LESSON PLAN

Blackfoot Value: Being independent

Grade: 1   Lesson Title: Intro to Value of ‘being independent’ Duration: 45 mins

Overview of lesson

Learning Objectives Teaching Strategies

“I can”…
 Listening to and viewing a story
Language Arts  Listening to a new word in a different language
 Class discussion
1.1.1 share personal experiences that are clearly related to oral, print and other  Listening and responding to peers
media texts  Speaking to peers
1.1.2 talk with others about something recently learned  Brainstorming
1.1.3 make observations about activities, experiences with oral, print and other  Visually representing thoughts and ideas
media texts  Sharing thoughts, ideas and work with the class
2.2.1 participate in shared listening, reading and viewing experiences, using
oral, print and other media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres,
such as poems, storytelling by elders, pattern books, audiotapes, stories and
cartoons
4.3.4 ask questions to clarify information
4.3.5 be attentive and show interest during listening or viewing activities
5.1.2 talk about other times, places and people after exploring oral, print and
other media texts from various communities 

Social 1
1.2.1 appreciate how stories and events of the past connect their families and
communities to the present 
1.S.8 demonstrate skills of oral, written and visual literacy

Social 2
2.1.1 appreciate the physical and human geography of the communities studied
2.2.1appreciate how stories of the past connect individuals and communities to
the present 
2.S.8 demonstrate skills of oral, written and visual literacy

Learning Resources / Material & Equipment

 Book: The Gathering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v67Ha8W4q4c
 Smartboard/Whiteboard
 Blackfoot values chart on SmartBoard
 Visual journals
 Pencil Crayons
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvOFnvv4riE
o Blackfoot Powwow song (play if time to show students the way a culture can be represented through music and song)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlfVPjeb1Xo
o Brain Break (If needed or if time)

Assessment (formative/summative)
 
Formative-
 Students will be formally assessed through their answers and responses to the story we read and questions I ask based on the story
 Students will be formally assessed on their writing and drawing process in their visual journals
o If they can accurately write and visually represent things in their visual journal about respect and be on task
o If they are forming their letters correctly from top to bottom

Lesson Procedures

Introduction (5-7 min.): 

 Begin by asking students if they remember the last two months when we began learning about the Blackfoot people and the Blackfoot value of
‘kindness and compassion’ and ‘respect’
 o Point to the Blackfoot values on the board
o Have a quick 2 minute review
 Ask students what they learned in our last lesson
 Ask students how they have been practicing being kind and respectful
o Ask students if they have been filling each other’s buckets at school and at home
 Today we are going to read a book called The Gathering
o This book is about a young girl, Alex, who goes to a special celebration and is very nervous that her parents are not joining her. She is Mi’kmaq,
not Blackfoot, but the ceremonies she is attending are similar to those that Blackfoot people would attend.
o When we are reading I want you to pay attention to how this girl reacts to trying something new when she is only with her cousin, not her
parents or close friends.

Body (25min.): main activities with differentiation

Activity: 

 Read the book

 After reading the book talk about the different cultural things Alex experienced
o The types of things Alex was experiencing are things that are very important to Indigenous people
o These things, like drumming or preparing hides, are things that take a lot of practice to learn to do!
 Ask the students why they think she was nervous and how she overcame being nervous
o She was taught how to do different things, like putting the special herbs in the fire by an elder. After she was taught once she tried it
independently. This is similar to how when we are at school our teachers teach us how to do things so we can try it and practice it on our own.
 Have a discussion about the book
o What they liked and noticed
 Our new Blackfoot value is Aksitoiyipaitapiiysiini, being independent
o Play the audio of the word being said
 Ask students what they think the word independent means
o Have a class discussion about what it means
o Remind students about the “Smartie Speller” writing sheet, where one of the ways to be a smartie speller is to sound out the words on your own
and not ask the teacher
 How is doing that being independent?
 After having a quick conversation about being independent, ask students if being independent is something that people can do without being taught?
o Have students put their thumbs up or down if they think that they all know how to read every book in the world by themselves
  Doing something independently is not something that we are born knowing how to do, it is something we have to learn!
 Talk to students about how when we made our classroom promise we wanted to have a classroom that encouraged and allowed us to make mistakes
o Mistakes are how we learn and how we improve on our skills
 We are learning about being independent right now because we have been in school for two months now and are used to our classroom routines and are
learning how to do things
 Have students share strategies of ways they can be independent
o Write these on the board as students share them
 For the next few weeks we are going to practice being independent
 Before we ask the teacher or our friends for help we are going to try on our own at least twice using different strategies
o Go over reading and writing strategies we can use
 Stretchy snake, chunky monkey, using the pictures etc.
 Remind students that the best way for them to learn is for them to try on their own first before asking for help
o We come to school to learn new things and practice them
o When we practice things on our own and try and struggle through it we can learn better!
 Talk about the different ways the people in the book showed independence
o Alex went out of her comfort zone and went to something new without her parents. She is learning to be independent
o The people doing the special ceremonies and activities had to practice those things a lot to become a pro at it!
 Have students take their visual journals out and glue Aksitoiyipaitapiiysiini: Being independent in
o Make a bubble chart drawing and writing different ways they can be independent

Closure/ Reflection (10 min.) 

 
 Have students stop working in their visual journals and put them away nicely in their desks
 Have a conversation with students about what they have learned today about being independent and how they will practice being independent