The day started like a day at most professional development workshops. We made copies of handouts, placed pencils within reach for participants, and tried to predict the participant turnout.
For the Wisdom of the Children Blogs
A Conference That Ignites Connections
A team of in service and pre-service teachers from Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College attended the Minnesota Association for the Education of Young Children (MnAEYC) and Minnesota School Age Care alliance (MnSACA) Annual State Conference.
SIPI Preservice Teachers Learn STEM Habits through Culturally Relevant Design Projects
Preparing to become a teacher to Native children is a dream that is becoming a reality for four Early Childhood Education (ECE) student interns at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI).
Threading the Needle from Theorist to STEM
Early Childhood theorists have influenced educators’ practice in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for many years. Through the Gimaadaadizimin (We All Start A Journey) Project, supported by the American Indian College Fund’s For the Wisdom of the Children: Strengthening the Teacher of Color Pipeline, the Early Childhood Education Department at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC) have strengthened and expanded our future teachers’ knowledge in STEM.
Early Child STEM Programs Grounded in Community Needs
The backbone of a community-based program is taking into account the community’s needs. This happens by listening to people in the community who you hope to serve with your programming.
Native Children Living on Salish Sea Meet and Greet Sea Creatures
In early November, the Salish Sea Research Center team from Northwest Indian College visited our Early Learning Center classrooms. Our students were excited to see what they had brought because the scientists arrived with a mysterious, big, red ice chest. The children called it “a treasure chest of sea creatures!”
Raising Native Children in a Good Way
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC) is excited to be able to do just that by involving the community and families in our Early Childhood Education Program with early learners, helping us all to become a stronger, vibrant voice with Anishinaabe ways of knowing.
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Hosts Native Arts Workshops Based in Place
In the fall of 2017, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC) hosted a series of traditional Native Arts workshops that relied heavily on the surrounding environment for source materials to help produce a woven cedar mat. Using local resources and materials to create and revitalize traditional Native art forms is the essence of place-based education in the arts.
For the Wisdom of the Children: Strengthening the Teacher of Color Pipeline
A child dips her feet in Wheatfields Lake on the Navajo Reservation at sunrise and wonders what lies beneath. A young boy walks through the forests of Menominee Nation, shaded by tall green trees, surrounded by the stories and history of this sacred environmental wonder.