Respecting First Nations, Metis and Inuit Cultures in the Classroom

The Rationale:

I work at a very multicultural school. Over the years, I have found that one way to build classroom community is to learn about our many different cultures. I have several First Nations students in my classroom and these are some of the methods that we use to learn about their culture. 

Read Alouds:

Who doesn't love a good book? Here are some of my favourite read alouds for introducing students to First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures.

Inuit Culture:

Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails

Baseball Bats for Christmas

A Promise is a Promise

Métis Culture:

Dancing in my Bones

Fiddle Dancer

Jenneli's Dance

First Nations Culture:

Beneath Raven Moon

Berry Magic

The Salmon Twins

Classroom Decor

I love to showcase my First Nations, Métis and Inuit Alphabet Cards in my classroom. Not only are these cards beautiful, they make for great discussion points when studying First Nations, Métis and Inuit Cultures. You can pick up your own copy of these cards here.  

Independent Reading Time:

My FAVOURITE series to teach kids about First Nations, Métis and Inuit Cultures is Raven Tales by David Bouchard. You can order these books on the Scholastic Website. I have the entire set and my students LOVE them! They are all graphic novels and even my struggling grade 4 readers enjoy these books. 

Integrating Art (Residential Schools):

There are many fabulous art projects that you can do with your students to learn about First Nations, Métis and Inuit Cultures. I think that the most meaningful project is Project of Heart. 

Materials:

Each student in your class will need a small wooden tile.
You will also need a variety of Sharpies. (Note: don't use regular markers because the colours will bleed!)

Procedure:

Introduce Students to Residential Schools.

• Two books that I have used in the past to do this are Fatty Legs and When I Was Eight.
• I use both of these books in my upper elementary classroom. 

Explain to students that in order to remember what happened in Residential Schools and in order to move towards reconciliation, they will each be creating a tile. Then all of the tiles will be put together to create a beautiful mosaic. These tiles are to commemorate all of the children that died in Residential Schools as well as all of the survivors. 

The Project for Heart has a great guide on their website. You can access it here. 

Here are some sample mosaics:

I hope that this gives you some ideas that you can use in your own classroom! Feel free to pin the image below so that you can come back to this post when you need it. 

Have a sweet week :)