A guide for using our resources

Children will sequence the steps of making a totem pole.

Vocabulary: carve, totem pole, tradition

Social Studies Focus: Native American Heritage Month

Simple, spectacular ideas to boost your lessons.

• Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard. This beautiful book is not only about the traditional food, but also about history, memory, and community.
• First Laugh Welcome, Baby! by Rose Ann Tahe and Nancy Bo Flood. In Navajo families, the fi rst person to make a baby laugh gets to host the First Laugh Ceremony. Who will make the baby in this story laugh?
• You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith and Danielle Daniel. Simple text and gorgeous illustrations grace this book about empathy, respect, and love.
• Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox by Danielle Daniel. The Anishinaabe tradition of totem animals comes to life in this delightful and simple book.

• Hunt for and circle these sequence words in the issue: first, next, then, after that, and last. Explain that these words tell the order in which things happen.

• On chart paper, write this question: What is one thing you learned about making a totem pole?
• Ask the question and record children’s responses. When you come to a beginning letter or even a short word children might know, stop and invite the child to come up and write that letter or word on their own.

Skill: oral language, drawing

Materials: Our Family Tradition skill sheet, crayons

• Kids can learn more about their own family traditions with this take-home activity. Pass out the skill sheets. Tell kids they will work on it with any older person in their family or who lives with them.
• Parents can answer each question on the sheet as they talk about it with their child. Then children can draw a picture of their tradition.
• Have children bring the skill sheets back to class. Display them on a wall or bulletin board to celebrate all the different traditions in your classroom!