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Digital Literacy Framework: K-5 Activities
Inquiry Questions:
Inquiry Questions:
- Why is the turtle important to different Indigenous cultures around the world?
- How do Indigenous calendars connect with local plant, animal, and weather cycles?
2020-yearly-calendar-blank-design.pdfNow look at a calendar. How many months are there? How many days in each month?
Now look at a calendar. How many months are there? How many days in each month?
If you don't have a calendar handy, you can click on the calendar picture to see the whole year.
You might have noticed that there are 13 large scutes and 28 small scutes on the turtle's shell. There are 12 months in a year, with 28-31 days in a month depending on the month. This adds up to 365 days in a year.
Let's do some math! 13 large scutes x 28 small scutes = 364 scutes
That's pretty close to 365, the number of days in a year!
Now for a little lesson: Our calendar is called the Gregorian calendar after Pope Gregory, and came into use about 500 years ago. There were previous versions of the calendar in use for more than a thousand years. These calendars are based on knowledge of astronomy and physics, and use mathematical calculations to precisely measure the passage of time.
Indigenous people around the world based their calendar on their deep knowledge of their environment, and observations of the changes in seasons and patterns in nature to develop their own unique calendars. One commonality among Indigenous cultures around the world is the use of the Turtle as a symbol to represent the year. The turtle also has importance in many stories and legends.
Because of the importance of the turtle, many Indigenous groups refer to North America as “Turtle Island.”
Click on the picture to the left to read an article about Turtle Island from CBC Kids.
Activity Ideas:
Research Skills: Write down 5 WOW facts in bullet points. Bullet points have just the most important words, and no capitals and periods. Here's an example:
turtles have 13 big scutes, 28 small scutes
Drawing: Art Hub for Kids Realistic Turtle - younger students might need help with this activity. Parents or older siblings could draw and younger siblings could colour it!
Learn to say turtle/tortoise in SENCOTEN (the language of the WSANEC people).
Try this Turtle Island game to learn interesting facts about First Nations, Inuit, and Metis culture.
Read/watch Taan’s Moons by Alison Gear OR read/watch 13 Moons on the Turtle’s Back: by Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London. Make note of the different moon names and what they represent to the Haida. Compare with the SAANICH moons. Links are below. What is similar, and what is different? Why do the moons have different names in different parts of North America? Remember that cycles and patterns in the natural environment are very different depending on where you live. This also affects how different Indigenous groups name their moons.
Putting it all together...
The turtle is important to many Indigenous cultures around North America and the world because its scutes are a natural representation of monthly and yearly cycles. Indigenous people knew what was going to happen with the plants, animals, and weather after thousands of years of experience living in their lands. They named their moons specially based on the patterns and cycles of the animals, plants, and weather in their lands.
What other ways do you connect with yearly cycles? How does your knowledge of yearly cycles and patterns in nature help you know what to expect?
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