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Ninja Notes

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Indigenous Artists

How to Bring Indigenous Culture into Art Lessons

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One way to show appreciation for Indigenous artists is to study their work as you would any great artist. We put together some of the ways we incorporate learning about Indigenous artists and other aspects of culture in Canada in one post. Come read more.

Incorporating the stories and culture of Indigenous people is important to us. It’s woven throughout our subject areas, but we often look for other places to provide opportunities to bring cultures together. We’ve had several students who share their Cree and Dene cultures with us. Other years we’ve had no one in our classroom with a direct connection to our Indigenous People. We want all of our students to feel connected to the history of our country and the people who were here first. One way we do this is by exploring the works of Indigenous artists in Canada.

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Resources to Learn About Indigenous People in Canada

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It can be tricky finding books and resources that are good for students to use for research about Indigenous People in Canada. Come read about some of the Indigenous resources we use.

It can be tricky finding books and resources that are good for students to use for research about Indigenous People in Canada. Most are not at the right reading level. Often, they are either outdated. Old resources are inaccurate. Many depict stereotypes of Indigenous cultures. More resources written by Indigenous authors are starting to become available. Books are thoroughly checked for historical accuracy. New books highlight current events and issues. We have been collecting some of the Indigenous resources we find most helpful. Come read about some of the Indigenous resources we use.

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Learn the Truth With Books by Indigenous Authors

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We have collected some of our favourite books written by Indigenous authors. It's part of our commitment to raising the voices of Indigenous People across Canada. Canada is filled with so many wonderful creators, that it only seemed fitting to highlight some of the best. Come take a look at this book list of books for kids.

We have collected some of our favourite books written by Indigenous authors. It’s part of our commitment to raising the voices of Indigenous People across Canada. Canada is filled with so many wonderful creators that it only seemed fitting to highlight some of the best.

You will notice there are no affiliate links in this post. We ask that you support local businesses and authors by shopping at your local book stores. Teachers in our school purchased most of these books so we could have them in our school library and classrooms. Please be sure to comment below if you know of more books we should add.

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Art Projects That Will Last All Year

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If you are an elementary teacher who has to teach their own art lessons, this is the post for you. It comes with a big list of things you need in your elementary classroom along with several free art lessons that don't require special materials. Come take a read to get your art lessons organized for the whole year. Best of all, these are art lessons designed for Canadian students.

Most Canadian elementary teachers teach their own art lessons and most do not have any formal training outside of what they learned while earning their Bachelor of Education. That training can vary from a semester of learning to techniques to an afternoon painting one watercolour painting. Don’t worry, ninjas, we got a collection of art projects that will last all year. No planning needed!

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How to Connect Social Studies and Art

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Use art to connect students to their social studies lessons. Find out some of the ways you can integrate art and social studies with these great tips and get a free lesson to try! #artlessons #socialstudieslessons

In Canada, elementary teachers teach all the subject areas in most schools-except specialties like French or music. This means generalist teachers like us are expected to teach art, even when we aren’t trained artists. Our students have been known to question some of our drawings over the years, so we’ve had to be creative in finding projects we can teach our students that help them learn, but don’t stress us out. We want to share them all with you.

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How to Explore Métis Storytelling Through Indigenous Art Lessons

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If you are looking for a great art lesson for painting that explores Indigenous art lessons, you should try this one out. Lots of suggestions on how to use your art once you're done is included too.

This is a lesson we’ve done with our students for years partly because it never fails to create stunning artwork and because it’s fun to do. Students always love it. Artists always study the work of other artists to learn techniques. This art project celebrates Indigenous artists by studying and creating new works inspired by Indigenous art lessons.

Come check out how we create these stunning pieces of art (which aren’t nearly as difficult as you might think) based on Indigenous art lessons.

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