It’s November! We made it through most of the Fall and the election! Thanksgiving (and a break!) is around the corner, so sharing some reminders and activities. Here are some from the past: Thanksgiving & Native American Heritage Month Resources & Reminders.

Always center Native American perspectives however you address Thanksgiving in your classroom (and in general). For example, you and your students could look at the Native Land map to see whose land you're on and emphasize that they are still here. You could research the tribe whose land you are on and find out about where they are living now.

Also, show students the table depicting original tribal names and note that many tribal names were changed by white settlers.

Learn about land acknowledgements by watching Land Acknowledgement | Molly of Denali. (Sidenote, Molly of Denali is a great example of representation, own voices, and a genuine character that has typical trials and tribulations as all kids do. Alaskan Native voices are involved in all aspects of production and research shows positive effects on children’s use of informational text after watching the show.)

You and your students can think about creating a land acknowledgement at your school or in your community. However, keep in mind the limitations of land acknowledgements, and talk to students about how they should just be the first step and DO NOT and CANNOT undo or “fix” past wrongs. For a more in depth analysis from a Indigenous perspective, listen to this story from Oregon Public Broadcasting: As land acknowledgments become more common, Indigenous people grapple with next steps - OPB

A new picture book that is a re-telling of the story of Thanksgiving is Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun's Thanksgiving Story. There are discussion guides online, but unfortunately the book is sold out and won’t be back in stock before Thanksgiving. However, something to keep in mind for next year!

I try to incorporate gratitude into my classroom all year, especially towards people in the building who take care of us. There are many studies about the positive effects of gratitude and students love putting good energy out there and planning surprises or pick-me-ups for others.

Nikki Grimes expresses it so beautifully:

Find this poem on Twitter here. Use it to inspire students and/or yourself! Another fun idea is tiny gratitude stories from the New York Times. They asked Tell Us What You’re Thankful For, in Six Words in the past. I love these ideas for so many reasons, at the very least because there are plenty of mentor texts for students and it is something quick and easy (and FUN). Students could challenge others in the building to write one as well and add it to a wall or bulletin board.

See other Gratitude Activities We Love from our post last Thanksgiving.

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving. Hope your holidays are relaxing and filled with deliciousness!

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Resources & Great Place to Start

American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL)

Teaching for Change 2021 Indigenous Peoples’ Day Curriculum Teach-In (especially the section about Native Voices in Children’s Literature by Dr. Debbie Reese, the creator of AICL)

Native American Heritage Month Resources For Teachers

Our ideas for addressing Thanksgiving in 3rd grade this year

(on top of expressing gratitude to all the people who take care of us at school):

The word Indigenous - explained l CBC Kids News
Newsela article: A Native American poet reimagines Thanksgiving and the poem referenced in the article: America, I Sing You Back by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
Read aloud: We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell
We also just bought two new books that we are VERY excited about:
- Classified, The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer by Traci Sorell
- JoJo Makoons by Dawn Quigley (an early middle grade series with a Native American main character!)

General Tips for Choosing Resources about Native Americans

Look at publication dates. In general, older (sometimes “classic”) books tend to have stereotypical portrayals of Native American peoples or kids dressing up as “Indians” or playing “Indian” games.
1. Some examples: Little House on the Prairie, George and Martha (George dresses up as an “Indian”). We are not saying you cannot use these books, but be prepared to address the problematic images, language, or events.
Avoid anything stereotypical, overly simplistic, or cartoonish (think of the Cleveland Indians logo).
Look at IMAGES of Native peoples depicted in the books. Does every Indigenous person look exactly the same? Are the characters displayed as 'savage' 'non-human' in some way? Avoid the “how” hand gesture, tomahawks, gratuitous headdresses, dancing around a fire, taking hostages, etc.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Who wrote this piece? (Even Encyclopedia Britannica articles can be used as examples of problematic language/bias). Use the resources list and look FIRST for Indigenous voices on the topic.
2. Does the author/illustrator specify a tribal nation?
3. What is the time period?
4. Is the history accurate? How do I know?
5. How does the author/illustrator present gender?
6. Does the author's word choice indicate bias against Native peoples?
7. (Some of these questions are from Tips for Choosing Culturally Appropriate Books & Resources About Native Americans).
Be mindful of the language used (by the resource and by you): avoid the words chief, squaw, savage, natives, and remember that “Native Americans” refers to thousands of diverse tribes (which means thousands of different cultures and histories) and not just one group of people.
Make sure to proactively balance historical representation of Native American peoples with contemporary voices so as not to perpetuate the idea that American Indians only existed in the past. If a piece speaks of Indigenous peoples only in the past tense-- double triple check why it does that and why you are using it!
Remember that many Indigenous peoples are Americans and were the first Americans.
Avoid resources (or saying yourself) that say "We are all immigrants". Not all of us are. Utilizing that immigrant 'melting pot' rhetoric as the foundational metaphor of the US erases the (long) history of Indigenous Americans.

For more details and tips, please see Tips for Choosing Culturally Appropriate Books & Resources About Native Americans andUnderstanding Prejudice: Teaching About Native American Issues