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Catherine Suen's Grade Three and Four Class (Sherwood School) |
Mrs. Edith Dalla Costa visited our classroom on February 6, 2004. She works for Aboriginal Liasion, Aboriginal Education of the Edmonton Public School Board. The following writings about Mrs. Dalla Costa's visit, incomplete and imperfect as they were, are good attempts from Mrs. Suen's grades three and four class to show what they have learned from the visit. |
What I learned about the First Nation People |
| By Samm Grade 4 Yesterday we had a girl came in named Mrs. Dalla Costa. So I'm going to tell you what I learned. I learned that sweet grass is very special to the First Nation people so they can pray with it and burn it for a ceremony. You also braid sweet grass and as you braid it you say Body, Mind spirit. When it is burning you take a feather and fan it in a special pearly white shell. Then give it back to Mother earth while the smoke goes to Father sky. There are also 4 colors of mankind. North is white, south is yellow, East is red, west is black. They go picking sweet grass in July or August and be there exactly at 9:00 a.m. so you can pray then pick. Yu have to pick the ones that are a little bit purple on the bottom. You must watch the elders pick the sweet grass so you know how to pick it. You also take tobacco or seeds so it’s a present to Mother earth from taking something from her. Then she talked about people. I learned from that there is lots of people. Pacific Wet people loved in longhouses made from cedar and they also made totem poles. People from East Woodland lived in wigwams. They made lovely baskets. The wigwams were made of birch bark. People that were Central lived in teepees. These people followed the buffalo. People from the North had igloos. Everyone carried babies in beautiful baskets or cloth bags. Some of them made canoes with nice carvings. The she talked about artifacts and showed us some. There was the bone weapon , a drum, a necklace from shells and one from corn, 2 cool purses, a turtle shell purse and a beaded purse; medicine, fur and raw-hide. A ceremony horn, totem pole, soup spoon and an arrow. She also showed us a moose call made from bark. My favourite thing was the lovely basket made from bark. That’s what I learned. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Ilyas Grade 3 We learned what the Nation people made stuff and the stuff they like it was the stuff. I don’t know now I know she showed sweet grass I looked so cool I like the stuff she showed especially the shell it looked so nice I have a shell at my house I like hers so much because it look so nice and I really want to have one when she showed it When the Nation people burn the sweet grass too When she talked it was so interesting. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Jolene Grade 4 I learned that the first Nation People they made totem poles. They made sweet grass she taught us how to pick sweet grass she said that she puts the ashes in the fire and they go back to mother earth. The smoke from the fire goes to father sky. She read us some books she told us about the different ideas that they live in different houses like the Pacific we lived in a long house and East woodland lived in wigwams and central lived in teepees and North lived in igloos. When you wind your sweet grass remember this West for black East for Red North for white and south for yellow. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Lucia Grade 4 Mrs. Dalla Costa first talked about sweet grass. You go to pick sweet grass in July and August. Mrs. Dalla Costa told us to wind the sweet grass 4 times and she says that black people live in the west, red people in the East, yellow from the south and white from North. When you braiding it stands for 3 things body, mind and spirit. Mrs. Dalla Costa said that they us a feather to fan the burning sweet grass. Every time you grab something from mother nature you plant a seed. Mrs. Dalla Costa told us about some books she brought she told us that some Indians live in teepees. Mrs. Dalla Costa showed us some artifacts like a statue made of wood. My favorite was the moose horn. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Alex Grade 3 I learned that they have sweet grass. Some Indians live in teepees, wigwams, Igloos. Mrs. Dalla Costa brought a feather a shell spoon, medicine, drum, purse and fur. The weapon was a bow arrow and a bow. When Mrs. Dall Costa was in Jr. high the Indian agents saw her and any one smoking or have feather they would get in trouble. I wonder why they get in trouble? This reminds me of when I pray. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Angela Grade 3 When Mrs. Dalla Costa showed us about the first nation people, it was about how the first nation people lived and now I am going to tell you the artifacts of the first nation people there is a weapon, drum, necklace, purse, medicine, turtle purse, fur, raw-hide, horn-needle, leather, sweet grass, shell basket made from elm, snow-shoes and an item which calls moose. And I am going to tell you where the first nation people lived, in the West Pacific they built long houses and totem poles, in East Woodland they built wigwams an they built baskets made out of birch bark, and also in the South Central they built teepees. And in the North they built igloos. And now I am going to tell you how Mrs. Dalla Costa braids sweet grass. If you are a child you can drop seeds to Mother earth, so that you can thank her and get something from her, and if you are a adult, you have to put tobacco and pray. There are 3 parts of a braid of sweet grass, they are Body, Mind and Spirit. And when you burn sweet grass, you have to put the ashes on a shell and then give it to Mother Earth. And then the smoke it will go to Father Sky. In the 4 places of West, East, South, North. At West there are black people in the East there are red people, in the South there is yellow people and in the North there are white people. Now I am going to tell you one more thing about sweet grass, the smoke is for taking away the negative feelings. And that’s how the first nation people lived. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Roman Grade 4 When Mrs. Dall Costa was here she told us about Nation People. Then Mrs. Dalla Costa told us about “sweet grass”. After that she told us what season to get it on. July and August. And you say these 3 things when you’re braiding “Body, mind, spirit”. Then when Nation People do a ceremony they first put fire in a shell then use a special feather and fur the flames so smoke can go to father sky. When you winding sweet grass you say “west east south and north” that means black red yellow and white people. In the Pacific west there’s long houses and they’re made of cedar. In wood land-wigwams it’s made of birch bark. And central is teepees and igloos. The teepees are made of animal skin and the igloos is made of ice. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Steven Grade 4 The first thing Mrs. Dalla Costa showed us was sweet grass. Sweet grass is something you take and burn. When you burn it and the smoke you put over yourself. Before you pick the sweet grass you have to put a seed in mother earth and when you pick the sweet grass well thinking body, mind, spirit. The ashes of the sweet grass they burn goes to father sky and when winding wet is black, east, red, south yellow, north white. At the ceremony the feather give off smoke, the people in west live in long houses made of cedar. East, wigwams, made of birch bark, central teepees mad of skin, north Igloo. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Tracy Garde 3 Mrs. Dalla Costa was at our class and she taught us about the First Nation People. She also taught us about the sweet grass and while she was doing it into a braid she said body, mind and spirit. The artifacts that I like are the drum weapons and the beautiful and graceful purse. Mrs. Dalla Costa showed us a weapons necklace and we all saw a turtle fur purse. I saw stuff that can break easy and I also saw wooden baskets. We would pray by making smoke and putting it around our heads so all the bad spirit would go away. Mrs. Dalla Costa said that feather leaves could be fans. She showed us leather when it was already scraped off. By the Pacific of the wet there were long houses and totem poles. At woodland East there were wigwams. By Central there were teepees. By North there were Igloos. Those are the stuff we saw from Mrs. Dalla Costa. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Rajneel Grade 3 First Mrs. Dalla Costa showed us the sweet grass grew but she did not pick the sweet grass. She showed everyone how she picked the sweet grass from mother nature. She showed how to bundle the sweet grass and how they put the smoke on yourself to take away the negative things from your body. When you are winding you say 4 things it is West (black), East (red), South (yellow) and North (white) and when you are braiding you say 3 things that is Body Mind and Spirit and she puts ashes into the shell then she said they put the ashes from the shell and give it to mother nature. She told us that the seeds are tobacco. She told us that the oldest one has to pray before picking the sweet grass. Mrs. Dalla Costa lived in a Reserve when she was small. In July and August she said that she was picking sweet grass. In the west the pacific people lived in long houses and it was made with totem poles. In East lived woodland people they live in wigwams and they made baskets. In the central people they lived in teepees and it is made of skin and birch bark. In North they made Igloos. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Anthony Grade 3 Mrs. Dalla Costa first tell us how to pick sweet grass. It took her four hours to pick three. Before you pick your sweet grass, you need to pray to the north East South West Indians West are black the north white South are yellow the East are red. Then you pray and say body mind spirit. That is how you pray in Indian. Because 500 years ago they did not have chances. Say they prayed to themselves. But if they got caught praying they would get in trouble by the Indian agents. Now I will tell you what the Indian live in OK. So let’s start now. The East Indians lived in woodland wigwams. The North they live in teepees and Igloos. I really liked the artifacts. They had a turtle shell purse. They had this thing that would call the moose. These people brought some beans the Indians would give up their land for the beads. They had a lot of medicine. They had a claw thing to cut up all the fur on the animal. Then she read us a book about a girl that lives up North. In the beginning she walked to the place in the middle she falls in a big hole. In the end she gets found. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Shanissa Grade 4 Mrs.Dalla Costa came to our class and told us about First Nation people. It was great we learned about sweet grass and different kinds of houses like teepees igloos and wigwams. When you burn sweet grass you put it in the ground and the smoke goes to Father sky. We saw a turtle purse it was made of the turtles’ turtle shell. The people in long houses make totem poles. When they put the seeds in Mother earth they pray. Then they pick their sweet grass. When they are braiding them they say Body mind spirit. When they say West East South North it means black re yellow and white people. She lived in a reserve when she was little. There was a little girl who owned the reserve. The feather is for a fan to get the smoke away. We saw how to shave the fur off the animal to make leather. And that’s what we learned from Mrs. Dalla Costa. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Sonya Grade 4 Yesterday Mrs. Dalla Costa came to our class and stayed with use the whole morning. She was here talking about Canadian history and Aboriginal people. She showed us sweet grass she said we have to it in July or August at 9:00 am. Then they would follow a path to a place where you put your stuff and sit in a circle and the oldest person would hand out seeds. Then if you don’t know how to pick sweet grass then you watch someone older then you do it yourself. When you braid it you have to say Body mind spirit. When you braid the ashes you put them in a shell from the water. You put the sees in west East, South, North water. West stands for black, East stands for red, South stands for yellow, North stands for white. People that live by the pacific ocean live in long house they are made from cedar. The people in the East of woodland live in wigwam. Teepees are made from animal skin or leather. Their weapons were drums, necklace, purse, medicine turtle and fur. I like learning about Canadian history it’s fun. I hope Mrs. Dalla Costa comes back. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Ronnie Grade 3 Mrs. Dalla Costa said that Wet was black race, east red race, south yellow North white she also went to the reserve and on July and August to braid sweet grass she braid and said Body Mind spirit when she burnt ashes she put a feather and wave air to keep it going . She showed us the artifacts, weapon, drum, necklace, purse, medicine, turtle and fur raw hide needles, and horn What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Sams Grade 4 Well we learned about the first Nation People and Mrs. Dalla Costa showed us all of the first Nation people. When we were on the carpet Mrs. Dalla Costa talked about sweet grass and how she said that the feather is a fan that blows the burning sweet grass and saying Cree words that we had to copy word from her. Then I asked a question about the purse and she said we are going to look at them later. The old people pray before they get the sweet grass and then when the old one is done praying the water goes up in the sky and there is sweet grass and the old one goes first and the same one is right beside the old one. She or he braid it and say Grandma, Great Grandma, you. The time you go is in July or August. Mrs. Dalla Cost plants tobacco seeds in her garden. When Mrs. Dalla Costa was a little girl she lived in a reserve and they have ceremony and they dance. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Kyle Grade 4 Yesterday a person named Mrs. Dalla Costa. She told us a lot of exciting stuff like, where did the people from the olden days lived. They lived in long house, tee-pees and Igloos. In the olden days they made some interesting stuff like turtles shells as a purse, for snow shoes they animal skin and they used something called a flesher to get all of the fur off and used the flesher again so it’s thin. If you get it wet it will stretch. But when it dry then it will shrink to regular size so this is the middle of the snow shoes the outside is just wood. [drawing of snow shoe] What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Shawn Grade 3 Sweet grass is very small. You could pick sweet grass but is is very small and you have to wait for tour hours. The 4 windings are West East south and North. The 3 braidings are Body Mind Spirit. In July and Aug Mrs. Dalla Costa goes to pick sweeet grass. When You light up sweet grass you need the feather to go through and then come out. If you have bad feelings think of negative things. There’s a stick that you have to hold and when the stick toes to somebody you talk. When you dance you dance in a circle. When you pray you have to say Body Mind and spirit. In pacific there are long houses totem poles. In woodland there a wigwams houses for people-basket. In central people live in a teepees. The North people lives in a igloos. We have tow eyes tow noses two ears and one mouth so we could listen morn than we talk. My favourite artifacts is the drum because we could hear some sounds from the drum. Mrs. Dalla Costa lived in reserve. Now I learned more about sweet grass and more about artifacts. What I learned about the First Nation People (from Mrs. Dalla Costa’s Visit)By Navneet Grade 4 When Mrs. Dalla Costa showed the artifacts that she brought a lot of artifacts. She told us about the sweet grass that there are four things the four thins are West means black people. The east people are the red people. The south people are the yellow people. And the North means white people. She also talk about sweet grass. She talk how to pick the sweet grass. She talked how to wind it and then they will briad it and do a ceremony. And then she will burn it then she will put it on the shell then she will fan it with a feather. There is one more thing the 3 things are body mind and spirit. |
[Functional Writing]