Nookwezhigewin - Smudging

Boozhoo Oshki Ogimaag Community School Families and Community Partners!

At Oshki Ogimaag Community School at the start of our week on Monday mornings and at the end of our week on Friday mornings, we open our days with a school-wide smudging ceremony. When we start a new school year and re-establish all of our routines and traditions, it is important for an Elder, a knowledge keeper or an individual who holds traditional teachings to participate in this process. We greatly value, respect, and have gratitude for the many Elders and Community members who offer their time, wisdom and talents to our students!

Ms. James or Ms. Kat prepare and lead our school through smudging. When we smudge any individual, adult or student, may choose to pass. We smudge to cleanse the mind, body and spirit. We set our intentions for the day, to enter into the rest of our day in a good way. Each individual may choose different parts of their body to smudge, depending on what they need that day. We learn that we smudge our eyes so we can see good things; our ears to hear good things; our mouths to speak good and true things with kindness, our heads to welcome good thoughts; our hearts to feel in a good way; and our feet to walk on Mother Earth with great respect.

Smudging serves our mission of creating a learning environment based on traditional teachings and preserving Anishinaabe language and culture. Engaging in this traditional practice together fosters a sense of close-knit community within our school, it helps clear our minds so we are better ready to learn, to teach, and to listen to one another, and interact with each other in positive ways.

Family members and other Community members are welcome to join us on Monday and Friday mornings for smudging! We begin at 8:25, after breakfast!

At Oshki Ogimaag Community School, our approach to our Environmental Education (EE) goals is multidisciplinary, as is our approach to teaching in general. Our teachers plan lessons to meet our EE goals, meet the mission of our school, and target MN standards across different fields of study, appropriate for each grade level. At Oshki Ogimaag, we don't view these fields as stand alone pursuits but as parts of a collective whole, like puzzle pieces.

On a Forest Friday, students may make observations in nature, make predictions, hypothesize about different environmental factors and how they may affect plants, animals, and write in their nature journals, as part of our EE goal oriented work. They may incorporate literacy through reading about a related topic or a work of fiction that teachers are making connections with and creating experiences for students to have in the natural environment. Writing, (writing in our nature journals) math (making estimations, taking down data, measurements, etc.) and science (hypothesizing, conducting experiments, studying plants and animals) are all natural components of our EE work. Classroom teachers and Ms. James weave into this work our mission, incorporating Ojibwe words and teaching students cultural lessons connected to our activities, for example; when gardening, students will learn the Ojibwe words for the plants and traditional uses. These are just a couple of examples of our interdisciplinary approach!

The Last Day of School is Friday, May 31st!

We will celebrate all that our students accomplished this year! Open to all!

• 11am Awards Ceremony
• 12pm Open House Lunch
• At around 1pm we will head over to the marina for fishing - our Last Day of School tradition!

We hope to see you there!

Oshki Ogimaag Community School Board Meeting for May has been rescheduled to Tuesday, May 14th, so as to not conflict with the Grand Portage End of Year Awards Banquet on May 15th.

OOCS May Board Meeting

Date: Tuesday, May 14th

Time: 4:30pm

Please: OOCS Conference Area

May

• 14 - OOCS School Board Meeting at 4:30pm, Location: OOCS Conference Area
• 15 - JOM Awards Banquet 5:30pm
• 27 - No School, Memorial Day
• 31 - Last Day of School! Fishing and End of Year Feast and Celebration!

Tuesdays - Reading with Elders

• We have scheduling conflicts these last weeks of school (testing, field trips, etc.). Reading with Elders will resume in September! Chi-miigwech to all the Elders who joined us this school year!