Bond to Literacy in Esgenoopetitj

Posted: May 23, 2019

We are in week three of the Bond to Literacy program at Tiny Treasures Day Care Centre in Esgenoopetitj. Week one saw the children(mostly two and three year olds) looking at the pictures in the book "Niwechihaw". This book is about a grandmother and grandson who travel to the woods to pick rosehips for traditional medecines. We talked about the noises we would hear on a walk in the woods and what objects we could put in our baskets as we walked. After our story and discussion the children turned their efforts to decorating paper baskets with assorted stickers and/or crayons.

At week two we looked at the book  "Ancient Thunder", a story about the beautiful, beloved horses of the Blackfoot Nation. We talked about colours, animals that run like or with horses and about the regalia featured on each page. The children were especially curious to examine horse feed, some even ate the tasty oats and corn sweetened with molasses! And they marvelled at the necklace crafted from beads and small bells intended to be worn around the horse's neck to alert other animals, people and ward off evil spirits. Our story was folowed by a fun craft where the children got to decorate their very own horses. These we fashioned from cardstock and clothespins!

As we enter week three the story of "Eddie Longpants" will be introduced. It is a story about a boy who is teased due to his height. However Eddie's height proves to be a most valuable asset near the end of the story. It will be for most of the children their very first story about inclusion. The supporting craft ties in with the concept of short and tall. The children will be decorating a giraffe by gluing fabric shapes on a template. This should prove interesting as we've been avoiding glue to this point. Just imagine a glue bottle in the hands of two year olds. It will be all hands on deck for this activity!

Week four will see the conclusion of this program with the story of "Amos' Sweater". It is a story about an old sheep who looks for a way to get his wool back. The children will hear all kind of words that describe "feelings" , example; old,tired, cold, angry etc. We'll be making our very own sheep from paper plates and cotton balls. And we'll have a little closing ceremony where each of the children will recieve a certificate of participation and we hope a set of books.