KPDSB schools participated in the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Below you will find examples of the work done in our schools to recognize this important day.
Kenora Area
Beaver Brae Secondary School – Students and staff participated in various activities and events for a full week of learning, support and movement towards action for students, staff and families. Numerous resources were provided to support staff in lessons and lesson planning through a planning committee at the school. Information about the week and a few resources for their own learning journeys were shared with families as well. A culmination assembly and all-school feast was held on September 30.
Evergreen Public School – Evergreen hosted an open house on September 28, with the goal of including families in the school’s reconciliation work. Information was provided on residential schools and reconciliation at the open house. Families participated in a book walk for the book It’s a Mitig! where families could learn some Ojibwe vocabulary in a simple English story. Families could also write a message of reconciliation on an orange heart to be strung with other hearts and displayed in the school hallway.
Keewatin Public School – Keewatin offered various teaching and learning opportunities, including:
- Primary:
- Students walked around Keewatin to place rock art around the community (rock art involves painting small rocks orange and writing “Every Child Matters” on them).
- Students made feathers and included why each child matters on them for a hallway display.
- Students prticipated in read aloud stories centred around Truth and Reconciliation (When We Were Alone; Shi-shi-etko—to name a few).
- Students participated in outdoor learning/connecting with nature by finding long grass and trying/learning to braid and baking bannock over a fire.
- Students watched the CBC gem, Molly of Denali, Grampa’s Drum, followed by hand drumming.
- Students coloured “Every Child Matters” mindfulness colouring sheets.
- Junior:
- Students watched and discussed CBC Kids videos Phyllis Webstad Orange Shirt Day presentation.
- Students participated in read aloud stories/discussions like Fatty Legs and others.
- Students participated in virtual Truth and Reconciliation sessions during the Conference by National Center for Truth and Reconciliation, University of Manitoba.
- Staff used lesson plans for Orange Shirt Day by the Manitoba Teacher Society.
- Students participated in the rock art project.
King George VI Public School & Sioux Narrows Public School – Staff planned various learning activities via YouTube videos, using a slide deck condensed version of 10 Days of Truth and Reconciliation (shared reading activities, read alouds, learning about Phyllis Webstad, creating posters, doing orange shirt activities and recognizing something important about themselves). As a school community, families were encouraged to learn more about T&R and wear orange shirts on the 30th.
Valleyview Public School – Students and staff participated in various activities, including:
- Orange shirt writing activity Je compte parce que…, which we was turned into a display for the fence outside of the school.
- Students laminated and displayed orange shirt self-portraits, which is part of the shared writing activity Je suis important parce que.
- Students watched a video clip from the Orange Shirt Day website and staff facilitated classroom and small group discussions.
Red Lake Area
Ear Falls Public School – The topic of school land acknowledgment was read daily on announcements, including discussions on wearing orange shirts and why they are worn. All students in the school wrote why they matter, which was posted in the halls of the school. Students also participated in in the Projects of Hearts. The story was read to classes followed by the hearts being planted in the front yard. This project will be redisplayed in the spring. Individual age-appropriate class activities regarding truth and reconciliation were also planned.
Golden Learning Centre – GLC included land acknowledgements on the morning announcements each day in relation to the school’s environmental stewardship focus. Circle learning opportunities on what advocacy looks like also took place. Intermediate students participated in the truth and reconciliation online learning webinars.
Red Lake-Madsen Public School – Students and staff took part in a school-wide reconciliation activity to inspire children, in an artistic way, to consider what reconciliation means to them and begin to imagine a united future for all Canadians regardless of age, culture or religion. Administration read a rock painting inspiration from Chief Joseph, the Ambassador for Reconciliation Canada and a member of the National Assembly of First Nations Elders Council. Chief Joseph encourages children to write a hopeful or inspiring word using a colour or symbol meaningful to each of them. Rocks (that fit in the palm, flat so that a word or symbol could be painted) were collected and painted and on September 30, students and staff walked around the Red Lake community to show support for reconciliation by placing the rocks wherever the students felt would be an appropriate place for their rock. As an extension to the rock activity, students were engaged in a writing activity to explain the symbol or words they painted on their rock.
Red Lake District High School – At RLDHS, the Grade 11 NBE3U class planned and presented a school-wide (virtual) assembly on September 30. In addition, each grade received content-specific teaching related to residential schools and truth and reconciliation during the week of September 27:
- ArcGIS residential school story map
- Blanket exercise at Centennial Park
- The importance of language and culture—mini-lessons, discussion and participating in Truth and Reconciliation Week video conference with this focus
- Treaty writing activity
- Knowledge transfer—elder and youth dialogues
- Reconciliation and Me (special APTN programming) and Orange Shirt Day celebration
Dryden Area
Dryden High School – Students and staff participated in a variety of events, including:
- Orange Shirt Day contest with the winning orange shirt featured in the student square
- Grab-and-go bannock and soup in the student square
- Mr. Napish and Tyson Williams drumming in front of the school with a fire pit
- Sally Bunting, community Elder, presented to students and staff
- Staff at the school joined the TRC event
- A letter was sent home to all families regarding the content being discussed on Orange Shirt Day and the importance of the day
Lillian Berg Public School – Lillian Berg held several events leading up to the National Holiday for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day:
- Survivors from McIntosh Indian Residential School were invited to speak to the Grade 5/6 and 7/8 classes
- Staff and students attended a feast held at McIntosh Indian Residential School site.
- Students participated in rock painting in memory of the students who attended the McIntosh Indian Residential School and the rocks were brought to the memorial site later in the week.
- The entire school participated in Orange Shirt Day activities, including decorating hearts for their Lillian Berg Heart Garden in memory of the children who died at residential school.
New Prospect Public School – Students engaged in writing, drawing, and creating work to show what they have learned about Canada’s residential school history. The student workpieces remained in the atrium and were posted to the NPS Facebook page. Staff ensured that students’ art and writing connected to their deep learning in the classroom and were not just stand-alone pieces. Reconciliation Week was honoured through this learning, the gallery, and by wearing orange shirts on Orange Shirt Day.
Open Roads Public School – Open Roads students and staff joined the Dryden Area Anti-Racism Network (DAARN) event for the day. The entire school joined the community parade and carried All Kids Matter flag, handmade hearts, orange flags and T-shirts. There was also an official opening at the school involving a local Elder.
