I Sang You Down from the Stars
by Tasha Spillett & Michaela Goade
Description:
Publisher's description (OwlKids):
Drawing from Indigenous creation stories and traditional teachings and illustrated in dazzling watercolors, I Sang You Down from the Stars is a tribute to the bond between mother and child.
The narrator gathers gifts for a medicine bundle in anticipation of her baby’s birth; a fluffy white eagle plume, bunches of cedar and sage, a quilted star blanket, and a small stone from the river. When the baby arrives, the mother shares the bundle with her child and reveals the importance of each item inside. But when her family comes to meet the new arrival, she realizes the baby arrived with gifts of its own and that the baby is also a sacred bundle: a baby bundle.
Writing in simple, lyrical text, author Tasha Spillett draws from her cultural heritage in order to celebrate Indigenous traditions and the universal nature of a mother’s love, with stunning art by the 2021 Caldecott medal winner for We Are Water Protectors, Michaela Goade.
Author and Illustrator Biographies (OwlKids):
Tasha Spillett is a Cree and Trinidadian award-winning poet and author who is also working on her doctoral degree in Indigenous land–based education. She makes her home in Treaty 1 territory, Manitoba, where she raises her daughter, Isabella, with her husband. Michaela Goade is a Tlingit illustrator, and winner of the 2021 Caldecott medal for We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom. She grew up in the rainforests and on the beaches of Juneau, Alaska, and still makes her home on traditional Tlingit territory today. She also illustrated Encounter by Brittany Luby and Shanyaak’utlaax: Salmon Boy, winner of the 2018 American Indian Youth Literature Best Picture Book Award.
Resource type: Picturebook
Age recommendation: Pre-kindergarten, K-3, 4-6
Keywords: Stars, constellations, medicine bundle, feather, eagle, baby, mom, mother, nurture, love, watercolour, cedar, sage, blanket, stone, river, Cree, Haida, Tlingit, singing, song, birth, pregnancy, hug, cuddle, lyrical
Year of publication: 2021
Publisher information: OwlKids
Teaching & Learning Ideas
Our team collaborated with new teachers, alumni of the Werklund School of Education’s Bachelor of Education program, to create teaching and learning plans for texts in this website. With audiences ranging from Pre-Kindergarten to Post-Secondary, lesson plans across this resource address a wide range of school subject areas, inclusive approaches, and Indigenous education topics, such as the revitalization of Indigenous languages. As this website was designed with Undergraduate Programs in Education instructors, as well as teachers in mind, connections to UPE courses have been flagged on each lesson plan. These lessons are intended as a starting place for educators, to help you envision ways in which you might bring Indigenous literatures, as well as ways of knowing, being, and doing, into your teaching contexts. Please adapt, use, and share these lessons in ways that are generative for your teaching practice. We offer our sincere thanks to the dozens of new teachers who gifted us with these creative ideas!
I Sang You Down From the Stars Grade 1 Unit Plan
I Sang You Down From the Stars Unit_Resource Grade 6
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