September 8, 2008
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Ningo Gikinonwin: Ojibwe Four Seasons
K-3, Social Studies: Time, Continuity, and Change in Native American Culture
2004 Acquisition from Lorraine Norrgard.
Ningo Gikinonwin: Ojibwe Four Seasons is a series of four 15-minute videos targeting the K–3 age group that celebrates this circle of life. These programs are narrated by young Ojibwe children and are told through extraordinary reenactments at Waswagoning, a recreated 17th-century Ojibwe village located in Lac de Flambeau, Wisconsin. Students see how time has altered some Ojibwe customs and practices while others have continued into the present. Each program in the series focuses on one season, demonstrating how the Ojibwe learned about their heritage, gathered food, created crafts, and entertained themselves before European settlement in the northern Great Lakes region and today.
AIT’s education professionals worked with the producer to define the scope and target audience for the series, providing input into script creation on such topics as
- Instructional design
- Focusing content on K-3 history and culture standards for all 50 states
- Best practices in teaching social studies concepts in primary grades
- Recommendations for appeal to a young audience
“AIT provided outstanding support determining how the content of my programs tied into the context of the classroom.”
—Lorraine Norrgard
AIT also provided pre- and post-production services including
- Evaluating the video for quality and compliance to industry standards
- Digitizing the videos
- Creating analog and DVD masters
- Close-captioning facilities
- A full-sized teaching guide that included:
- Suggestions and background information on using the programs in a theme-based unit
- A separate lesson plan to accompany each video (based on the four seasons)
- A summary of each video
- Previewing activities
- Viewing pause points and discussion starters
- Post-viewing activities that include both
- Activities to extend the experience across all subject areas, and
- Special geography-focused lessons that cover primary social studies standards.
- Reproducible handouts for children, including map activities and Native American crafts
- Assessments
- Standards correlations for 49 states plus the District of Columbia
“The guides you are creating will really make the series come alive for the viewers. They will be equally as important and valuable as the video. Thanks for all the hard work and willingness to make it culturally accurate.”
—Lorraine Norrgard