This resource focuses on Orange Shirt Day for students in Kindergarten to grade 6. These lessons are fantastic because they start with a stories that can be read to students to start the lesson. Since I teach Kindergarten, I wanted to focus on those lessons. For the Kindergarten, there are five lessons. In the first lesson, two stories are read, The Sharing Circle by Theresa “Corky” Larsen-Jonasson and You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith. During this lesson, students are introduced to a sharing circle and protocols around it. In the second lesson, the story Good Night Families by Adam Gamble is read to students. Students are then asked to reflect on what matters to them most while sharing their thoughts in a sharing circle. In the third lesson, the story All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon is read. This author is not Indigenous but she is not telling an Indigenous story but rather focusing on the importance of things in your life. Students then draw pictures and discuss all the things that are important to them in their life while participating in a sharing circle. In the fourth lesson, the story My Heart Fills with Happiness by Monique Gray Smith is read. Students then share three different things that fill their hearts with happiness while in the sharing circle. Finally, in lesson five, the story That’s Me Loving You by Amy Krouse Rosenthal is read students learn what matters to them and they use a talking stick in the sharing circle.
I would definitely use these lessons in my classroom and also use some of the content from the higher grades depending on the students’ understanding of the topics at hand. I would like to make sure that all books are from Indigenous authors, especially since these lessons focused around Orange Shirt Day.
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