Happy June!
AHSABC would like to send congratulations, best wishes and warm hugs to this years’ AHS graduates and their families. We are excited for your upcoming journey into kindergarten. A big thank you to the many AHS educators across the province who have invested time in preparing the children and families for this next step, as well as planning celebrations in their honour!
June is known as the “Hatching Moon as this is when many new feathered friends are born” It is also known as the Strawberry Moon to many nations as this is when the strawberries that have been growing ripen and are ready to pick. Haida people refer to it as the Berries Ripen Moon.
Strawberry Moon Resources:
https://wabano.com/product/strawberry-teachings/
https://goodminds.com/products/heart-berry-bling-hc
https://www.strongnations.com/store/11714/cedar-school-decodables-wild-strawberries
https://nccpeterborough.ca/strawberrypin/
- In the north, it is the best month to set nets to fish for lake trout and to harvest fireweed!
- June is still a great time to harvest cedar.
- Labrador/ Musk-keg tea is ready in wet boggy areas.
- In the East – the Three Sisters are being planted to be ready in time to be harvested in the fall and it is a great time for fishing walleye.
- Wild asparagus, nodding onion, and wild blueberries are ready to be picked.
- The harvesting of sweetgrass begins in late June and is ready till early July. This is a great time to pay respects to one of our sacred medicines and have Elders and Knowledge Keepers share sweetgrass teachings with children and families. The sweetgrass braid represents the entwining of the body mind and spirit.
- In the plains, June was the month for buffalo camp for one of the big hunts of the year.
- Families preparing to go out on the land for their annual July hunting, berry or fish camp.
June is a month of celebrations for Indigenous Peoples.
“National Indigenous Peoples Day” coincides with the Summer Solstice, a day of spiritual significance for many Nations– a powerful day to celebrate Indigenous peoples and cultures! Administrative Lead for Munu Learning Centre AHS, Brenna Beattie (Métis) shares her thoughts and ideas for celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day. “We come together, all nations and celebrate our cultures on the longest day of the year, Summer Solstice,” Brenna says, “It is a day of pride which unfortunately other days dedicated to Indigenous People stem from mistreatment of our people. June 21 is a day for us to celebrate what makes us Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) proudly and show off our gifts and traditions.”
“Working at Aboriginal Head Start has shown me how to be proud of my heritage and love who I am. It has been such a gift to be in part of something that is dedicated to creating a space for children to be around their culture, have access to cultural items and be taught protocols/ traditional teachings. It’s a blessing to see children ask to be smudged or grab a drum and know how to honor the drum and animals, plants and people,” says Brenna.
During the weeks leading up to National Indigenous Day it is a great time to bring joy by sharing the cultures/nations of the classroom. Bring in families to share their traditions and any gifts– dancing, singing, drumming, art, land-based learning. Have dance parties while listening to fiddle music or drumming, watch videos of dancers in their regalia. Invite your Elders and Knowledge Keepers to share why they think Indigenous people’s day is important. Attend your local Indigenous day gathering as a group, or if you are part of one invite the families to come say hi. Learn about the significance of the summer solstice and how some communities celebrate it.
“Most of all enjoy your time, laugh, and celebrate our people! “ says Brenna.
Pow Wows, Métis jamborees, tribal trails, summer Indigenous games, national assemblies and other outdoor gatherings will start this month and continue until early September. Take the children out to in communities for these events, and to invite parents and Elders to join you!
Activity and Resource Ideas for June:
June is a busy month program teams to plan for. It is full of celebrations! When planning with your programming team consider the following. How will you tie nature and the outdoors into your celebrations? What Indigenous activities will be included? How will Elders and Knowledge Keepers be incorporated? What Indigenous foods will children and families have an opportunity to try?
Craft / Sensory ideas:
- Have the children make gifts/ cards for dads, uncles, grandfathers, and older brothers. Children can paint cups or mugs, shirts, BBQ aprons, or decorate a picture frame to look like a button blanket (having fishing-themed frames is also a good choice!)
- Have a water table full of (play) fish, red beads, or water beads (to look like fish eggs), and dip nets. Encourage the children to use the dip nets to fish and gather eggs in the nets.
- If you would like to include Button Blankets in your month you can find inspiration.
Art Centre:
Display Indigenous art from your community!
Include materials that would allow the children to replicate or be inspired by these art forms. Ideas could include button blankets, bead work, baskets, patterns specific to your nations, totem poles, canoes, quill work, masks, animal hair tuftings, carvings, woven art forms with local dyes.
Health Promotion:
- Invite community members, knowledge teachers, or Elders come into the center to teach the children how to make diverse types of Indigenous celebration foods.
- Post recipes to your website and send home food with families.
- Compile a recipe book of Indigenous foods from family recipes to send home in honour of National Indigenous Day!
- Have children be involved in making pemmican, dried meat, or fish to gift in honour of Father’s Day. Add Pemmican Cakes into your June Calendar.
Innovative Ideas:
Chef Carol at Sas Natsadle created an easy to make, refreshing treat for a hot summer day! – Spread yogurt out on a sheet pan and add fresh berries and granola! Freeze and enjoy!
AHS educators promote healthy living practices such as experiencing gross motor activities daily in the outdoor environment! For more ideas please see this months health links for educators on active play inspired by Inuit, Anishinaabe and Cree games! This article shares ideas on reducing screen time, and check this one out for creative activities this summer!
Science:
Summer Solstice and scientific reasons for seasonal changes. Show pictures of the Strawberry moon which is the first full moon of the summer and last full moon of the spring.
Building Block / Construction Area:
Post pictures (at child level) of a traditional bison camp, canoes in rivers, long houses, inukshuks, Inuit cutting seal or caribou out on the land with ulus.
- Example: Each AHSABC program was gifted Red River carts that can be used in the block area. Add bison, logs, pieces of canvas, popsicle sticks, pieces of cardboard so children can build their own red river cart, travois, canoes, long houses, smoke house etc.
Dramatic Play Area:
- Share regalia and other clothes for children to wear at the center.
- Traditional clothes can include ribbon skirts, shirts, regalia, button blankets, mukluks, moccasins, traditional animal stuffies, cedar hats or ribbon hats.
- Learn how to make a ribbon skirt.
Reading Area:
Use puppets to introduce words in traditional language such as brother, sister, cousin, granny and grandpa!
Post photos of traditional dancers, community events with traditional activities, picture of children drumming or dancing in this area. Display books featuring these activities so the children can make a connection between the book and the activity.
Lofty Ideas:
For hotter days bring outdoor play ideas into your loft area.
Innovative Ideas:
Conayt created a Secret Garden in their Infant Toddler Room to promote teachings on the four sacred medicines. Sweetgrass, Cedar, Tobacco, Sage to smudge.
Indoor and Outdoor Physical Activities, Music and Movement!
June 5th is Inuvialuit Day
- Set up a few age-appropriate Inuit games . They have many games that involve skipping, kicking and hopping.
- Create an Inukshuk outside and teach about the meaning it brings in Inuit culture. Western Arctic Inuit celebrations include bannock-making races, drum dancing, and games: harpoon throw, high kick, and more. Maria Ukaliq Storr, B.Ed. is the regional manager for NWT Inuvialuit AHS programs. Maria explains the importance of passing on Inuvialuit culture and language.
Each community has their own way of life– and way of learning, she says. “Singing and dancing are our oral stories of tradition and culture, reflective of stories of our hunting and gathering, living a way of life off our land.”
Daily practices through traditional games and activities help sharpen and teach various life skills for survival and giving a sense of belonging and celebrating their unique culture, she explains.
- Create a sundial and talk about the cultural significance.
- Have the children measure their shadow with measuring sticks.
- Go on walks, picnics, swimming, water play, games, gardening, jigging, and dancing outside and point out the changes that Summer has made.
Circle Time Area:
Pass around different cultural items and have a discussion with the children. Encourage them to feel, smell, look at all the characteristics and guess if it would make any sounds!
Have a big Pow Wow drum, hand drum or Qilaut, available to teach the children to drum, use at circle time to teach songs, participate as a group, and have during play time so children can be encouraged to get to know the drum on their own comfort levels. Incorporate gross motor activities that include traditional dancing methods. (Dancing with blankets, jigging, pow wow, drum and tea dancing)
Innovative Ideas: Power of Friendship AHS Prince George BC
At Power of Friendship in Prince George staff role model how to respect a drum and have discussions with the children on the importance.
Graduation Ideas: (June till August) Sing songs in Indigenous languages, drum for children as they walk to be honored, invite Elders and community members/ parents to be a part of this special day. Incorporate all children at the center, if possible, not just those graduation this is a great opportunity for peer role modeling. Gift and present items to the children that represent your local teachings and territory this could be a carved item, traditionally painted item, tufted or woven item, beaded item, item from Nature. Books that are from your territory or nation are great to hand to grads and the three-year-olds who will be returning the next year as well as rattles are a great gift for the three-year-olds to reflect and acknowledge the growth they have had and the stage they will be moving on to. Serve special community celebration foods and have children help make Indigenous décor!
Coastal: Invite parents to learn how to weave cedar roses at a workshop before graduation– to present the cedar rose to their child at graduation. Decorate with cedar boughs, invite Elders or community members blanket the children, have a display or announce each child’s clan if applicable. You may also have children wear cedar headbands if this is part of your communities’ teachings. Drums parents have made in workshops can be painted by a community artisan to include children’s clans.
Interior/ Northern: Children can be presented or wear moccasins, ribbon shirts, ribbon skirts, hide vests or stoles, shawls, beaded pins that reflect their nation or your center ie. stars, flowers, infinity signs. They can also receive drums with a special image such as the center’s logo.
Every community is unique and special graduations/end the year celebrations are a perfect time to show off your nation’s individuality!
Elder involvement:
Invite Elders in to teach/reinforce drum protocols and give teachings to the children on the sacredness of the drum.
Elders/ Knowledge keepers can teach children to drum songs and lead them in a performance for Indigenous Day, Graduation or Father’s Day events.
Invite Elders to Graduation events as honoured guests, have thank you gifts to be presented and words to honour their contributions to your AHS program for the year!
Parent Involvement Ideas:
- Parent Board: Display a Map of Canada and have each family mark which community they are from. (Different colored star per family)
- Have a write-up and picture of each family to celebrate the uniqueness of all the families who attend the program and to celebrate the communities they come from.
- Have a display of pictures to pay respects to the important male role models in the children’s lives and add other male role models from the community!
- Host an event in honour of the children’s dads, uncles, elders, older brothers and grandpas.
- This could be a fish fry at a local park, lake or river.
- A fun event such as floor hockey, swim time at a pool or local lake, mini carnival, movie and popcorn night, Bannock pizza making contest, etc.
- Celebration meal such as pancake breakfast, stew and bannock lunch, muffin and coffee breakfast to go, BBQ Bison Burgers or deer sausage in the outdoor play space.
A special song at graduation dedicated to male role models to accommodate June’s busy schedule and tie both special events together.
Outreach / Activity Kits:
Create a kit to be sent home in honour of summer solstice / Father’s Day / Indigenous day! Things to include in the kit could be:
- Cultural family craft
- Indigenous children’s book
- Popcorn and movie night treats
- Recipe and ingredients for a Indigenous foods inspired recipe
- Sunday brunch recipe and supplies
- BBQ kit for families to host their own camp out (marshmallows, flashlight, glow sticks, nature guide or activities suggestions to do in nature, camping foods and snacks)
- Backyard BBQ Meal supplies (smokies, bison burgers, buns, BBQ tools, BBQ sauce etc.)
- Outside Activity items such as card games, horseshoes, basketball, or football that are great to use anywhere!
Recipe and ingredients to make pemmican, salmon hash or strawberry shortcake, or wild blueberry sauce.
Innovative Ideas: Skeh Baiyoh
Adding program photos to the We Know Statements, and printing to make a Parent Board to make families feel welcome– and to be informed about AHS Belief statements. To make your own We Know Posters please use this link!