Our District Indigenous Support Teacher, Ditta Cross, visited our classroom last week to teach us about names and cultural identity. She brought in her special drum that was a gift from her mother. It was her mother who made it and sister who painted it. We started our time together passing around an eagle feather to hold as we shared our names and any information we had about our names.
Then Ms. Cross taught everyone a song and dance to represent people’s family and what they stood for. Students were divided into four groups to dance: ravens, whales, wolves, and eagles. Their dance mimicked the animal’s movements.
Next, she shared a story called Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie about a boy who would like to change his name. In the end, they found the perfect name. Thank you, Ms. Cross, for visiting our classroom and for teaching us more about Indigenous people and the importance of our name! Dear Students, what did you enjoy most about her visit?
The following day during Big Buddies time, we listened to the story called The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi about a new girl from Korea who looks to find a new name because she did not want to use her Korean name in her new country. Her new classmates write name suggestions to put in the name jar. At the end of the story, she finds the perfect name. Students were able to make a clear text-to-text connection to the story they heard just the day before.
Afterwards, we researched the meaning of our names and started working on our name crest. Students were so interested to find out more about their names. It would be so great if you could have a conversation with your child about how their name was chosen and why. This will give them greater insight into the history of their own name which may help them in deciding what they might add to their artistic creations. Thank you.
Dear students, what do you think or how do you feel about your name? What do you like or not like about it? If you could change your name, would you? What would you change your name to?
Dear Parents, please feel free to help your child respond to these questions as a comment on our blog. Thank you for your support!
Sincerely, Ms. Chan & Ms. Cowan