Tipi: Curriculum Ideas

by Jessica Wesaquate and Andrea Rogers

As mentioned on the home page, a great idea for teaching about the tipi is organizing a tipi raising for your students.
They will be able to physically see how a tipi looks and how it is erected, as well they will be given the opportunity to hear the teachings around the tipi from an elder. You will be able to bring these teachings into your classroom across the curriculum. See below for ideas:

Mathematics:

estimations, weight, height, circumference, shape, ways of measurement,
non-standard linear measurement, 3-D shapes, proportional reasoning, fractions, addition/subtraction/multiplication/division, volume, area

Science:

ecosystems, structures and designs, habitats, animals

Physical Education:

doing a class tipi-raising, First Nations and Metis games

Language Arts:

journal entries on the tipi raising, diary entries as ancestors, research papers, oral storytelling, legends (being sensitive of the season its being taught in), animals and the people, literature

Arts Education:

creating their own tipis, exploring how paint and dies were made, the symbol system, looking at the tipi paintings of today, other Aboriginal art forms

Social Studies:

learning about the past, Canada's First Peoples, province of Saskatchewan, identity, heritage, minority groups, culture, significance of tipi to First Nations peoples

Technological Literacy:

students can search the internet for information on the tipi (in particular the Aboriginal groups surrounding your area), use book and community resources, field trips to the local archives

Aboriginal Education:

opportunity to bring an Elder into your classroom, teachings surrounding the tipi, traditional ways of teaching/learning, the tipi pole teachings

Aboriginal Perspectives is supported by the University of Regina, the Imperial Oil Foundation, the Canadian Mathematical Society and the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.