Send to KindleIs summer flying by or what??!! Hard to believe in a little over a month our thoughts will be turning to lunches, backpacks, school supplies and homework. In the meantime, Jump Into a Book wants to continue to soak up every drop of this precious summer and that includes continually sharing amazing multicultural children’s books and complimenting activities to cultivate learning and fun time as a family.
Last week we were visited by one of my favorite young bloggers and authors and this week we are honored with another! Felicia “Neighbor Girl” along with her wildly-talented mom and assistant “Cool Mom” have joined us on JIAB and are sharing another wonderful book for the Discover Your World Summer Reading Extravaganza. Felicia currently aspires to be a movie director when she grows up. Her first book is The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets and you may visit her characters online at www.StanleyAndKatrina.com. Enjoy!
DISCOVERING the CREE NATION THROUGH BLUEBERRIES
Title: Wild Berries
Author/Illustrator: Julie Flett
Year Published: 2013
Publisher: Simply Read Books
Pages: 32
Age Level: Pre-school – 3 years. In addition, it is a great way to introduce The Cree culture to older children.
Summary : Share the journey of Clarence and his grandmother picking wild blueberries. As they do their work, they meet ant, spider and fox in a beautifully illustrated landscape, the ancestral home of author and illustrator Julie Flett. This book is primarily written in English with words shared in the Cree n-dialect, also known as Swampy Cree. The publisher has also made “Wild Berries” available completely in the n-dialect.
WILD BERRIES
The illustrations drew us in, and the fact that we knew nothing about Swampy Cree sealed the deal. We do not study much about the Cree culture in America (at least where we live) but over 200,000 Cree live in communities in Canada and the northern United States.
This is a simply written book which contains powerful translations of key words into Swampy Cree on each page. We found it fun to attempt to say the word at first, then checked the pronunciation guide in the back of the book – boy, were we wrong. ;0)
Julie Flett’s illustrations perfectly accompany her text. She also included notes about the specific Cree dialect used in the book, and a recipe for wild blueberry jam in the final pages.
ACTIVITY:
You may, of course, do an activity related to the animals in the book but we wanted to do something related to the culture. We settled on an activity that would get us out in nature (as the book is set), and created a small Teepee, and canoe which we found on ehow. This was our result:
Julie Flett’s illustrations perfectly accompany her text. She also included notes about the specific Cree dialect used in the book, and a recipe for wild blueberry jam in the final pages.
SUPPORTING ONLIne ACTIVITIES:
Check out this teacher created, elementary level resource that includes the Cree culture: http://www.spiritsd.ca/
Learn how to tell someone I love you in Swampy Cree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
/>v=xbMbDUaz_VU
Listen to Cree Champion Pow-wow Singers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
For another great book about blueberry picking, check out Blueberries for Sal.
THE STANLEY & KATRINA GANG
Stanley (author) is a three-year-old black Labrador/Rottweiler mix who does his best to ignore Katrina. He enjoys snow, attention and turkey.
Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge (author) is an eight-year-old grey tabby cat who loves her toy mouse. She enjoys treats, naps and bossing the dog around. Katrina also enjoys using big words and shares her Words of the Week with free printables and a video.
Neighbor Girl (Felicia) is the eleven-year-old human who knows Stanley & Katrina the best. She assists them with everything. Neighbor Girl loves writing, reading, acting, singing, reading, gymnastics, karate, doodling, reading, ice skating, painting, reading, directing short films, doing computer stuff, oh… did we mention reading? She currently aspires to be a movie director when she grows up. Her first book is The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets. You may visit her characters online at www.StanleyAndKatrina.com. The pets get excited when humans follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Google+.
Cool Mom is Neighbor Girl’s mother and personal assistant when she needs help. She is also the web administrator and social media manager for Stanley & Katrina. Visit her hobby project www.kidlitprintables.
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Send to KindleThe post Discovering The Cree Culture in America-Wild Berries by Julia Flett Review & Activity! (Guest Post from Felicia at Stanley and Katrina) appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
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