Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message

 I feel so blessed to be able to have a copy of this book. This book is written by Chief  Jake Swamp and illustrated by Erwin Printup, Jr .To better explain this book I am copying the Authors' Note from the book.
The words in this book are based on the Thanksgiving Address, an ancient message of peace and appreciation of Mother Earth and all her inhabitants.  These words of thanks come to us from the Native people known as the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois or Six Nations- Mohawk, Oneida, cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora.  the people of the Six Nations are from upstate New York and Canada.  These words are still spoken ceremonial and governmental gatherings held by the Six Nations. Children, too, are taught to greet the world each morning by saying thank you to all living things.  They learn that according to Native American tradition, people everywhere are embraced as family.  Our diversity, like all the wonders of Nature,is truly a gift for which to be thankful.
 I read this story to the children Monday morning. They were really into the pictures and asking many questions. This lead to discussing Native American names like Gentle Four Winds, and Elder Brother Son. In the afternoon this book was requested again, this morning we read it again before circle time. This book truly brought meaning to our circle time and I believe this book may have started a brand new way of how we begin circle time around here. The Native American Good Morning Message has the kids begging for more.

Yesterday during the childrens' naptime I put together this basket that has some items that represent Native American Culture. They fell in love with it the minute I showed it to them after we read Giving Thanks again.

                                    Here is N exploring the objects.

                    
                  N is reading Giving Thanks while looking at the objects.

Mumble was real motivated to make a map of Land and Water. Mumble kept saying he was making "The deep blue waters around Mother Earth", this is a line in the book.

                                                                     
You can get a free teacher guide to go along with this book at http://www.leeandlow.com/. I am linking this to Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn  where you can find activities that children are doing with history and geography.