Oshki Ogimaag Community School
February 01, 2025
Boozhoo Oshki Ogimaag Community School Families and Community Partners,
Now that Oshki Ogimaag is fully staffed, our Cultural Liaison, Ms. Charlene James (“Ms. Char”) is able to transition more fully into her role! Ms. Char joined us in October. October through January Ms. Char spent time in classrooms, getting to know each of our students, our staff, daily schedules and see observe how our school works and what the daily schedule is like in each classroom. An Indigenous Cultural Liaison at an elementary school plays a vital role in supporting students and families, and we are excited to have someone in this role, after the position remained open for so long!
In her role as Cultural Liaison, Ms. Char will act as a liaison between between school and home for Indigenous students. There are many components to this role, below are some of the essential functions of this role:
- Work with OOCS staff to understand cultural and language differences.
- Communicate with families and under the guidance of the Special Education Coordinator, carry-out Due Process requirements (including attending Evaluation Plan Meetings, Evaluation Share Meetings, and IEP Meetings as part of the IEP Team).
- Gather information and work collaboratively with the Child Find Team, to identify students needing additional support, including developing plans for intervention and attending intervention meetings.
- Provide individual students and/or small groups with academic, social/emotional and/or cultural support. Provide culturally-informed support with problem-solving and conflict resolution.
- Provide leadership in development and support of initiatives that increase daily attendance.
- Facilitate the understanding of and collection of pertinent information such as required annual forms, and support families in completing required forms.
- Support staff in understanding and keeping up-to-date on where and how to locate resources related to Indian Education programs and other resources available to students and families.
- Work with school administrators, social workers, special education staff, and teachers to identify ways to support students through academic achievement and promote retention through family-involvement and other school-based initiatives.
- Coordinate and/or lead activities in Ojibwe Language Instruction and Culture, and collaborate with Community partners in Community-based projects. Provide support and leadership in cultural curriculum development for students. Collaborate with Community Partners in coordinating activities, program, events, and initiatives that reflect the mission of Oshki Ogimaag.
- Support organization of Indian Parent Advisory Meetings and attend meetings.
Ms. Char will continue to fill in for support staff as needed in classrooms and provide supervision during recess. We are filled with gratitude to have Ms. Char on our Team! If you have questions for her you can reach her at the email below.
All students at Oshki Ogimaag are engaged in our Snaring Unit. In the Winter, one of our all-school cultural units is on Waabooz (Rabbit) Snaring. We begin by practicing snowshoeing through the woods and Ms. James teaches students snaring vocabulary in Ojibwe. Educators, along with Emily Derke, Grand Portage Agricultural Coordinator and Dr. Erik Redix, Grand Portage Ojibwe Language and Environmental Education Coordinator, guide students through the woods scouting for tracks and any signs of waabooz (tracks, scat, feeding patterns on branches). Students make wire snares with Emily Derke and choose a place to hang their snares, looking for the “waabooz highway,” pathways frequently traveled by the waaboozong (rabbits). After hanging the snares, we check them daily. When we retrieve waaboozong from our snares, students process them (under the guidance of Emily Derke and/or Dr. Redix), breaking the feet and joints, skinning, and washing the meat. Students learn to process the waaboozong from Dr. Redix and Emily Derke. Waabooz Stew is made. Students learn about the nutritional value and importance of waabooz, these lessons often supported by Elders and other Community partners, such asTess Bailey, Grand Portage Community Nutrition Educator. Students have tried waabooz stew at lunch in the past. If snaring is successful, waaboozong are offered to the Community for Feast.
Waabooz snaring is an example of our methodologies that encompass all components of our mission and incorporate all disciplines of academics. The entire process is hands-on and community-based, involving many Community partners. Waabooz snaring is rooted in Anishinaabe culture and tradition and students are taught Ojibwemowin relevant to their activities. Waabooz snaring contributes to the wellness of future generations, as the lessons students engage in, teach them to care for the Elders and other Community members, by sharing their harvest, and caring for the land, woods and animal life they encounter, during snaring.
Students read about the history of snaring, write about their experiences, and paint watercolor waabooz. Students write predictions and observations in their Nature Journals, collect and record data, learn tracking skills, make predictions about environmental factors on the phenology board, and learn the nutritional information of waaboozong. This unit, as all of our cultural units do, incorporates Ojibwe language and culture, reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies, science, art and environmental education, through methodologies unique to our school, mission and Community.
A Peek Into Our Week
Waagoshag - In Reading, Kindergarteners continue to sound out new sight words. Kindergartners are currently working on CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) sight words, identifying sight words in their weekly poem launch. Kindergartners are working on reading simple sentences and identifying words that are challenging to read. In Reading, 1st graders continue to read short stories and respond to comprehension questions. 1st graders continue to read poems, identifying rhyming words. 1st graders are learning to count syllables in words and are learning words with the prefixes -un and -ful. In Writing, Kindergarteners continue to work on letter recognition, writing letters and sight words. In Writing, 1st graders are practicing writing different types of sentences, learning about questions, commands and statements.
In Math, Kindergarteners are in Unit 03, working on shape identification, and addition and subtraction. In Math, 1st graders continue to work in adding and subtracting numbers within 20. In Science, the class is learning about Winter weather and what animals do in the month of January. In Social Studies, the class continues to learn about snaring.
Makwag - In Foundational Reading Skills, students completed Cycle 56 this week. One component of each weekly cycle is developing phonemic awareness skills. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to identify the individual sounds (phonemes) in words. Phonemic awareness is an important skill that supports the mind in learning to read, and involves segmenting (breaking down a word into individual sounds), blending (combing the sounds together in a word to say the word out loud), deleting (removing phonemes from a word), and substituting (replacing phonemes in a word). In this week’s cycle, students practiced substituting the initial sound (or phoneme) in CCVS (consonant-consonant, vowel-consonant) words. For example, students practice reading words aloud, like slow and then are instructed to read the word aloud again, but substitute the /s/ sound with a /g/ sound, saying glow. Students practiced reading high frequency words with the sound /ow/ spelled ou, ow (e.g. now, found, out, power, hour, crown, discount, powder, outline, flower, ground, owl, couch). The poem this week, was Our Perfect Playground (featuring many of this week’s sight words (see poem below, ask your Makwa to read it to you!).
In Language Arts Module, students are engaged in a study of fossils, beginning with students being provided clues and hypothesizing about the topic, in order to cultivate curiosity. Students are engaged in a series of close-reads of the text, Stone Girl, Bone Girl, the story of real-life fossil hunter Mary Anning, who made a big discovery at age 12. This begins the class study of paleontologists and fossils. In Math, Makwag to continue to learn how to solve story problems, with lessons in story problems and diagrams, story problems and equations, and identifying how to solve the story problem in the way that works best for the student’s learning style. Makwag to continue work on adding and subtracting within 100.
In Science, Makwag learned more about Ecosystems, studying ecosystems of different sizes. This week, students explored microecosystems, meso ecosystems and biomes. In Physical Education, students practiced putting on and walking in snowshoes. In Ojibwe Culture and Art Specialist Time, boys practiced traditional drumming with Mr. Gene and girls in grades 2-4, decorated wooden ornaments with Ojibwe floral designs with Ms. Kat and Ms. Clara, and students continued waabooz snaring.
Migiziwag - In Literacy, students are learning about figurative language using similes, metaphors and idioms. In Close-Reading Research, students read articles and respond to comprehension questions using evidence from the text to support their responses, working to develop strong reading comprehension skills and critical thinking skills. In Math, 4th and 5th graders are working on subtraction, division, and multiplication of fractions. and 3rd grade is working on four-digit subtraction with regrouping.
The class has written to 15 states. Students choose the states to write to, find a town to write to, look-up its geographical location, and record it on their classroom map. In Social Studies, students learned about the Lunar New Year. The class went waabooz snaring and are working on writing a book about snaring at Oshki Ogimaag, including a glossary, steps on how to snare and illustrations.
February 4th, 5th and 6th
Migiziwag (3rd-5th grade) will leave school promptly at 8:05am February 4th-6th (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week)i n order to get to Grand Marais for the Textile Traditions class at North House Folk School. Please make sure your student arrives to school on-time so they can participate in this engaging and cool experience with their classmates!
Hands-On, Community-Based Projects Happening at Oshki Ogimaag
We have Intergenerational Yoga with Ms. Carly each week on Thursdays. Yoga sessions are 20 minutes long and work to support students with focus, attention, mindfulness, emotional regulation, and bodily awareness. Each session, Elders are invited to participate! See flyer below for details and reach out with any questions!
Mr. Gene joins us each week on Thursdays, for traditional Anishinaabe drumming with the boys, and when he’s working with students ,provides valuable cultural lessons. Our students love their time with Mr. Gene and look forward to it each week! When boys are drumming, our Cultural Liaison, Ms. Char, along with Ms. Kat and Ms. LeeAnna, lead the girls in Ojibwe cultural activities. The past week, girls in Grades 2-4 painted wooden ornaments with Ojibwe floral designs with Ms. Kat and Ms. Clara.
Students went snaring and Emily Derke, Grand Portage Agricultural Coordinator, joined. Students also planted in the deep-winter greenhouse with Ms. Emily!
Students continued swimming lessons, lead by certified instructors from Cook County YMCA. Students have swimming on Mondays and Wednesdays through the end of February.
Students work with Anne Brataas, from the MN Children’s Press, engaging in Writer’s Workshops, on Mondays and Wednesdays through the the end of February.
North House Folk School provides Woodworking classes after school on Wednesdays.
Mondays 3:30-4:30, through March 31st, Dr. Erik Redix is leading Ojibwe Language Table, located in the OOCS Conference Room! Join us to learn and/or increase your Ojibwemowin skills! See flyer below for details!
Each Friday afternoon, the whole school joins together for hiking in the woods, along trails, creeks, adventuring to different local spots in nature, including the shores of Gichigami. Forest Fridays are lead by our Environmental Education Coordinator, Ms. Jeana Van Dyne, and Forest Friday activities target meeting our Environmental Education goals with our authorizer, Osprey Wilds.
Jenn Sorenson, RN, Health Director at Grand Portage Health Services sent out the following message about increased flu activity this week:
An increase of influenza has been seen in the community over the past few weeks. Flu viruses primarily spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. These droplets can land on people nearby or on surfaces that others might touch. It is important to continue to practice safety precautions during this time. If you have flu-like symptoms such as cough, fever, or body aches stay home except to get medical care. Most people will recover in a few days to less than two weeks. If you are very sick or at high risk of getting very sick from flu, talk to your health care provider to see if antiviral medication is recommended.
In addition to getting the flu vaccine, simple preventative actions can help stop the spread of influenza and other respiratory viruses:
- Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
- Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Stay home when sick.
- Cover cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
Please call the Health Services for testing, questions and recommendations for managing flu-like illnesses.
During this time of increased flu activity and other illness activity, we want to keep all of our students, staff and Community safe. We will be diligent about sending symptomatic students and staff home to prevent the spread of illness. See flu fact sheet below.
Makwag (2nd grade) will complete FastBridge assessments in Reading and Mathematics February 03-07th.
Reminder: Good rest at night and getting to school will support your student in being successful at school and help to support them completing their assessments successfully and access the information they’ve learned!
Chilly Temps Call for Cold Weather Gear
Please make sure your student comes to school in weather-appropriate clothes and outdoor gear every day. We are committed to outdoor learning and experiences throughout the entire school year, including the many months of chilly, snowy, weather we experience in Minnesota. Now is a good time to switch to long sleeves each day so your student can be comfortable. Each day your student should have the "Big 5": Boots they can hike in, a jacket warm enough for the weather, snow pants, hat, and mittens or gloves.
If your family faces barriers preventing you from providing these items for your students, please reach out, we often have donations of winter gear and/or can help you connect with Human Services to ensure all students have warm winter gear. Please include sizes and color preferences, when reaching out.
