Welcome to Seattle Public Schools' Native American Education Library! Our resources focus on Native American and Alaska Native perspectives. Explore our online collections—a compilation of websites, videos, interactive media and other resources for students, families and educators:
Nathan Hale Student Creates Film about Climate Change Affecting Indigenous Nations
Interconnected: The Effect of Climate Change on Indigenous Nations is a film produced by Rosie Port and her brother Gabe. Rosie is a graduating senior and vice president of Nathan Hale High School’s Native Club. She also was a speaker in Nathan Hale's 2019 Native Heritage Assembly. Rosie created and beautifully produced this powerful film for her Hale Senior Action Project. It is an important piece of student work about issues facing indigenous culture and what individuals can do to reduce their environmental impact.
Seattle Public Library "Library Link" for Students, Teachers & Staff
Library Link is a collaboration between The Seattle Public Library (SPL) and SPS to provide access to the library's vast collection of information resources.
SPS students, teachers and staff can log in without signing up for a library card. Visit SPL's Library Link webpage for details. Access eBooks through Libby, animated picture books and nonfiction through Bookflix, movies and graphic novels through Hoopla, research databases, and much more!
View this short video to learn the basics of Library Link—good for getting started. Need help? Call SPL at 206-386-4636 or www.spl.org/ask for email/chat.
Native Education for All: Online Learning Resources
IllumiNative has partnered with the National Indian Education Association and Amplifier to create Native Education for All, an initiative providing online lesson plans, tools and resources for Pre-K through 8th grade students. Each lesson—available as a downloadable pdf—guides teachers and students through learning about Native American art, culture, history and contemporary life.
Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate
Author Joy Harjo (Muscogee Creek), the first Native American U.S. Poet Laureate, has been appointed for a second term. She will focus on her project, "Living Nations, Living Words: A Map of First Peoples' Poetry"—an interactive map of contemporary Native poets.
“When you think of all the Indigenous people in the nation, that poetry goes back hundreds of years, and it’s part of this culture,” Hayden [Librarian of Congress] said, adding that the musicality of Harjo’s poetry makes it accessible, especially to young people. “I would just encourage people to read one of her poems, and you’ll hear the music in your head when you’re reading them.”—The New York Times, 4/30/20
“It is an honor to serve a second term as poet laureate, especially during these times of earth transformation and cultural change,” Harjo, who is the first Native poet to serve in the position, said. “Poetry reminds us that we are connected beyond words, and to communicate through poetry has the potential to expand the conversation into wordless depths, to help us move collectively into fresh cultural vision. To get there in understanding, we begin with the roots. In this country, the roots are found in the poetry of the more than 500 living indigenous nations.”—Indian Country Today, 5/1/20
Below are resources to learn more about Joy Harjo and other Native American poets and their creative work:
Contemporary Native American Books
Recently, we've added multiple copies and book sets of popular titles such as There There by Tommy Orange, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Young Water Protectors: A Story about Standing Rock by Aslan and Kelly Tudor, Trickster: Native American Tales, a graphic novel collection by multiple Native American authors, and many more titles.
Author visit: Joseph Bruchac
Joseph Bruchac, a Nulhegan Abenaki author of more than 150 books for children and adults, visited Dearborn Park Elementary, Hawthorne Elementary, John Rogers Elementary, Licton Springs K-8, Olympic Hills Elementary and Orca K-8 in January. His book, Skeleton Man, is one of this year's Global Reading Challenge titles. Thank you to The Seattle Public Library for bringing him to visit students at Seattle Public Schools! Read about Joseph Bruchac's Licton Springs K-8 visit.
Photo, left to right: Chandra Hampson, School Board Director; Superintendent Denise Juneau; Joseph Bruchac, Nulhegan Abenaki author; and Gail Morris, Native American Education Program Manager visit Licton Springs K-8.