Connected To Everything

Connected To Everything is a short story from the prestigious Teaching Tolerance magazine. the short, powerful narrative reveals a mother's pain as she must try to comfort her children after a forced move. The speaker is an unnamed Salish woman leaving her tribal home in the Bitterroot Valley for the Flathead Reservation in the Jocko. In just a few paragraphs, the author captures the importance of place in her writing, clearly delineating the many ways the character is connected to her homeland. 

In my full-title school, many (if not most) of my students have had lives disrupted with frequent moves.  My students will probably readily identify with the experience of being uprooted.  Students could take segments of the piece and arrange them into a "Found Poem" as a close reading exercise, similar to the "Word Mover" tool that can be found on the ReadWriteThink site.  The Word Mover tool uses Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech, but the "Connected To Everything" story uses equally powerful words, and would be more easily understood by my students.

The students would enjoy the process of seeking out the most powerful segments, copying, pasting, arranging and formatting.  Along the way, they would learn valuable text editing skills too!

For older students and adults, the short film The Worst Thing They Ever Done offers a sobering overview of how the Indian Allotment Act affected the residents of the Flathead Reservation. The testimonials of Tribal elders echo the sentiments of the speaker in Connected To Everything, and illustrate the pain and injustice inflicted upon the tribe. The film does end on a positive and hopeful note, as much of the lands are slowly being regained by the Tribe.

i was trying to find a segment that might be used with young learners.  I am thinking that the segment at about 12:00 might work to accompany the Connected To Everything piece, as it really drives home the idea that the indians "were not the visitors"  although they were made to feel as if they were.  The map above shows the regrettable loss of native lands due to the allotment act.

Valentine's Day in the Library

Oh how the kids LOVE holidays! I had a steady parade of excited students delivering goodies today. I managed to consume at least a pound of Hershey Kisses alone. One of the most amusing aspects of the day was examining all the different ways the students spell my name.

I have a few great titles I enjoy using for Valentine's Day, but my favorite involves a serenading porcupine. Students really enjoy stories with songs incorporated into the plot, and it's so fun when they begin to sing along. I highly recommend Porcupining:A Prickly Love Story for the primary kids. Older students enjoy listening for the puns liberally sprinkled throughout the text. Identifying and understanding figurative language is a Common Core standard, is it not?

Native American poetry

The recordings from Heart of the Bitterroot are exactly what I needed to help inspire my young poets. The students can listen for the use of common poetic devices, such as repetition, breaks, and imagery.

The recordings also show the children how powerful a reading can be when paced properly and enhanced with background music. This collection will be a great model for them when they record and publish their own original work.

Each year, I have my students use Audacity, a free audio editing program to record their poetry readings. We then publish the recordings as podcasts as well as putting them on MP3 players for checkout from the library. It's a great project which addresses numerous Common Core standards.

The Legend of the Bitterroot

My 3rd grade classes are just beginning a unit on the Salish. I somehow hadn't seen theJohnny Arleebook aboutthe Bitterroot legend, so I intend to share this with the kids immediately. Until I get a print copy, it's great to have the book published in digital format. I also love an ebook, because i can use my digital projector so the whole class can read together and admire the illustrations.

I only have them for half an hour each week, so my lessons have to be "fast and furious". I thought it would be neat to have the students make a Bitterroot plant model to "fix the story" in their minds. Online, I found a coloring page, but no actual ideas for creating a model. I am thinking that I could do something with pipe cleaners and tissue paper, perhaps making the tuber with layers of masking tape???

Stories of Fire

Snow is blanketing the ground this week. It's the perfect time of year to tell stories that help define our human relationship with fire.

Almost every culture has interesting accounts of how people obtained fire. In Ancient Greece, Prometheus steals it from the gods and delivers it to mankind. I use a version found inD'Aulaire's Book of Greek Mythologyto read to the children.

In some Native folklore, Coyote, Raven, or some other animal was responsible for bringing fire. I am lucky to have several beautifully illustrated picture books in the library collection, including Rainbow Crow, Coyote Steals Fire, and How Beaver Stole Fire(from our own local Salish tribe)

In the library the third graders will be hearing a number of fire stories, as well as playing a traditional Native game called "FireKeeper". I would like to have the visitthis siteto read more Native fire stories, and perhaps illustrate and/or retell one that particularly resonates. (Not all stories are intended for young listeners, so if one is intending to use this site, link to each story individually!)