Lessons from Turtle Island: Native Curriculum in Early Childhood Classrooms, Vol. 1
Create a curriculum that reflects and honors the diversity of all people. Lessons from Turtle Island explores Na-tive American issues in preschool and early primary education. The authors—one Native, one white—offer guidelines for learning experiences that move children beyond embedded stereotypes.\ "[A] marvelous tool that should be in every American school."—Joseph Bruchac, author of Heart of a Chief and The Winter People\ Guy W. Jones, Hunkpapa Lakota, is a full-blood member of the...
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The first comprehensive guide to addressing Native American issues in teaching children. School Library Journal Using an accessible, nonjudgmental tone, the authors examine the depiction of Native American peoples in early childhood and primary programs and books. In five chapters, they concentrate on providing suggestions for appropriate literature, materials, and strategies for including contemporary Native cultures in the curriculum. Suggestions underscore the differences and similarities in people. For example, the unit on dance suggests teaming Cynthia Leitich Smith's Jingle Dancer with Karen Ackerman's Song and Dance Man or Kate Waters's Lion Dancer. The book also encourages adults to learn more about cultures so that they can understand the significance of traditions and artifacts before incorporating them into art projects. (It is very easy to introduce activities that mock the very traditions that well-meaning individuals attempt to honor.) Black-and-white photographs and line drawings help clarify the concepts and tasks. There is a short section on "problem" books like Susan Jeffers's Brother Eagle, Sister Sky. Team this valuable, informative resource with Beverly Slapin and Doris Seale's extensive (but somewhat dated) Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children (Univ. of California, 1998) and Karen Harvey and Lisa Harjo's excellent How to Teach about American Indians: A Guide for the School Library Media Specialist (Greenwood, 1995).-Dona J. Helmer, College Gate School Library, Anchorage, AK Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
IntroductionxiChapter 1Native American Issues in Early Childhood Education1Chapter 2Children--The Most Special Gift29Chapter 3Home Is Where the Heart Is47Chapter 4Families--The Importance of Relatives65Chapter 5Community--We Are All Related83Chapter 6The Environment--Celebrating the Circle of Life99Chapter 7Family Heritage Project115Chapter 8Guidelines for Teachers133Index165
\ School Library JournalUsing an accessible, nonjudgmental tone, the authors examine the depiction of Native American peoples in early childhood and primary programs and books. In five chapters, they concentrate on providing suggestions for appropriate literature, materials, and strategies for including contemporary Native cultures in the curriculum. Suggestions underscore the differences and similarities in people. For example, the unit on dance suggests teaming Cynthia Leitich Smith's Jingle Dancer with Karen Ackerman's Song and Dance Man or Kate Waters's Lion Dancer. The book also encourages adults to learn more about cultures so that they can understand the significance of traditions and artifacts before incorporating them into art projects. (It is very easy to introduce activities that mock the very traditions that well-meaning individuals attempt to honor.) Black-and-white photographs and line drawings help clarify the concepts and tasks. There is a short section on "problem" books like Susan Jeffers's Brother Eagle, Sister Sky. Team this valuable, informative resource with Beverly Slapin and Doris Seale's extensive (but somewhat dated) Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children (Univ. of California, 1998) and Karen Harvey and Lisa Harjo's excellent How to Teach about American Indians: A Guide for the School Library Media Specialist (Greenwood, 1995).-Dona J. Helmer, College Gate School Library, Anchorage, AK Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.\ \
