May 29

Wow! What a morning we had at the Aboriginal Learning Centre today. They have a beautiful learning and community space that they welcomed us to today and we learned so much.  We were met at the doors by the staff of the school and later learned that their school was designed to represent a tipi, which is the Blackfoot traditional home.  They like to think of their school as a home for anyone to come to visit.

We headed outside to play three Aboriginal Games: The Buffalo Jump; The Stick Game; and Run and Scream (yes a favourite!)
For the Buffalo Game, one student had the chance to be the buffalo. The students needed move the buffalo over the line or into a corral without touching it.  They quickly realized how important it was to work together

We then played the stick game. For this game we needed to pass a pouch to each other using only a stick.  We called the name of a friend who had to catch it. This game is good for hand eye coordination. 

 Lastly, we played RUN AND SCREAM!  What did we do...? Just that! Students needed to run as far as they could while screaming and needed to stop once they were out of breath.  We know that the running for this game would help us get faster and more agile for hunting, but we aren't sure why the Blackfoot would scream at the same time. This is something we will investigate.

 We then went back inside for a tour of the school. It is so warm and welcoming. We learned about the entrance and the design and we had a chance to practice some of the 69 Indigenous languages of Canada.  The welcome sign with these languages is made to look like a canvas of a tipi, with the foothills at the bottom and the stars (Big Dipper, Milky Way, and Little Dipper) at the top.

As we walked through the school we learned about some of the artifacts of the Blackfoot people. For example, we learned that the yellow purse below would have taken approx. 6 months to bead.

We also went into the centre of the school and heard the story of the design of the room.  It had doors facing each direction and windows that faced east so the sun could be seen rising and west so the sun could be seen setting.  It has wood around it to bring in the natural component and is a central space in the school for both community members and students. 

During our snack, Shirley, one of the teachers volunteered to do a grass dance for us. She invited us back another time to even learn the dance from her.  We were mesmerized by her beautiful colours and the sound of the drums. 

Lastly, we practiced saying Hello, my name is in Blackfoot "Oki, nee-dahn ikoo" and had the chance to tell the story of where out families came from. We looked at the artifacts including the large buffalo hide, the bear, and the traditional drum. 

This was a day that we will come back to over and over this year as we learned so much about the Blackfoot people and the land on which we live. We have so many questions and so you may hear some of them as we delve a little deeper into Calgary's history. 

Thank you once again to all the volunteers who came with us today. 

Coming up:

• Fun Lunch Wednesday
• Grade 2/kindergarten assembly Friday AM
• Volunteer Appreciation Friday PM