Every Child Matters: Orange Shirt Day founder, Phyllis Webstad, shares the story of what the phrase and movement, “Every Child Matters” means. This book is meant to help move us forward and shows the spirit of resilience of the Indigenous People of Turtle Island.
When We Are Kind (k-2) is a book that recognizes acts of kindness all around us. It encourages children to notice how they feel when others are kind to them and also how it feels when they are kind. I like this book because it incorporates the First Peoples principle of learning, “learning involves recognizing the consequences of one’s actions.” If children are taught the principle of kindness, and understand how it makes them feel, that is the first step to respecting other people and cultures. Written by Monique Gray Smith
Shin-chi’s canoe is a book for ages 4-8 that describes a brother and sister who go to residential school. They are given English names and weren’t allowed to talk to each other anymore. It describes what life would be like at a residential school.
Not My Girl ages 8-10 is a book about a girl who goes away to residential school and is faced with learning how to be part of her family again. It deals with the many emotions of picking up the pieces of losing one’s identity and trying to make sense of where one fits.
Cross Curricular Connections: I need to do more research about what is appropriate for teachers to share in their classroom regarding Indigenous culture.
pe: play Indigenous movement games that have been shared by Indigenous peoples. (ie. screaming eagle, creeping coyote, or bear crawl relay)
art: make a collage of handprints and write what we can do to help others feel like they matter.
social studies: have an Indigenous Elder come in to teach the class about what Orange Shirt Day is all about, or share knowledge of their culture.
language arts: write a poem about how to be kind to everyone around you
