Picture Book Lessons

PowerPoint and lesson created Colleen Devlin, SD71 teacher

Submitted by “Chris” on Teach BC​ from BCTF (if anyone knows who created this lesson please let us know, Lynn Swift​)

Lesson Description: In this lesson, students gain an awareness of the importance of animals to Aboriginal people by reading the picture book, Eagle Boy by Richard Lee Vaughan and participating in a guided imagery activity. Students can also paint or draw their visualization.

Grade: targeted K-3, but could be used for older grades too.

Learning Intentions:

  • I can visualize what it might be like to be an eagle.
  • I can make personal connections to the story.
  • I can visualize events in the story and represent it in a drawing or a painting.

Lesson Plan:

Blackline Masters:

Thinking Sheet

RESOURCE LEVEL: ​​​Elementary​

Lesson Description: In this lesson, students gain an awareness of the importance of Winter Solstice to Aboriginal people by reading the picture book, Mouse Celebrates the Winter Solstice, by Terri Mack and participating in a connection reading strategy focus.. Students can also paint or draw their visualization.

Grade: targeted K-3, but could be used for older grades too.

Learning Intentions:

  • I can make connections to the Winter Solstice.
  • I can make personal connections to the story.

Lesson Plan:

Supplementary Activities from the author:

Seasonal Activity Lesson

Th​​​e lesson focuses on making connections between what we do in the seasons and what different groups of First Nations people did during the seasons.

Grade​: 2-3

Learning In​​tentio​​ns:​

  • To understand w​​​​ha​​​​​t a​​​ctivities indigenous pe​​​​​ople do in each of the seasons and why.
  • To read a book ​and ma​​ke connections to what we do during the various seasons.
  • To take a walk through the for​​est to see signs of Fall​​​

Lesson P​​lan:

​Blackline Mas​​ters

Other Resources

BLM’s of Signs of…Spring, Winter, Summer and Fall:

Using all your senses record certain plants and places that you visit in the various seasons.

A Season’s Unit Outline – rough notes

Look here for an example of how you can use some of the above resources in a unit. Originally meant for grade 1 but can be used at any level.

Theme and Inferences for Giving Tree

This book is excellent for the following ideas:

  1. Christmas time for gift giving from their heart.
  2. Valentine’s Day to show love and kindness to someone.
  3. Making connections to family traditions and values.

Let’s Connect – Red Parka Mary

Students could end lesson after they have completed the Let’s Connect thinking with a talking circle and sharing their connection to the book.

An artefact to pass around while telling the story:

Coming soon!

Shi Shi Etko by Nicola Campbell

​​Lesson plan from the BCTF Aboriginal Education Program created e -resource booklet, Gladys We Never Knew, The life of a child in a BC Indian Residential School.

Activity 1.1 Remembering the Land – Click on the following link for all the lessons and BLM’s from the Indian Reconciliation Schools & Reconciliation Teacher Resource Guide Grade 5 or on the following link for the the lesson specifically about Shi Shi Etko, Part One Learning and the Relationship with the Land.

Starleigh in the video below reminds us that, “Before contact, before residential schools, we as indigenous peoples had our own rich bodies of knowledge, we had our own understandings of the relationship between someone who had knowledge and those who received knowledge. We had our systems of passing knowledge on….celebrates and honour our strengths and that something of incredible value existed before residential school you can never fully understand what was taken from survivors during residential schools.” (from video below about minute 3:45)

“Haida author and artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas’ beautiful picture book, The Little Hummingbird, illustrates a poignant message: each of us can make a difference, no matter how small we are and no matter how big the problem seems​.

The Little Hummingbird is a beautiful short story to use as a jumping-off point to explore themes of kindness, compassion, helping, and altruism with children.” Heart-Mind Online

​From the Heart-Mind Online Resource: 6 Kind Activities inspired by The Little Hummingbird boo​k