Learning Story – Being Respectful in New Places
The Week of April 2 2024
What Happened?
Today we began the day on the sliding hill, playing an epic game of tag and digging in the snow. Because we were heading indoors for the day, we have learned that doing some heavy active play in the morning is especially important to help regulate our bodies for the day. During circle, we did a safety talk and we spent some time talking about how to be respectful in new and different spaces. When we asked how we should be in a new place such as a sidewalk along a busy road and Makerspace, we heard:
We should be respectful.
We should ask before we touch what isn’t ours.
We should listen to the people at Makerspace.
We should look both ways.
Several of the older Bushkids were asked to be a buddy to the younger Bushkids, and they all shone in that leadership role. At Makerspace, the Bushkids were very respectful during the tour of the building. They had the opportunity to learn about all the different machines that are available to use. Today, they had the opportunity to use the laser etching machine to decorate either a nameplate or the front of their birdhouse. The group of older Bushkids had the opportunity to use the computer to choose an image to decorate their birdhouse, while the younger Bushkids began to build their houses. Once all of the birdhouses were complete, the painting stations were set up and the Bushkids were able to decorate their birdhouses with paint or permanent markers. We had the privilege of listening to several very talented piano players throughout the day!
Why is it Important?
Visiting new spaces and meeting new people (of all ages) is a regular part of life. When children are given regular opportunities to interact with new people in new and different spaces, they begin to understand that different rules need to be followed in different places and that we often have to adjust and assess how to be respectful.
The Dene law says “Be respectful of everything around you”. The Bushkids demonstrated how to follow this law in how they carried themselves and interacted with the people and machines at Makerspace.
What Does This Mean For Next Time?
Although we will not be visiting any other new sites, we will continue to bring in new people to Bushkids and discuss with the Bushkids how to be respectful when we are sharing the site. This week Larry Jones will return to demonstrate how to scrape the hairside of the moosehide and Lila Erasmus will join us for the next two weeks. We will discuss ways to demonstrate “Be
respectful of Elders and everything around you” as we interact with each other and other familiar or unfamiliar faces. We are taught that one way to be respectful is to share what you have – we will model how to do that with the guests that come to Bushkids because they share so much knowledge with us. It’s so important that the Bushkids see this is a tremendous gift and that we need to practice reciprocity – it doesn’t always feel like enough to just say “mahsi cho”. We need to continue asking ourselves “what do I have that I can share”?