Repost: Children Can Emulate Native Americans Without Adults Screaming "RACISM." Here's Why...

This post was originally published last year and is worth sharing again as the debate regarding costumes and cultural appropriation make their annual appearance prior to many schools' Thanksgiving plays and feasts.

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After reading through a debate regarding a parent's complaint about pre-k students making construction paper feather headbands in November, I came across this post at Education World, "Are You Teaching the 'Real' Story of the 'First Thanksgiving?'"  The article and debate made me realize how lucky I am to have been brought up the way I was as the child of  both native and non-native parents.

Born in Kentucky and raised for the first ten years of my life in Texas, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be immersed in Inupiat culture, and live for over two decades in a state where Native peoples' values, history, songs, beliefs, mythology, subsistence lifestyle, and art aren't merely on display for one month out of the year: Alaska.  I learned about the good, the bad, the historical cruelties suffered by, and remarkable achievements of Indigenous Peoples. I have been a witness to the prejudices that remain and feel pride in the accomplishments and contributions of my Native family and friends today. Endurance, strength, resilience, community, love for family, pride, skill and artistry are all traits worthy of being shared, respected, and celebrated, no matter a person's ethnic or cultural background. 

To develop empathy, children must be encouraged to walk a mile in another's shoes, to imagine how they might feel when meeting strangers for the first time, when deciding who and HOW to trust. Young children try on the clothing and garb of others every day, from their mom's high heels to their dad's Army cap, to sister's riding boots and brother's varsity jacket, developing their personal identity by trying on the markers of others.  They also emulate family members, friends, sports heroes, celebrated musicians, actors, historical figures, community helpers and those blessed with a special talent or gift.

Can children create feathered headbands without the kitsch or racist connotations that instantly pop into their parents' minds upon viewing? Absolutely, but it's up to the teacher to share culturally relevant and accurate information about the earning of feathers (or wearing of a blanket, mask, or story belt) with students AND families.  It's also a family's responsibility to try to understand the intentions behind a lesson or activity before rushing to judgment and labeling a teacher as racist or insensitive.  Do I find it offensive if children emulate respected chiefs, warriors, healers, or shamans, just as they do ballerinas, astronauts, painters, singers, veterinarians, or teachers?  No.  Just as teachers, family and society expose children to other professions and roles worthy of respect through literature, history lessons, field trips, guest speakers, arts and crafts, so too can we teach children about Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples.  Native AND non-Native teachers need quality non-fiction materials and resources, or know how and where to find them. It's also up to teachers and parents to be aware of what's not only culturally sensitive, but developmentally appropriate for young children. 

Three, four, five and six year olds do not need to be exposed to and master the vocabulary of genocide because of the gut reaction of the adults around them. Rather, children should be gently guided as they broaden the scope of their universe from their immediate selves and family to their neighborhood, community, state, nation, and world.

Children Can Emulate Native Americans Without Adults Screaming "RACISM." Here's Why:

After reading through a debate regarding a parent's complaint about pre-k students making construction paper feather headbands in November, I came across this post at Education World, "Are You Teaching the 'Real' Story of the 'First Thanksgiving?'"  The article and debate made me realize how lucky I am to have been brought up the way I was as the child of  both native and non-native parents.

Born in Kentucky and raised for the first ten years of my life in Texas, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be immersed in Inupiat culture, and live for over two decades in a state where Native peoples' values, history, songs, beliefs, mythology, subsistence lifestyle, and art aren't merely on display for one month out of the year: Alaska.  I learned about the good, the bad, the historical cruelties suffered by, and remarkable achievements of Indigenous Peoples. I have been a witness to the prejudices that remain and feel pride in the accomplishments and contributions of my Native family and friends today. Endurance, strength, resilience, community, love for family, pride, skill and artistry are all traits worthy of being shared, respected, and celebrated, no matter a person's ethnic or cultural background. 

To develop empathy, children must be encouraged to walk a mile in another's shoes, to imagine how they might feel when meeting strangers for the first time, when deciding who and HOW to trust. Young children try on the clothing and garb of others every day, from their mom's high heels to their dad's Army cap, to sister's riding boots and brother's varsity jacket, developing their personal identity by trying on the markers of others.  They also emulate family members, friends, sports heroes, celebrated musicians, actors, historical figures, community helpers and those blessed with a special talent or gift.

Can children create feathered headbands without the kitsch or racist connotations that instantly pop into their parents' minds upon viewing? Absolutely, but it's up to the teacher to share culturally relevant and accurate information about the earning of feathers (or wearing of a blanket, mask, or story belt) with students AND families.  It's also a family's responsibility to try to understand the intentions behind a lesson or activity before rushing to judgment and labeling a teacher as racist or insensitive.  Do I find it offensive if children emulate respected chiefs, warriors, healers, or shamans, just as they do ballerinas, astronauts, painters, singers, veterinarians, or teachers?  No.  Just as teachers, family and society expose children to other professions and roles worthy of respect through literature, history lessons, field trips, guest speakers, arts and crafts, so too can we teach children about Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples.  Native AND non-Native teachers need quality non-fiction materials and resources, or know how and where to find them. It's also up to teachers and parents to be aware of what's not only culturally sensitive, but developmentally appropriate for young children. 

Three, four, five and six year olds do not need to be exposed to and master the vocabulary of genocide because of the gut reaction of the adults around them. Rather, children should be gently guided as they broaden the scope of their universe from their immediate selves and family to their neighborhood, community, state, nation, and world.

Quick Tabletop Easel

For Open House, my Stars made traditional handprint turkeys for their families.  Since our walls are decorated with Veterans Day art, patterned maize, and harvest pumpkins for November, we had no space left to display the great gobblers.  Simple desktop easels to the rescue!

I cut four inch wide, twenty-four inch long strips of tagboard, and then folded each strip as shown, with three sections seven inches long, and a tab three inches long to fold over the edge:

After folding, I applied tape so the tagboard would keep its shape.  Our handprint turkeys, not being very heavy, easily leaned against the tagboard, but I stuck some tape behind them to keep them from sliding off or wibble-wobbling.

Our turkey art measured nine inches by nine inches, and these easels worked great!

My Stars also left their math and ELA journals at their desks for families to look through before they toured the rest of the room. 

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My Super Stars love crowns and hats!  Click here for last year's post about our turkey headgear!

Gobble Gobble Headbands

My school hosts a wonderful Thanksgiving Luncheon for students and families each year, and the meal is always followed by recess.

With four classes of kindergartners on the field, playground, and blacktop, it can be difficult to keep track of my Super Stars, unless...

They're wearing turkey crowns!

Here's what you'll need for each headband:

(1) 2 X 18 strip of brown construction paper
(1 each) 2 X 4 rectangles  for the red, beige, and orange feathers
(1) 1 X 4 rectangle in dark brown for the turkey's headband
(1) 4 inch diameter brown circle for the turkey's face
(1) small orange triangle for the beak
black marker to draw the eyes
1 X 1 inch squares in black, yellow, and red for the pattern

Several Stars decided that AB and ABC patterns were "too easy," so they decided to create ABB and AAB patterns across the long brown strip.

The orange beak and eyes were added to the brown circle, and then students glued on the turkey's headband and feathers.  Then the turkey's face was glued near(ish) the middle of the headband.

After fitting each headband onto its owner's head, my Stars insisted that I wear mine as well.

Ta da!  Er, ~gobble gobble~!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Terrific Turkey Windsock

This evening is Open House at my school, which means it's time for me to treat my Super Star Families to an apple, and my Stars to treat their parents and siblings to some November artwork.  Families will tour the classroom and school building, but it's always nice to have some sort of take-away to help them mark the occasion.

After passing classroom after classroom of paper bag turkey crafts, the Stars and I decided to make a turkey windsock that could be hung anywhere at home.  We started with a 12 X 18 piece of black construction paper stapled into a tube, four 8 inch lengths of orange streamers, and white twine.  For our terrific turkey, we used a 9 inch diameter circle, a 2 X 8 red rectangle, a 2 X 2 red square, and 3 X 4 rectangles in red, green orange, and brown to form the turkey's body and feathers.  After modeling how to cut the corners and assemble the turkey, I sent the Stars back to their desks to work.

After gluing the turkey bodies to the tubes, we have a gaggle of gobblers!

The Hand

My mother sent this to me over Thanksgiving last year.


Of course, it gave me another reason to appreciate my decision to wear waterproof mascara that day.


Have some tissue ready:


  THE HAND


                Thanksgiving Day was near. The first grade teacher gave her class a fun
                assignment -- to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful.


                Most of the class might be considered economically disadvantaged, but still
                many would celebrate the holiday with turkey and other traditional goodies
                of the season. These, the teacher thought, would be the subjects of most of
                her student's art. And they were.


                But Douglas made a different kind of picture. Douglas was a different kind
                of boy. He was the teacher's true child of misery, frail and unhappy. As
                other children played at recess, Douglas was likely to stand close by her
                side. One could only guess at the pain Douglas felt behind those sad eyes.


                Yes, his picture was different. When asked to draw a picture of something
                for which he was thankful, he drew a hand. Nothing else. Just an empty hand.


                His abstract image captured the imagination of his peers. Whose hand could
                it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a farmer, because farmers raise
                turkeys. Another suggested a police officer, because the police protect and
                care for people. Still others guessed it was the hand of God, for God feeds
                us. And so the discussion went -- until the teacher almost forgot the young
                artist himself.


                When the children had gone on to other assignments, she paused at Douglas'
                desk, bent down, and asked him whose hand it was.


                The little boy looked away and murmured, "It's yours, teacher."


                She recalled the times she had taken his hand and walked with him here or
                there, as she had the other students. How often had she said, "Take my hand,
                Douglas, we'll go outside." Or, "Let me show you how to hold your pencil."
                Or, "Let's do this together." Douglas was most thankful for his teacher's
                hand.


                Brushing aside a tear, she went on with her work.


                The story speaks of more than thankfulness. It says something about teachers
                teaching and parents parenting and friends showing friendship, and how much
                it means to the Douglases of the world. They might not always say thanks.
                But they'll remember the hand that reaches out.


                -- Author Unknown

Happy Thanksgiving, dear teachers.

Back Home

Despite my family's sniffles, snorks and daughter's quick exits to the bathroom the day before (oh, the creeping crud is really going the distance with us this year), we managed to fly to Indiana to see family over Thanksgiving break. We were good- we kept our Kleenexes to ourselves, covered our mouths and noses, and kept a mini container of hand-sanitizer nearby. Other than the preschooler using his feet to express his interest in the items he found in the airline catalog (apologies, Poor-Woman-who-was-in-the-seat-in-front-of-him), the flight was short and uneventful. We landed in Chicago, and drove from there to my in-laws' farm.



The fresh air worked its magic on the kids. They spent a lot of time outdoors, running with the dog, chasing the farm cats, climbing over tractors, and swinging in tree swings. I wrapped and packaged steaks and ground meat from the deer my husband shot while hunting with my father-in-law a few days before. I crocheted, cleaned up after the kids, and played with the settings on my camera:











We drove back Friday, getting home at bedtime. Though ten hours long, my husband and I enjoyed the extra chat time, and fancied ourselves the "cool travelers" that helped kids playing License Plate Bingo win some extra points... Alaskan license plates seem more common around military bases than they are driving through the Heartland. We're having our own turkey dinner with the fixin's tonight, with pumpkin pie later for dessert, since Thanksgiving on the farm featured roast beef, delicious, though non-traditional for us. Family, nummy food, and quiet snow...a wonderful way to say goodbye to November.

Happy Thanksgiving

(comic from DryBones)

Quick Post, Native American Craft

Just a quick post (never fear, I'll be sharing more this weekend) now that Open House Night is over (despite my sniffles, it was a great night!) and November decor is coming down today to be sent home with students in time for Thanksgiving. I'll be sharing more photos of the November to December transformation too, so make sure to check back.

Dear Daughter made these Native American characters for my Stars out of cardboard tubes (a paper towel roll yielded two medium sized or three short sized Indians) so that they could use them for napkin ring holders, though we had fun using them as props as we sang One Little, Two Little, Three Little Indians...

One little, two little, three little Indians
Four little, five little, six little Indians
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians
Ten little Indian boys (girls).

Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians
Seven little, six little, five little Indians
Four little, three little, two little Indians
One little Indian boy (girl).



She made extras so that siblings who visited during Open House didn't leave empty-handed~ great thinking!

Though we didn't make Pilgrim characters, the Stars also enjoyed using their Indian characters as props when we read and re-counted

Wordless Wednesday: November Classroom

Kindergarten Classroom Decor: Ten Little Turkeys

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Sorry about the poor photos- the text reads:

One little, two little

three little turkeys,

four little, five little

six little turkeys,

seven little, eight little

nine little turkeys,

ten turkeys gobble, gobble, gobble!



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Psst, this is my 399th post! Check back tomorrow to comment for a chance to win a Christmas banner!

Kindergarten Classroom Decor: Talkin' Turkey

Goodbye spiders, hello gobblers!









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~Paper plates colored brown

~various autumn themed paper (I had scrapbooking leftovers in a tub)

~tissue paper cut into fringe-y rectangles

~turkey pattern on tan construction paper (body and legs)

~orange triangle for beak

~black crayons

~raffia for bows

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Links:

~Turkey Alphabet Match Cards (uppercase and lowercase letters)

~ An easy pinecone turkey...

~ The children's table set with turkey coloring books and a Thanksgiving silhouette tablecloth (from Martha!)

And here's a silly stop-motion video for you:

Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving is this month, and my family and I will enjoy the traditional turkey dinner with most, if not all of the trimmings. A loaf of the cranberry bread from "Cranberry Thanksgiving" will be baked as will mincemeat star cookies (thank you Better Homes and Gardens "Cookies and Candies," Meredith Press, 1966):

MINCEMEAT STAR COOKIES

1 1/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
4 cups sifted all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 tablespoons milk
Mincemeat filling

Thoroughly cream shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir in peel. Sift together dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Divide dough in half; chill. On lightly floured surface, roll each half to 1/8 inch thick. Cut with 2 3/4 inch round cutter (Mom and I have always used the mouth/rim of a drinking glass as a cutter). Cut small star (make an "x" ) in centers of half of the cookies. Place 1 heaping teaspoon of the mincemeat filling on each plain cookie. Top with the "x" cookie, press the edges of the top and bottom cookies together with a fork to seal. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for twelve minutes.

The toddler and I will read:





and the soundtrack for the month (how 80's am I? I suppose I should get with the times and refer to it as a "playlist") will include George Winston's "Thanksgiving."


To round out our family's Thanksgiving traditions, we'll watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as we cook in the kitchen, and throughout the rest of the day will enjoy

and .

I LOVE this time of year!