Students learning the Cree language and culture and absorbing teachings become more confident about who they are and take pride in taking responsibility. Many children show a stronger interest in school and a deeper connection to their traditional roots and Elders.
Being bilingual strengthens their memory, communication, and academic skills. Cree teachings also guide students to make thoughtful choices and understand their responsibilities to others. As they take part in classroom activities, cultural events, and land-based learning, they practise getting involved, helping others, and completing tasks with care.
This is how qualities like commitment, reliability, and a strong work ethic naturally take shape. These skills support their success in any future path they choose.
Since language is at the heart of every culture, Cree language learning is at the centre of Sunchild First Nation. The way a language is constructed, spoken, and written, and the stories that are created to record histories and teachings are the heart of a People’s identity. Cree speakers are critical to the health and future of the Cree culture at Sunchild Nation. The school considers Cree language learning among its most important objectives.
Guided by Cree-speaking teaching staff, Elders, and cultural leaders, our Cree language program helps children develop their sense of identity.
Students develop reading, speaking, and listening skills while learning the words for their surroundings, expressing their voices that help shape their community. As they become competent in Cree, they gain confidence and understanding of who they are.
They learn Cree through daily lessons, monthly themes, and time spent on the land, at the school and the Culture Camp.
Many Cree teachings and stories are available as curriculum. In particular, the Sacred Teachings help them understand their histories, gifts, and responsibilities.
Students use Cree in class, during cultural celebrations, and while spending time on the land. This helps the language become part of their everyday life rather than something they only study in books. The natural world has an abundance of Cree to teach us, if we listen carefully.
Our goal is to help students understand their language. This helps them acknowledge their
identity. Every child is supported, encouraged, and cared for so they can discover their strengths and reach their full potential.
When children learn Cree, they learn more than words. They learn values, traditions, and a way of seeing the world that has guided their people for generations.
The dedication of our Cree-speaking staff, as well as our community Elders and Knowledge Keepers help make this possible. Elders visit our school, sit with students, and share teachings and stories that bring the Indigenous language to life. Their guidance gives students a sense of comfort and reminds them they belong to a strong and caring community.
Learning Cree also supports how students feel about themselves. When children hear their language at school and see their culture respected in the community, they feel more confident and connected.
Our teachers guide children through conversational language, syllabics, stories, poems, and songs that carry teachings from ancestors. Elders share oral teachings to help learners understand the meaning behind stories and build a strong sense of connection to the community.
with Teachers and Elders
Respect reminds students to care for people, animals, the land, and all living things. It is represented by the Buffalo, a symbol of strength and honour, together with other important animals that illuminate other attributes of humans and the rest of the natural world.
Land-Based Learning
The Culture Camp was built and completed around 2015 to provide a richer educational experience for students. The Camp was located in a forest with no houses around. This allowed students to be in a curated living space where Cree nature and culture combined to surround them in an authentic experience.
Twisting a twig, to pluck a leaf, to begin to make a nourishing drink over a campfire; all seems different when grounded in the Cree language. Inspecting the tracks of an animal, who is not there, may yield clues about what it was doing, and whether it will be back.
These experiences help students see how Cree connects them even more to the surrounding natural world in which they live and learn.
The Seven Grandparent Teachings are important values that guide how we treat ourselves, each other, and the world around us. Many Indigenous schools in Western Canada follow these Cree teachings, and Sunchild School is proud to do the same.
These Anishinaabe teachings show students how to live in a good way, make kind choices, and grow into respectful community members. These values shape daily interactions, school culture, and how students learn to lead with understanding and care.
Respect and reciprocity guide the relationship that Cree people hold with the land; natural laws dictate that there are consequences to the treatment of the land which may have an impact on future generations.
Responsibilities and obligations related to the respect, care and attention toward all of creation, all beings, animate and inanimate.
May also be shown in the respect and special attention extended to elders, youth, and visitors.
Strengthening unity while reaffirming the importance of good communication, kindness, respect.
Practise by engaging in active communication with other people, fulfillment of the related obligations of communicating and working well together.
Essential to living a harmonious and fruitful life within their family and with the Nation as a whole.
Living according to the principle is also described in connection to the good relationship that Cree people are expected to have with the land.
Being honest and transparent in your general behaviour and in the quality of your communications.
Demonstrated by showing integrity of character as well as by building accountability and trust, being true to your word.
Listening attentively and respectfully to others when they speak, thus allowing the listener to recognize whether the words being spoken are truthful teachings.
The Cree language is the way to being Cree. The native language is a distinct Cree dialect spoken as a core aspect of our life and of our identity.
Used to communicate Cree people’s history over the ages, providing knowledge of their roots and of their Nation’s foundational principles.
Keep it flourishing by speaking the mother tongue on a daily basis, sourcing and sharing newly-acquired vocabulary with others, and reviewing written documents with those who have expert knowledge in the Cree language to ensure language accuracy.
The act of supporting and helping each other as well as looking out for one another.
Fundamental to our communal life. Encompasses collective support for the wellness, safety, caring and protection of the Nation’s members.
Keeping family members out of harm’s way and in protecting those who are ill, and may pose a danger to themselves and/or to their community.
The interrelatedness of Sunchild First Nation, highlighting the Nation’s tight family network, kinship or family roles and community relationships.
Responsibilities and obligations to all of creation and, in turn, all of creation has responsibilities and reciprocal obligations toward human beings.
Behaviour expectations that are to be maintained for respectful and happy relations.
Encompasses the principles and related laws connected to the Cree way of life.
Being connected to a traditional way of life, the relationship to the land as being central to identity, regular practice and preservation of the Cree language; also, some have adapted new ways of making a living, and many are active participants in the wage economy.
The core responsibility of passing on the Nation’s knowledge to the next generations.
At Sunchild School, students encounter these Seven Sacred Teachings in lessons, activities,
and simple moments throughout the day, learning what these values look like in real situations. Cree language learning for Youth often includes stories and lessons to influence their choices and help them grow into caring community members who show respect, fairness, and patience in their conduct with others.
The colonial system that infused Canadian schools was not appropriate or respectful to Indigenous students and provided a disservice to generations. Sunchild is a Cree Nation and we reflect our culture back to the students, who see themselves in the K-12 curriculum and activities. This is one of the reasons that our Grade 12 graduation rates are higher than some other schools.
Sunchild School begins by teaching Cree words and concepts in Headstart, our preschool program. This curriculum has been filled with appropriate examples and built to reflect students’ experience through K-12 in spoken language, science, socials and history, as well as arts and physical education.
The teachers must have learned Indigenous experience as well as appropriate academic and cultural qualifications in order to teach Indigenous Education.
Cree learning at Sunchild School continues beyond the classroom because families and community members take part in it. Parents, relatives, and local community members come together for school events, workshops, and cultural activities. Their presence shows students that the Cree language and teachings are used in real life, not just at school.
Elders and community voices help students understand that Cree knowledge is shared, protected, and passed forward by many hands. When children see the people they care about participating, they feel supported and encouraged to use the language with confidence.
