With innocent smiles and laughter, a circle of children dance to the beat of the water drum during the music instruction portion of a native workshop event hosted by Glen Orchard Public School last week.

The entire school participated in a series of one-hour workshops during the two-day event led by First Nations peoples from the area and the Woodland Cultural Centre in Bradford. It included artists and members of the three support communities: Six Nations, Wahta Mohawk Territory and Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.

Classes rotated through four workshops each day that included storytelling with puppets, music, painting, culture, wampum making and leather crafts. The activities for each class were determined by the school staff, principal and the cultural centre co-ordinator based on age and suitability.

Glen Orchard principal Rob Dennys said this benefits everyone in his school.

“It’s building a stronger awareness. (We’re) doing what we can here at the school because we hold a great influence here at our school for all our communities . . . that influence comes directly from the kids, so by providing these workshops it is these kids that will take home or talk about what they learned with other kids and parents. That is bridging that larger awareness,” he said.

He added this is a way to reach out and create more of an open dialogue between the Wahta community and the school community.

“We’ve always had a raised awareness, but we’re just strengthening that raised awareness,” he said.

The school also had select students from Gravenhurst, Muskoka Beechgrove and Watt public schools visit and participate in the workshops.

Originally scheduled for February, the workshops were rescheduled when inclement weather made driving treacherous. Glen Orchard hosted a similar day of workshops in the fall.

Music workshop leader Lucia Sahanatien, who is a First Nations grandmother of one of the students at the school, is proud to be part of this opportunity.

“It’s very important for me. It’s a part of my identity that is part of us,” she said.

Her first rotation was with the kindergarten class, who listened to traditional songs and learned dances, such as the Pick Up the Feather Dance that challenges agility by restricting people to pick up a feather only by the mouth, without the use of hands.

It is a game that tests the agility of children, teens and mostly male adults. She added she enjoys teaching children, who not only listen and learn, but also retain.

“The children are so absorbent. They’re like sponges, they take in everything and the good thing is that they remember for a long time,” she said.

Sahanatien has visited with Gravenhurst High School and various post-secondary institutions teaching her culture and traditions in the last few years.

The official liaison between the school and Wahta Mohawk Territory is Carol Holmes, who sees this as a builder toward advancing the current relationship between the communities.

Glen Orchard is doing more than workshops, being proactive involving Wahta Territory, even consulting with its elders for the end-of-year Pocahontas performance on May 28 and 29. The school has also invited Wahta residents to bring their recording of O Canada in Mohawk on the morning of Aboriginal Day.

Trillium Lakelands District School Board has been very active in increasing greater awareness and improving the relationship with First Nations people.

This is part of a series of initiatives by the provincial government to provide opportunities that will create a better future for First Nation, Métis and Inuit students.

The ultimate aim is to narrow the gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal students regarding literacy, mathematics, keeping students in school, graduation rates and advancement to post-secondary studies.

Workshops led by the cultural centre were also held for three days at Gravenhurst High School.