar weaving that students made for him years ago.

On Tuesday, we started our day with Janet Crockford teaching us about how the Coast Salish people survived during the different seasons, from fishing, hunting, gathering, and making clothing. She shared a wonderful slideshow with the class. Thank you Janet!

When I got out of my car in the morning 2 bald eagles were flying over head making the loudest noise. One of them had food, they were followed by a group of angry crows. I was telling the kids the story and trying to describe the intense sound of a bald eagles cry. Mrs. M found a clip: Bald Eagle Cry

Wednesday:

We started the day with some new literacy centres.
I taught the students about the importance of oral traditions in First Nations culture. I shared an oral story created by Victoria Bouvier. She gave me permission to tell her story and will Skype in to us on Valentine's Day to share more knowledge with the students and to tell her story "Nipin and the Rocks" to the students directly. Here is a link to her bio and her story: Our Story: Victoria Bouvier

Our Star of the Week shared 2 wonderful stories with us: Sky Colour and The Book with No Pictures. We completed an art project inspired by Sky Colour, drawing silhouettes of our families and then using watercolour crayons to create colourful skies.

Thursday:

Today we were very lucky to have 2 different workshops. The first happened accidentally as Chandra Antone wandered into our class by mistake and then decided that it was meant to be and stayed to share her teachings with us. She began by drumming and singing, introduced us to important animals in our area using puppets, and showed different fur and pelts, and talked about how when animals were hunted every part of the animal was put to use. Nothing was wasted. Thank you Chandra!

Our Star of the Week taught us 2 games. The first was the human knot, where students gather and hold the hand of two different people across a circle and then try to work together to untangle themselves without letting go. The kids had a blast. She then taught us how to play and extreme version of Rock, Paper, Scissors where you become chickens, people, and/or superheroes. What a blast!

Our next presenter was Alana Anderson who taught us about different plants and their importance. We learned about how plants were not just used for food, but also to make ointments, rope, baskets, netting, clothes, blankets, and even diapers. She brought different dried roots, leaves, and flowers, as well as preserved berries to show the students. She left us a Salmon craft that the students are working to complete. Thank you Alana!

Friday:

We started the day with the closing ceremony where we watched a slideshow video of all the students learning during their workshops.

We read a story about Groundhog Day and talked about the tradition. I told the students about Wiarton Willie and will follow-up with a video of his prediction on Monday.

In the afternoon, a large group of students worked together to organize a classroom restaurant. They made menus, had servers, chefs, and someone working the cash register. If you happen to be getting take out anytime in the next little while, we will be collecting some take out menus to help support and expand their restaurant ideas.