We talked about what First Nations means and then we played a sorting game. We picked pictures from a box and had to decide if the thing in the picture was First Nations or if it was something that the immigrants would have used.
Here are some of the things we learned today:
Sophie-I learned that First Nations did not use metal.
Justin-I learned that the First Nations used wood to tell their stories.
Jordan-I just found out that a lot of First Nations things are decorated with animals.
Silkence-I learned that the First Nations used a lot of cedar trees.
Ana-The First Nations were very different than the Europeans.
Karin-I learned that there are different names for the First Nations people.
Sahara-The First Nations people had big villages.
Fay-I learned that the First Nations carved masks out of cedar wood.
Niall-I learned that the First Nations people did not have rifles.
Kennedy-I learned that First Nations people didn’t have violins, but they did have drums.
Claudia asked us to find out where we were born and where our parents and grandparents were born. She also asked if any of us are First Nations.
Dear Mrs. Watson and class,
It looks like you learned a lot of interesting facts about First Nations people. The students in 4WS did a project in our classroom about First Nations cultural too (Maliseet and Mi’kmaq). We learned about the history drum making. We even got to make four of our very own drums! We are learning how to play two Maliseet songs, so that we can perform them at a school assembly in March. We learned so much and had a blast doing it. Check out our blog post on our drums…we blogged about the entire thing. Have a wonderful time learning!
♥ Mrs. Webb-Scheers
Dear Mrs. Webb-Scheers and 4WS,
We think it is cool that you studied First Nations people too! We think your drum making must have been a lot of fun! We would like to make our own drums too.
We were wondering if you might be able to Skype us and play your drums?
Hope to hear from you soon,
Mrs. W and the 2/3’s
Dear Mrs. Watson,
My family is from Hong Kong. But me and May were born in Vancouver.
Best wishes,
Fay
My mom is from West Virginia and my dad is from Englewood New Jersey.
http://suni24.edublogs.org/
Mrs. Watson and Class-
What is a First Nation? My Dad’s family immigrated from Scotland, from the McRay clan. I’m not sure about my mom, but I do know that we are distantly related to the Cezar family, you know, Cezar Agustus? I am a sixth grader in Vermont and I am very interested about family history and stuff like that. My mom can track her family back to the 1000s!
Thanks, Rebekah
Here’s a link to my blog…
http://rebekah6.edublogs.org/
Dear Mrs W and 2/3
Sixteen children in B4 were born in New Zealand. One was born in New Guinea and one was born in the Philippines.
One of us has a mum that was born in Australia. Some nanas and grandads come from Australia.
Mrs McKenzie’s ancestors came from England, Scotland and Italy. Our family story goes that a long, long way back, one of my ancestors was a French pirate!
I don’t know if that is a good thing, do you?
Finding out about families is fun.
from B4
Arrrrr Matey (Mrs. McKenzie)!
Have ye ever been to sea? Enough of the pirate talk…we’re having too much fun with that! We think it is pretty amazing that you might have a real pirate in your family!
Finding out about families is definitely cool!
Your Mates,
Captain Watson and the Scally Wags 😉
Dear Mrs. Watson’s 2/3 Class,
That is very cool that you are starting to learn about the First Nations. We just finished learning about the First Nation people that live in our area. In the U.S.A. we usually call them Native Americans, although sometimes people still call them American Indians. I think the term First Nations makes the most sense. The tribes in our area are called the Pequot, Niantic, and Narragansett.
Since we both live near the ocean, I wonder what things the local Native peoples might have in common.
I was born in St. Louis, Missouri. My mom’s family is from the Netherlands, and my dad’s family is from Austria or Germany.
From,
Mr. Salsich
Dear Mr. Salsich,
We think it would be really interesting to compare the First Nations people from our two areas. Maybe once we have learned more we could skype about it. Do you think that might be something your students would enjoy?
Learning about our families is sure a lot of fun! Thanks for telling us about your family.
Your friends,
Mrs. W and the 2/3’s
Dear Mrs. Watson’s 2/3 Class,
I love the term First Nations. I learned so much from your comments. Many of your First Nation groups are similar to our Native American Indian groups. Native Americans often lived in tribes. Their shelter was a teepee if they traveled, or a longhouse if they did not.
My family is from Ireland. My grandparents on both sides were immigrants to America. I am second generation American.
I have an interesting family story. My great grandmother was homesick and returned to Ireland with my grandfather and uncle. They were still young, only 6 and 8 years old. They stayed for a few months to visit and they had return tickets to America on the Titanic! But my great grandmother arrived with my grandfather and his brother late, so they could not board the ship. Of course, the Titanic sank and there were not many survivors. My family likely would not have survived, since they had tickets in steerage.
My family is grateful for my great grandmother’s tardiness on this one day.
Happy blogging,
Mrs. Kistler
Dear Mrs. Kistler,
Thank you so much for leaving us a comment. It is interesting that our First Nations people and your Native American Indian groups had the same sort of homes.
We were amazed by your family story! It sure is a good thing that your great grandmother was late that day. We think that would have been so scary. Mrs. Watson and two of the other adults got chills hearing your story.
Your friends,
Mrs. W and the 2/3’s
Mrs. Watson and students,
What a great project. It’s always fun to learn about First Nation groups. In Massachusetts, we have the Wampanoags. There are still many Wampanoags today but they are best known as the Natives who were in America when the Pilgrims came over from England. We even have a very neat place called Plimoth Plantation that recreates how the Pilgrims and Wampanoags lived in the 1600s!
I have family from all over the place! I’ve had family come from England, Poland, Germany, and Ireland. It’s neat to have a background from so many different countries because you get to learn about all the great history that has happened in each.
Keep up the great work!
You blogging buddy,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery,
Thanks for leaving us another great comment! We like the name “Wampanoags”. We thought it sounded very different. One of our tribes is called Gwa’Sala-Nakwaxda’xw. It is pretty tricky to say! We would love to visit the Plimoth Plantation. Has your class ever gone there?
Thanks for sharing with us about your family!
Mrs. W and the 2/3’s
Dear Mrs Watson and Grade 2/3
I was interested in reading Mrs Kistler’s comment about her family missing their sailing on the Titanic, as my grandmother’s sister was on the Titanic and survived!
Later, she wrote about her voyage and more recently, her niece made a claim that my great-aunt’s on-board romance was used as a basis for the Titanic movie.
Here is a link:Roberta Maioni
I realise our conversation has moved away from First Nations, but I thought the children might be interested.
from Mrs McKenzie
Dear Mrs. Watson,
We would love to Skype with you and compare the First Nations people of our areas! That will be a lot of fun. We can share the things that are similar and also different. And we can try to pronounce the names of the different tribes – one of yours looks very difficult!
From,
Mr. Salsich
Dear Mr. Salsich,
Sounds like a fantastic idea. We are going to be learning about shelter, clothing, food, and transportation over the next few weeks for starters. We will look forward to having the chance to Skype with you!
Mrs. W
Dear Mrs. Watson and Class,
I wish we used the name First Nation here in the US. It makes so much sense. It’s also great that you are learning about your local people and history. We have many active Native American tribes in our area. The Quiluete tribe became very famous with the Twilight movies!
I live near Seattle, WA but I was born and raised in Massachusetts. My grandparents immigrated here from Finland and arrived in this country through Ellis Island in New York City. Then they moved to Massachusetts and lived near many other Finnish-American families.
From,
Mrs. Hembree