Study Guides
By Pen and Brush: Native Stories |
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| Click here for print friendly version. | |
Grade: Suitable for grades 5 to 8
Established visual artist and author of a dozen books, C.J. Taylor wants to help make the rich culture of native history come alive for young people. Drawing from her own Mohawk heritage as well as the Mi’kmaq, Iroquois and other First Nations, Taylor has collected, retold and illustrated with bright colours and sweeping lines haunting tales about some of the powerful spirits who touch the lives of human folk. Taylor shares her insights and experience about the marriage of words and illustration, what to leave in and what to take out, to bring to life stories from an oral culture.
Curriculum Connection
- Student will learn what legends are and why they where created.
ACTIVITIES
- Read from Taylor’s book (Spirits, Fairies, and Merpeople: Native Stories of Other Worlds). Discuss myths, legends and why they were created, explaining that people told legends in many cultures to try and explain their surroundings in a way that made sense to them.
- Discuss what compromises a legend.
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Separate the class into groups of five students per group. Explain that each group will come up with a legend based on a choice of the topic list or one of their own choosing.
Possible Topics:
- 1) Why the whale blows from a blow hole.
- 2) Why the Bear had to go to sleep in the winter.
- 3) A legend about not swimming in the deep water by yourself.
- 4) A legend about respecting your parents
- 5) Why the beavers’ teeth never stop growing
- 6) A legend about why the eagle has sharp claws
EVALUATION
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