In this Issue
Borders
Survey Results
Resource Round-Up: Environment
Canada Reads 2022
Read the North
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As I bake a chocolate sheet cake for my middle schooler's Teacher Appreciation Week Potluck, I am painfully aware that a staff meeting potluck and a handwritten card don't even begin to scratch the surface in saying Thank You. Thank You for making it through these past two years in - can we use this phrase again? - unprecedented times. Making it up, making it better, making do. Working with kids who are under immense mental, emotional and fiscal stress while we adults try to navigate the same stresses. Along with this newsletter, I send a slice of virtual chocolate sheet cake to all teachers with a profound appreciation for all that you do and all that you bring to your communities and students.
Thank you for holding it all together.
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What is a border? Who is allowed in? Who is kept out? What is a citizen? What does Indigenous sovereignty mean in the face of a border guard? Canadian writer Thomas King, author of books like An Inconvenient Indian and The Truth About Stories, and his short story Borders has been adapted into a graphic novel by Natasha Donovan, perfect for the classroom.
We are planning curriculum and summer events learning from Borders the book, as well as the 49th Parallel Border that divides Canada and the United States. If you are interested in more information about these events, including registration when it releases, please let us know here.
Photo Credit: CBC and Harper Collins
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Professional Development Survey
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Thank you so much for all who took the time to fill out our survey. It was incredibly helpful to read your thoughts.
- You would like more takeaway lesson plans, resources, fact sheets, and things you can access quickly and put in your classroom just as quickly. We are busy building a one-stop-shop online resource center for you that we hope will be useful and efficient.
- You want more curriculum and events around Indigenous Curriculum, Canadian American History, and the Arctic, with a healthy side helping of French Resources.
- Virtual events are still good, especially in terms of convenience and cost, but when it’s possible, many teachers are looking forward to traveling back to Canada with us. We are too, so watch this space...
Jennifer Mietenkorte from Ferndale was the winner of the gift card drawing but the survey is still open if you didn’t get a chance to give your thoughts yet. We always love to hear from you.
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Resource Round-Up:
Environment and Watersheds
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Because Earth Day should be Every Day!
Communities to Classrooms
Looking for place-based education pointers and training? Check out C2C in B.C. They connect educators across BC and the PNW with resources, professional development, and agencies building place-based curricula and taking your classroom outside.
Teach the Columbia
The Columbia River has been a vital waterway since time immemorial and in the creation of what we know as America. Wildsight.ca has curriculum and units about the Columbia River for high school Geography, Earth Science, Social Science, and Science teachers - including maps of the river system based on a subway system.
Walking Forward: Indigenous Perspectives in Learning from Place
In this free, virtual workshop Gillian Judson (imaginED) and Heidi Wood (NOIIE) introduce a new resource for imaginative, Place-centered and Indigenous Education. Walking Forward: Learning from Place interweaves First People’s Principles of Learning (FPPL), Imaginative Ecological Education (IEE), and teacher inquiry. May 12 @ 4 pm PDT and you can register here.
Beyond Recycling Lesson Ideas
Lessons address environmental issues and aim to remove barriers to motivate appropriate choices and behaviors for sustainable living. Includes EcoChallenge and Teacher Taught Lessons to help students develop an understanding and appreciation of the natural world and to help motivate them to make ecologically informed decisions and take action.
Salish Sea Atlas
The Salish Sea Atlas is an open-access digital book containing maps, illustrations, interpretive text, and downloadable datasets addressing cultural and environmental themes across the Salish Sea Bioregion. It has been designed as a living atlas, with new content and updated datasets added as they become available - and it's available to students and teachers too.
Environmental Podcast
Join long-time educators Ian Shanahan from Green Teacher and Jade Harvey-Berrill from The Outdoor Learning Store and Stoked on Science facilitating wide-ranging chats with environmental educators about best practices, changing trends, and new insights about the outdoor and environmental learning field.
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It was a fierce battle, but at the end of Canada Reads 2022, Michelle Good’s Five Little Indians was crowned the winner and the one book all Canadians should read to connect them. The book was championed by Christian Allaire, an Indigenous fashion writer, and follows the interconnected lives of five survivors of Residential Schools in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. To watch all the debates and read about the winner, check out Canada Reads 2022. Is there a Canadian book you think all WWU students should read? Let us know!
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Some notable new environmental themed releases from Canadian publishers and author/illustrators.
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Chasing Bats and Tracking Rats:
Urban Ecology, Community Science and How We Share Our Cities
By Cylita Guy and illustrated by Cornelia Li
Annick Press for ages 9-12
Science in the city - where 55% of the Earth's population lives. Chock full of data, experiments and challenges from working urban scientists to help students examine the world around them. Special kudos for narrative non-fiction with STEM and social justice themes.
The Dancing Trees
By Masiana Kelly and illustrated by Michelle Simpson
Inhabit Media for ages 5-9
A boy tries to prove he can make it overnight in the Northwest Territories woods alone - but it becomes much easier when he begins treating the land with respect and using lessons from his elders and Cultural Language Classes. From Inuk/Dene author and Nunavut based, Inuit Owned and independent publisher Inhabit Media.
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Jigging for Halibut with Tsinii
By Sara Florence Davidson and Robert Davidson, Illustrated by Janine Gibbons
Highwater Press for ages 6-8
I'm going to let a favorite author Julie Flett describe this beautiful book: "Sara and Robert Davidson (renowned Haida artist) share a beautiful and tenderly written story that takes readers out for a day on the ocean with Robert and Tsinii (his Grandpa). We are introduced to gaffs and jigging, the movements of the tides and skies, and the importance of traditional harvesting. Janine Gibbon's artwork poetically captures the coastal atmosphere, and the love and care between grandson and grandfather. Absolutely stunning". Agreed!
The Wolf Mother
By Hetxw'ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Hudson) and illustrated by Natasha Donovan
Highwater Press for ages 9-12
Follow along as award-winning author Hetxw'ms Gyetxw introduces young readers to a pack of grey wolves. Learn about the life cycle of the canines, the traditions of the Gitxsan, and how grey wolves contribute to the health of their entire ecosystem. Illustrated by Natasha Donovan of Borders!
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K-12 Study Canada is part of the Title VI federally-funded National Resource Center with the Center for Canadian-American Studies at Western Washington University and aims to enhance and strengthen a better understanding of the Canada and the Canada-U.S. relationship through teaching and education.
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