This year at Rosemont Elementary we began by exploring our personal name stories and discussed how stories are tied to our identities. We explored Metis culture and identity through the stories “The Giving Tree”, “Fiddle Dancer” and “Dancing in my Bones” and learned about the idea of reciprocity. We learned about Metis beadwork and completed beautiful paintings using the “dot” technique, as well as learned 5 different Metis jigging steps.

In January we started to learn about the grandfather teachings of Love through the story “Adopted by Eagles” by Paul Goble and Courage through “The Secret of the Dance” by Andrea Spalding and Alfred Scow. Students also learned about the Potlatch Ban in Canada through the “The Secret of the Dance” and the courage it takes to stand up for what you believe in.

In the spring we started to look for signs of spring in the forest and started thinking more about the interconnectedness of all beings. We read “The Water Walker” by Joanne Robertson and reinvigorated our discussion about stewardship and our responsibility as humans. We read the story “Be a Tree” and talked about all of the ways a forest of trees is like a community of people. We read “How Coyote Broke the Salmon Dam” and discussed the issues that salmon face due to dams and other human activities and discussed what is being done to help the salmon and what we can keep doing to help. We also read “A Voice for Spirit Bear” and talked about what we are passionate about and what we can do to help be a voice for causes that mean a lot to us. 

All year Rosemont students have slowly been learning some Nsəlxcin, the language spoken by Syilx First Peoples. We have been practicing hello/goodbye, good morning/afternoon, see you again later, how to count from 1-10, and 11 colours. Our goal is to learn the colours and numbers well enough by the end of the year to play a game of uno using Nsəlxcin.

As the weather has been warming up we have been starting classes with a story outside and finishing with learning a new Indigenous game. So far we have learned how to play Run and Scream, Tatanka Tatanka, and Horse Relay Race (with hockey sticks for horses).

Many of the Indigenous students in grades 3-6 joined me for the SD8 Pow Wow in Creston last week! It was an amazing day of dancing, listening to music, observing regalia, and enjoying the beautiful playground that the Creston and District Community Complex has to offer. 

Submitted by Baylie Corner, Aboriginal Academic Success Teacher