This past week, we focused some of our learning to understand more about residential schools, the importance of Orange Shirt Day and recognizing the importance of Truth and Reconciliation. We had the opportunity to participate virtually in an author's reading by Courtney Defriend of “If Instead of a Person”. The book focuses on if you were a tree instead of a person, how would you live differently? The book makes the connection to how the land is important and Courtney further explained in her talk how the land is considered to be of great importance to Indigenous cultures. She explained how the roots of a tree are like our roots that connect us to our families and stories and how when children were taken away to residential schools, their roots and connections to their families were taken from them as well. She also explained further how trees only take what they need, like water, and that we need to practise this in our daily lives too. She leaves us with the message that we are people and not trees, and that we are the ones to create change. We then created a response to the story and drew a picture of what we would look like if we were a tree. We thought about what size we would be, colour and made connections to what we would try to be like or do if we were a tree. Through other reading of books, videos and discussions, students built their understanding further into the importance of Orange Shirt Day, how children should feel when they come to school and that every child matters.
Learning Outcomes:
I can contribute to discussions as a listener and speaker
I can listen to and respond to a variety of texts that are read aloud
I can connect to a story
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