Ojibwe Land-Based Workshops for Manitoba Schools
Curriculum-Aligned and Ready to Book
Classroom Teaching
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Prepare students for the warmer months with knowledge about bird personalities, plant relationships, weather behavior, and more! We teach a wide range of subjects based on the interest of each class.
For a list of extra subjects we teach click here.
Best suited for during the winter school season when outdoor locations are difficult to access.
Sessions can cover winter-related subjects or prepare students to look for spring plants, animals, and more.
Outdoor Workshops
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See first hand the complex relationships in our environment - explained through a traditional Ojibwe and Western scientific perspective.
Our outdoor workshops teach students and teachers alike to understand the nature that grows right around them in a new way. Learn how trees build their own communities, bird communicate, and the role animals have in the environment.
We offer year-round outdoor workshops dependent on weather conditions.
Teaching locations include school grounds, shelterbelts, local parks, and nearby natural areas.
Guided Land Tours
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In our favorite field trip option, we take classes on a hike in their location of choice. Groups will learn about their local environment, seeing the many micro-ecosystems and plant behaviors in each as we go and learning about the Indigenous history of the area.
Guided tour locations are flexible depending on transportation and accessibility needs.
Teaching locations include local parks, natural areas, Provincial and National Parks.
Indigenous History
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Join us to learn the history of Manitoba's landscapes and peoples directly from a traditional Ojibwe knowledge keeper covering subjects including traditional land use, ways of life, Treaty history, and more.
While we offer single-class sessions, half to full-day sessions are recommended due to the complexity of the topics.
We offer indoor-outdoor sessions to include land-based knowledge, providing a fuller picture of traditional life and history.
Truth and Reconciliation
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The history of Manitoba's peoples and their relationships continues into today. Learn about what treaties and relationships mean to traditional Ojibwe people and how we can build better ones today.
While we offer single-class sessions, half to full-day sessions are recommended due to the complexity of the topics.
Outdoor sessions are optional, but in combination with this topic provide a fuller picture to the traditional perspective.
PD Day Speaking
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What does it mean to teach Indigenous knowledge, how do we build better relationships between communities, and how do schools and teachers navigate Indigenous issues?
We seek to answer those questions and more from the traditional Ojibwe perspective at PD day events.
We are available for PD day events, offering indoor and outdoor sessions upon request.
What do we teach students?
When you know how and where to look, the environment around us is never a boring place. From birds interacting like drama tv to battles for habitat between tree communities, we teach teachers, students, and tag-alongs to understand the ecosystems around them in a whole new way using traditional Ojibwe knowledge complimented by western science.
Below are just some of those topics we typically teach, whether it's in the field, on the Swan Lake reserve, in nearby parks, or on school grounds.
Subject Samples
Ants and Tree Immune Systems
Did you know tree and forests have immune systems like ours? Black scabs like these on poplar trees are a fungi introduced by ants, an out-of-control dynamic that weakens the health of forests and can even affect the weather.
Reading the Weather with Ants
The Ojibway could read the coming weather with the animal behavior around them. Ants feel air pressure differently than us. Like this photo, when they cover their nests with certain debris, it may mean its time to take shelter.
A War in the Forest - Battles for Habitat
A lone oak tree stands near a poplar bluff: this is a battle for habitat with many players over the span of decades. The Ojibwe knew how oaks fight back the rapid-growing poplar, as well as how this affects the weather on the prairies.
The Personality of Clouds
Living on the prairies in teepees meant the Ojibwe had to know what each type of cloud signaled for coming weather. Knowing the time of year, humidity, wind, color, and moving direction of a cloud can mean predicting harmless rains or heavy hail.
Bird Interactions
The language of birds and their unique personalities are not only entertaining, but extremely useful when on the land. We have observed birds playing tricks on us and each other, stashing and stealing food, protecting their forests from predators, and interacting between species.
Traditional Life and Moving Forward Together
The first rule of Ojibwe culture is to look at everyone as human beings first, regardless of race, religion, or politics. Through the history of our past relationships, treaties, and looking at each other as human beings first, we can learn to move forward together and create a good world for the next generations.