Photo (above) by Lyndsey Brollini, courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Kindergarten Lesson: Respect Self & Others

Be sure to teach Lessons 1 and 2, Lingít Music and Tribal Values, before teaching these Kindergarten lessons focused on Respect Self and Others: 

• Tlél sh yáa yeeydawóodliḵ

           Donʼt you all be in a hurry (Have Patience)

• K’idéin át yisa.áx ka a yáa awuné wáa sá i daa yadukaayí

           Listen well and respect what people say to you

• Sh yáa ayatoodinéi ḵa ldakát káa yáa át ayagaynéi

           Self-respect and respect for everyone

MATERIALS:

Patience
(Donʼt be in a hurry)

Listen well & respect what people say to you

Self-respect and respect for everyone

Music Resources

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Yéilch Ana.óot
Aaní Alyéx̱
Raven Makes the Aleutian Islands
Narrator: Kaasgéiy Susie James

The Orphan and the Six Shirts pp. 32-34
with audio

Koohaantí O
The Orphan

Haat yee aadéi:
A Girlʼs Lullaby (Dléigu)
 music notation & mp3 file

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Wáa Sá I Yatee
(How are You?)
& mp3 file

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Yéil Ḵa G̱anook Heení (Raven and Petrelʼs Water)

• This story introduces students to the four core values of the Haa Ḵusteeyí Chorus: Haa Aaní (Our Land), Haa Latseení (Our Strength), Haa Shuká (Our Ancestors, Our Future), Wooch Yax̱ (Balance, Harmony).
• Active Listening & Engagement Strategy: As students listen to the retelling of the story, ask students to echo the four core values and enact the gestures when they hear them sprinkled throughout by Jinkasee.ee.
  

Told by Frank Dick, Sr. in Lingít in 1983. Transcribed and Translated by Fred White, November 2012. Adapted for the classroom and published by Goldbelt Heritage Foundation.

Retold by Jinkasee.ee (Rose Willard) with the inclusion of the four core tribal values.

Haa Ḵusteeyí Chorus sung with gestures by Jinkasee.ee (Rose Willard).

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Week 2: Why We Tell Stories - Retelling of Yéil Ḵa G̱anook Heení (K-5)

Why Do We Tell Stories?
Voices on the Land Project
at Floyd Dryden
sponsored by Sealaska Heritage Institute

Stories like Yéil Ḵa G̱anook Heení (Raven and Petrelʼs Water) teach important lessons and traditions, which is why they were retold many times.

• Prime for Why Do We Tell Stories? video: Ask students "Why Do We Tell Stories?"
• Connect to Della Cheney (elder): Weaving is a traditional practice - Della stated that "we wove with the environment that is around us...because thatʼs how I connect my life with our community."
  • For K/1: share the yarn bundling activity that they can practice at home.
  • For 2nd - 5th: share the finger knitting activity and invite them to finger knit while listening to the story
• Before we hear the story again, we need to know how to pronounce Raven in Lingít - "yéil."
  

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Tlél sh yáa yeeydawóodliḵ (Donʼt All Be in a Hurry)

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Elderʼs Voice: David Katzeek on Tlingit education: This entire video is worth watching, but at the 30 minute mark you will hear Kingeistí reference the pillars of Tlingít education.
  
• Goldbelt Heritage Foundation (2018). Oral narratives. http://www.goldbeltheritage.org/elementary-resources/oral-narratives
• Keithahn, E. L. (1945). Monuments in cedar - Oral Narratives - Ch.VIII. How raven created earth and light. Reprinted with permission online through Alaskool. http://www.goldbeltheritage.org/elementary-resources/oral-narratives
• Keithahn, E. L. (1945). Monuments in cedar - Oral Narratives - Ch.VIII. The story of Thunderbird. Reprinted with permission online through Alaskool. http://www.goldbeltheritage.org/elementary-resources/oral-narratives
• Sealaska Heritage (2016). Tlingít Language Curriculum - Primary Grades including audio files for all printed materials. https://www.sealaskaheritage.org/institute/education/resources/tlingitlanguage

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Elementary Lesson Plans 
​Goldbelt Heritage Foundation

Sealaska Who am I? Kindergarten Unit
​& audio

Sealaska Who am I?
Additional Teacher Resources 

Sealaska Baby Raven Reads
Early Literacy Series