Dear Salish Sea Partners:
As I think ahead to my interview Tuesday with Amy Ngo, student journalist in Central Kitsap school district, I’ve been thinking about what I might add to the information already provided to her about the impact of our amazing public engagement project.
This reminded me that my granddaughter (“Miss K”) loves the book as a resource for her children. So I asked her for some specific ways it benefits the kids. She is a primary teacher in Vancouver, WA, thoroughly devoted to her primary-age kids with special needs. Miss K’s words inspire me even more about our book .
“I have used the book to teach the kids about how to read and understand maps, and we have used that knowledge to be able to read native land maps.
My kids love looking through all the pictures of the wildlife, and they have used the book to learn about what plants and animals are indigenous to Washington State, and to be able to recognize and identify different types of plants and animals with sign language and with AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication, namely iPads with communication programs loaded on them so that students can click buttons to say words).
The kids have studied the book and completed independent research projects about the impact of the Puget Sound on Native Peoples’ health and nutrition, and our current unit is specifically about the “10 Things You Can Do (to protect the Sound)” section. They are each choosing and implementing one of the 10, and we are also starting a class garden and a a class compost. Some paraeducators report to me that because of the book, they have learned more about the history of the Sound and how important it is to life in the PNW, and that they have learned more about how to protect and preserve the Sound.
What I love about the book is that it’s a primary resource, and so it allows me to open up a conversation about Washington State and its Native Peoples, the geography of its land, and the plants and animals to which it is home. It does so in a way that centers Indigenous voices and stories.
The book is beautiful, both in the stories it tells and the people and places it depicts, and my students all can tell how special it is. My principal has complimented the eloquence of the book, and I have even had other teachers join with my class so we can experience the book and learn from it together.”
- From David Workman, co-author of We Are Puget Sound