Cultivating Lakota
2015 – 2016
About The Program
The American Indian College Fund supported a Lakota language and culture revitalization program, Cultivating Lakota Early Childhood Learning Opportunities in 2015 to 2016. Partnering with Sitting Bull College, the program sought to develop a scope and sequence of a pre-K Lakota immersion language curriculum, improve family engagement strategies, create an early learning language immersion assessment system, and strengthen the knowledge and skill of Lakota immersion language teachers. Focusing on early learning contexts, this program envisioned to create a long-term, sustainable plan for Lakota language and culture revitalization.
Cultivating Lakota Early Childhood Learning Opportunities is guided by three main objectives:
- Development of Lakota language immersion curriculum, enriched by family engagement
- Development of Lakota language immersion assessment aligned with curricular lessons
- Provide opportunities for teachers to engage in targeted professional development in language learning and development
This funded project will have intentional benefits and sustained impact on the Lakhól’iyapi Wahóhpi families, children and teachers at Sitting Bull College and beyond.
Program Gallery
Grantees
Sitting Bull College
Related Blogs
Tribal Colleges Strengthen Family Engagement Through Early Childhood Education
In July 2014, The American Indian College Fund launched expanded efforts to support tribal colleges and universities in strengthening early childhood education through family engagement. The early childhood initiative, the Ké’ Family Engagement Early Childhood Initiative: Strengthening systems of shared responsibility among Native families, schools and communities seeks to deepen engagement with Native families across four tribal college communities
SIPI’s Ke’ Family Engagement Initiative Pumpkin Patch
Every year for Halloween, families and communities come together to give children an experience of laughter, festivities, and pumpkin carving! Halloween is an opportunity for our children to have fun dressing up in costumes, but more importantly celebrate the fall season!
ECE Researcher to Present Poster at Native Children’s Research Exchange (NCRE)
The American Indian College Fund’s Wakanyeja Early Childhood Education Initiative project director at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Danielle Lansing, will be presenting a research poster at the Native Children’s Research Exchange (NCRE) at CU-Denver this week.
Shaping Native Early Childhood Education with Work and Commitment
This fall marks the final year of the initiative; reflection on the accomplishments of the four tribal college grantees spurs new hope and healing amongst the grantee institutions and their respective project partners. Engaging in collective inquiry to impact and change systems within and among tribal communities is complex work.
