Educational Resources

Source: ETFO/FEEO

Focus: Elementary students

Summary: 

This document was developed to provide you with information, ideas, and resources that promote further learning while supporting you in your reconciliation journey. It will invite you to acknowledge your own values, your relationship with family, the community, and the land. It will also explore our collective responsibility to protect the natural environment. As you go through the resource, you will be invited to engage in the activities and to examine the importance of nurturing relationships with the Indigenous communities in your region. To further support your learning, there are many hyperlinked resources for you to review which have been interwoven throughout the document. At the heart of this resource is you, and in the spirit of reconciliation, we wish you a good journey in your learning.

Source: Dufferin Peel CDSB

Focus: Junior/ Intermediate students

Summary: This resource critically explores our relationships and responsibilities to water through many perspectives including Indigenous Peoples views and knowledge.

It provides a collection of videos and resources to support teachers’ background knowledge.  

Source: Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board

Focus: K-8

Summary: Resource Kits:

Each division contains a series of activities. Each activity had a downloadable pdf that provides a sample lesson plan as well as possible connections to curriculum form a wide range of subject areas.

Source: Alberta Education

Focus:Grades 1-9

Summary: These sample lesson plans support Education for Reconciliation through the inclusion of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit perspectives; treaty education; and residential schools’ experiences, with learning outcomes identified in the current Alberta Programs of Study for Grades 1 to 9 in Science.

Each sample lesson plan includes content(s) or context(s) related to one or more of the following aspects of Education for Reconciliation:

• diverse perspectives and ways of knowing of First Nations, Métis, or Inuit, including values, traditions, kinship, language, and ways of being;

• understandings of the spirit and intent of treaties; or

• residential schools’ experiences and resiliency.

Source: Historica Canada Education Portal

Focus: Grades 7/8

Summary: This lesson plan is based on viewing the Footprint videos for Tom Longboat and Steve Collins. Collins and Longboat are just two of the many Aboriginal athletes — others include Adam Rita, Ted Nolan, Owen Nolan, Bryan Trottier, George Armstrong, Waneek Horn Miller, Alwyn Morris, and Darren Zack — who have achieved major success in the international sporting world, despite the significant obstacles they had to overcome.

Source: Frontier School Division

Focus: Early Years Kindergarten to Grade 4

Summary:  This page is the gateway to Kindergarten – Grade 4 Social Students/Native Studies (SS/NS) resources that can be integrated into the provincial Social Studies curricula. They may consist of material with an Aboriginal focus or relevant new information not available in existing texts. The inclusion of culturally-sensitive materials is based on the belief that affirmation of one’s culture and history can promote confidence and self-esteem, and lead ultimately to greater success in life. This is especially critical for Aboriginal students (defined here as Status and Non-Status Indians, Metis, and Inuit) within Frontier School Division.

Thus, one of the SS/NS Department’s main roles is the creation/acquisition of materials with an Aboriginal focus. Not only can such materials have a positive impact on Aboriginal students, they can also help non-Aboriginal students become aware of and sensitive to Aboriginal concerns.

Source: Simon Fraser University (SFU)

Focus: Junior students

Summary: Small Number is a young boy who gets into a lot of mischief.  

It is summer time and Small Number visits his Grandpa who lives on their Nation’s traditional territory in a small village near the river.

For Small Number his Grandpa is the wisest man who has ever lived. Grandpa knows so many interesting stories and somehow they are often related to the mischief that Small Number has done or is planning to do.  

This afternoon, Grandpa is meeting with a group of elders and a visitor from a university. Every week they get together so that the visitor can record the stories that the elders tell in their mother tongue. Even though Small Number only understands a few words, he enjoys listening to his Grandpa when he speaks in the language of their people. “I’ll ask Grandpa to teach me all stories that he knows, so that one day I can tell them to my children and grandchildren,” thinks Small Number.

Teacher’s Guide: Junior Art Activities

Source: Indigenous Arts and Stories

Focus: Junior students

Summary: The Power of Four

The number four is sacred for many Indigenous people. It connects humans with the natural world. For example, we have four seasons of the year and four cardinal directions. There are four stages of life: childhood, youth, adulthood and old age. The Medicine Wheel has four quadrants. Create an original piece of art that shows why the power of four is important in Indigenous cultures.

Source: Frontier School Division

Focus: Grades 5-8

Summary: This page is the gateway to Grade 5 – 8 social studies (SS) and Native studies (NS) resources that can be integrated into the provincial Social Studies curricula. They may consist of material with an Aboriginal focus or relevant new information not available in existing texts. The inclusion of culturally-sensitive materials is based on the belief that affirmation of one’s culture and history can promote confidence and self-esteem, and lead ultimately to greater success in life. This is especially critical for Aboriginal students (defined here as Status and Non-Status Indians, Métis, and Inuit) within Frontier School Division.

Thus, one of the SS/NS Department’s main roles is the creation/acquisition of materials with an Aboriginal focus. Not only can such materials have a positive impact on Aboriginal students, they can also help non-Aboriginal students become aware of and sensitive to Aboriginal concerns.

Summary: Orange Shirt Day began in Williams Lake in 2013 and has since spread to schools across B.C. and Canada. (Orangeshirtday.org)

Orange Shirt Day (September 30th) is a day when we honour the Indigenous children who were sent away to residential schools in Canada and learn more about the history of those schools.