• Six Seasons Article Published in Australian Journal

    The latest issue of Papers: Explorations into Children's Literature published by Deakin University in Melbourne Burwood, Australia, features an article on the Six Seasons project. The article is based on a keynote that Project Director Mavis Reimer, Curriculum Team Leader Doris Wolf, Senior Research Associate Melanie Braith, and Six Seasons Research Assistants Amanda Laverdure, Ben Roloff, and Grace Braniff gave at the Biennial Australasian Children's Literature Association for Research (ACLAR) conference in July 2022.

    The article is freely available here: https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/inde...

    The abstract reads:

    "This discussion, stemming from our keynote address at 2022 ACLAR Biennial Conference, brings together researchers and emerging scholars from the Six Seasons of the Asiniskaw Īthiniwak project, a community-driven research project that shares knowledge about Rocky Cree culture in northern Manitoba, Canada, through historical picture books, picture book apps, and teachers’ guides. Using this project as a case study, we reflect on the three themes of the 14th Biennial ACLAR Conference: legitimacy, authenticity, and agency. In particular, we trouble the concept of authenticity and question its usefulness for the kind of cross-cultural research that we are undertaking in the project. We document our processes for working with oral stories and translating these into written texts. We outline the community and scholarly research that grounds the textual, pictorial, and auditory representations of the picture books and apps we produce, and propose that the aspiration to historical, cultural, geographical, and linguistic accuracy at the centre of our project is a more enabling objective than a search for authenticity is. We also discuss how the curriculum materials we develop seek to connect young readers with Rocky Cree culture and use the concepts of agency and entanglement to think through these connections. The final part of this discussion considers a gathering on Rocky Cree culture that academic researchers and Rocky Cree community researchers and knowledge keepers organized collaboratively. Not only was our project initiated by Rocky Cree community members, but, as this gathering demonstrates, it also assumes an ongoing relationship with these communities."

  • The Gift of the Little People Highly Recommended by the Canadian Review of Materials

    The Gift of the Little People by William Dumas (illustrated by Rhian Brynjolson) was reviewed in CM: Canadian Review of Materials and deemed "Highly Recommended."

    You can read the full review here: https://www.cmreviews.ca/node/...

    CM: Canadian Review of Materials is published weekly from September through June and is an all-volunteer online publication that features reviews of books and other materials that are authored, illustrated, and/or published by Canadians and that are produced for/of interest to children and adolescents. CM's reviewers are teachers, teacher-librarians, public librarians, and university professors who have an interest and expertise in materials for juveniles.

  • Canadian Teacher Magazine Reviews The Gift of the Little People

    The Gift of the Little People was reviewed by the Canadian Teacher Magazine in its spring 2024 issue.

    You can read the full review here: https://canadianteachermagazin...

    "The Gift of the Little People shares aspects of the language, culture, territory, history, and knowledge of the Rocky Cree people at the beginning of the fur trade in the 1600s. This story fits into many areas of the school curriculum and lends itself to practising the following reading comprehension strategies: questioning, inferring, predicting, visualizing, and making connections."

  • New video showcases Amo app highlights

    You can now download our new picture book app AMO, the app version of Amō’s Sapotawan in the App Store on iOS and the Play Store on Android. The app features several interactive games, narration in Cree and in English, as well as an engaging soundscape.

    More information on sixseasonsproject.ca

  • Pīsim Finds Her Miskanaw Featured in Anniversary Catalog

    Six Seasons first book Pisim Finds Her Miskanaw mentioned in catalogue for Portage & Main Press/HighWater Press anniversary 15th.

  • Six Seasons AMO app and Teacher's Guide Launch: Photos

    Six Seasons researchers, Knowledge Keepers, and project partners celebrated the launch of the new app and Teacher's Guide for Amō’s Sapotawan in Leatherdale Hall at the University of Winnipeg. Here you can revisit the event and listen to the various speakers.

  • Recording of the Launch of the AMO app and the new Teacher's Guide

    Recording of the Launch of the AMO app and the new Teacher's Guide Six Seasons

  • AMO app and PISIM app now available on iOS and Android

    AMO app and PISIM app now available on iOS and Android

  • Launch of the New Six Seasons App and Teacher's Guide

    Please join us for the joint launch of AMO, the second app in the Six Seasons series, and the new Teacher’s Guide for AMO and Amō’s Sapotawan.

    The event will take place on Thursday, November 23, from 4:30 pm to 6 pm in Leatherdale Hall at The University of Winnipeg.

    https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/maps/...

    Light refreshments will be provided.

    The AMO app not only allows readers to experience the Six Seasons picture book Amō’s Sapotawan in digital form, it also provides unique features, such as recorded narration in English and Cree and interactive games. The Teacher’s Guide is intended to support educators using Amō’s Sapotawan and the AMO app in the classroom. It presents four thematic modules that include teaching strategies with suggested connections to Manitoba middle years curricula in Social Studies, Science, English Language Arts, Health, and the Arts as well as Rocky Cree culture and language.

  • Film: Revisit the 2023 Rocky Cree Gathering

    Awaniki Asiniskaw Ithiniwak? Who Are the Rocky Cree? was a gathering in Thompson, Manitoba, that brought together Rocky Cree communities in Manitoba and academic researchers working on topics related to Rocky Cree culture, history, stories, and language. The gathering was organized by the Six Seasons of the Asiniskaw Ithiniwak project at the University of Winnipeg and the Asiniskaw Ithiniwak Mamawiwin, a grassroots group focused on documenting the oral histories of the asiniskaw ithiniwak in northern Manitoba.