This week is a time to gather and honor. We celebrate the summer solstice and honor National Indigenous People's Day on June 21st and all throughout the week. Students across the school board will be participating in a variety of learning opportunities including thinking about the importance of the summer solstice, celebrating in song together, and learning more about diverse Indigenous cultures. June 21st will open by celebrating in song and music together with the Isaac Family, Bkejwanong Territory, Deb and Barry Milliken, Kettle and Stony Point First Nation, David Plain, Aamjiwnaang First Nation along with an Ancestral Lands Acknowledgement brought to you by SCCDSB youth voice and photos from our year together. Youth activist Theland Kickosway will share a song with the students as he reflects on the day. Award-winning music group, Twin Flames, will bring two classroom sessions of song and story to classes across the system. Métis musician, Brianna Lizotte, will engage students in interactive sessions to learn about Métis culture. Artist Rhonda Snow will share stories of her paintings connected to Mother Earth and will provide a doodling opportunity for classrooms. We welcome Aalla who will share about Inuit culture with the youth. Lynda Lou Classens, Bkejwanong First Nation Public Library, will engage students in stories and 200 youth had the opportunity to celebrate at the Bkejwanong Children’s Centre Parade on June 20 to start the week off together! These opportunities and more will be available to staff and students across the system as well as continued learning from Inspiring Indigenous People, which we have been excited to learn this month from musicians Chelsey June and Jaji of Twin Flames, author, former journalist, hip hop artist, and politician, Wab Kinew, NASA astronaut John Herrington, and Anishinaabe artist Moses Lunham!

Acknowledgement of Ancestral Lands

Elders Opening Across SCCDSB

Theland Kicknosway, Bkejwanong Territory shares about the Summer Solstice and gives Thanks to Creation with a Song

Music Group Twin Flames shares story and song in two sessions (One English session & One French Session only available on June 21)

Métis Culture with Brianna Lizotte

Inuit Culture and Games with Aalla

Storytelling with Lynda Lou Classens, Bkejwanong Territory

Tess learns from her grandmother that her “garden” is all of nature that surrounds her. As they pick plants and berries they do so carefully and with respect. Tess discovers that if she cares for the Earth it will provide for her just as it provided for generations past. The text of this book is complemented by beautiful watercolor illustrations that encourage students to appreciate our natural world. Click here for a sample grade 3-5 lesson plan that can be adapted.

Additional connections: Grandma shares the first rule of the garden with Tess: “Not everything in the garden is ready for picking just yet …. Rule number one is that you must always take good care of our garden.” What do students think Grandma means by this rule? How might you take care of the garden? Why is it important to take care of the garden? Why is it important to have rules?

Discuss with the students how they think Tess felt after spending a day in her Grandmother’s garden. What do you think Tess learned?

When a young girl from the Gitxsan Nation argues with her brother, she remembers the teachings of her grandmother and goes in search of a stone to share her feelings with. This engaging story teaches children that it is okay to have feelings and shows them how to process and release negative thoughts.

Conversation Starters (taken directly from the book): What did Trudy’s grandmother do? Why is it good to let go of all the negative feelings? Why did Trudy look for a stone? Where would you go to find a special stone to hold? What do you think Trudy said to the stone that she found? Why did Trudy give the stone back to Mother Earth? Why do you think it’s important to tell stories? What do you do when you feel angry or sad?

Pour amorcer la discussion (les questions sont dans le livre même): Que faisait la grand-mère de Trudy? Pourquoi est-ce une bonne idée de laisser s’envoler tous les sentiments négatifs? Pourquoi Trudy est-elle partie à la recherche d’un caillou? Où irais-tu pour trouver un caillou spécial? D’après toi, qu’a dit Trudy à son caillou? Pourquoi aimes-tu ce caillou plus que les autres? Pourquoi Trudy a-t-elle redonné le caillou à Mère Nature? Pourquoi penses-tu qu’il est important de raconter des histoires? Que fais-tu quand tu ressens de la colère ou de la tristesse?

Reflection:

“What is one thing you could do every day to be mindful?” or “Where do you feel most at peace?” Students could draw a picture of their mindfulness practice or create their peaceful setting using loose parts.

The oral history of Inuit is filled with many folktales. In this traditional story, a young owl catches a lemming to eat. Inuit stories are often instructive and, with this tale, children quickly learn the value of being clever and humble, and why pride and arrogance are to be avoided.

Reflection Questions:

• What lessons does the lemming learn?

Can you think of any other morality tales you may know? Consider stories such as Aesop’s Fables, the Monkey King, the Gingerbread Man, Anansi the Spider, the Three Billy Goats Gruff or the Three Little Pigs.

• How is The Owl and the Lemming similar to the story you know? How is it different?

• Discuss the ways the lemming tried to outwit the owl.

• Read another story and compare/contrast.