Getting to Know My Community

Posted on October 28, 2013 Updated on December 6, 2013

The theme for the Kindergarten Treaty Outcomes and Indicators is “Getting to Know My Community.”  Within this theme there are four outcomes: Treaty Relationships, Spirit and Intent of Treaties, Historical Context and Treaty Promises and Provisions.

The outcome this lesson will focus on is Treaty Relationships: Examine the diversity of First Nations people living in Saskatchewan starting with the classrooms and communities in which they live.  The indicator it will focus on is: compare similarities across and among First Nations and other cultures.

The type of social media required for this lesson is YouTube.  The first video is of a young boy from the Alexis reserve about 70 KM from Edmonton.  Show students the video and ask them what they noticed about the video.  Record some of their thoughts down on a Microsoft Word document/Google+document, or other format for saving information.  Sign up for a YouTube account and leave a comment for this little guy so he can know what your Kindergarten class thought of his singing and drumming!

The second video to show students is of two Inuit throat singers from Arviat, Nunavut in Canada.  A rich part of Inuit traditions is throat singing.  Like the video above, ask students what they thought of the video.  Take some time to research throat singing so you can share this information with your students.  Please comment from your YouTube account what your students thought of the video!

Now that your students have had the opportunity to watch both videos discuss the similarities/differences amongst the two groups of Aboriginal peoples.  This lesson can be a start to a unit of study on both groups of people: First Nations and Inuit.