Book: The Animal People Choose a Leader by Richard Wagamese

Teachers: Jenna and Carolyn

English Language Arts Curricular Connections for grades 5/6: Big Ideas: -Language and text can be a source of creativity and joy. -Exploring stories and other texts helps us understand ourselves and make connections to others and to the world. Curricular Competencies: Comprehend and connect (reading, listening, viewing) -Consider different purposes, audiences, and perspectives in exploring texts -Identify how story in First Peoples cultures connects people to land Create and communicate (writing, speaking, representing) -Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding Content: -Story/text-forms, functions, and genres of text-text features -literary elements -perspective/point of view
Evaluate	Background Knowledge: -Many students may have prior experiences with classroom leaders and team captains for sports/PE games -Some familiarity with animals -Buffalo, Cougar, Eagle, Wolverine, Horse -Needed to be discussed about what a Wabooz was (rabbit) -Varying levels of understanding of First Peoples stories and oral storytelling traditions -Students knew that different characters can have different strengths. -Students were familiar with the idea of voting or choosing someone to lead a group.
	Funds of Knowledge: -Personal strengths and characteristics students recognize in themselves (kindness, listening, responsibility). -Experiences working in groups and taking on different roles. -Understanding that people have different strengths that help a group. -Prior experiences making group decisions or compromises. -Knowledge of what it feels like to be included or excluded.
	Potential Stumbling Blocks: -Understanding leadership as service rather than power or control -Limited background knowledge of First Peoples Principles of Learning -Expecting there to be one “best” leader instead of many different strengths. -Difficulty connecting animal characters to real -world leadership qualities. -Some students may focus on who “won” rather than the lesson of the story.
	Instructional Opportunities: -Discussion of leadership qualities -Connecting story themes to students’ real life experiences. -Modeling reflective thinking through think-alouds. -Using creative responses (writing, art, drama, games) to deepen comprehension. -Clarifying unfamiliar vocabulary and animal names from the story. -Exploring why different characters think they should be leader. -Encouraging students to question and challenge ideas respectfully. -Highlighting that leadership can change depending on the situation. -Creating space for multiple interpretations of the story’s message.

Explain	Brainstorm Unfamiliar Words: -Leader -Council -Wisdom -Respect -Responsibility -Stamina  -Discerning -Humility
	Words to Teach:	Short, Simple, Straightforward Definitions:
	Leader	A person or being who helps guide others and makes good choices for the group.
	Wisdom	Knowing what is right and making thoughtful decisions.
	Council:	A group of people who make decisions together.
	Respect:	Treating others and their ideas kindly and fairly.
	Responsibility:	Doing what you are supposed to do and being dependable.
	Stamina:	The ability to keep going, even when it’s hard.
	Discerning:	Being able to notice or understand what is important.
	Humility:	Being humble and knowing your strengths and weaknesses.
	Think Alouds: -We notice that the animals are watching how each character behaves, not just what they say. -This makes us think that a good leader listens more than they talk. -We’re wondering why the animals didn’t choose the loudest or strongest one. -We see that some animals are being helpful even when no one is watching. This makes us think that leaders show care quietly. -We notice that each animal has different strengths. This makes us think a good leader doesn’t have to be the same as everyone else. -We’re noticing that the rabbit is clever and patient. This makes us wonder if brains can be as important as strength in a leader. -We see some animals getting frustrated or impatient. This makes us think that a leader needs to stay calm and fair. -We’re wondering how the animals decided together without arguing too much. This makes us think teamwork is part of being a good leader.
	Stopping or Pausing Points:  -After the animals discuss what they are looking for in a leader -Before the race starts -When different animals demonstrate leadership traits and race -Before the final leader is chosen to invite predictions		I Language: -“I think this part shows…” -“I wonder why the animals…”    Examples: -“I think this part shows how a leader listens carefully.” -“I wonder why the animals didn’t pick the strongest one.” -“I notice that some animals help even when no one is watching.” -“I think this part shows that being fair is important for a leader.” -“I notice that each animal has different strengths to offer.” -“I feel like the story is teaching us that anyone can be a leader.”

Engage and Extend	Social-Emotional Learning Engagement: -Discuss empathy, listening, and respect. -Reflect on how it feels to be chosen, not chosen, or to support a leader. -Encourage students to value their own strengths and those of others. -Talk about how different animals showed patience, kindness, or fairness. -Practice taking turns and listening carefully in small group discussions. -Discuss how it feels when someone doesn’t agree with you or challenges your ideas. -Encourage students to notice and name strengths in their classmates. -Connect story situations to real -Life examples of teamwork or leadership at school or home.
	Activities: -Prediction Writing: Students write predictions about how they think the story will end before the leader is chosen. -Perspective Writing: Students write as one of the animals in the story, explaining their thoughts and feelings. -Leadership Game: One student is the leader performing simple actions, another student leaves the room and returns as a detective to guess who the leader is (up to 3 guesses). -Art Activity: Create chalk drawings inspired by animals and nature -Personal Reflection: Students write personal characteristics that would make them a good leader. -First Peoples Principles of Learning Activity: Cut-and-paste activity matching principles of learning to examples from the story
	Cross-Curricular Extensions: -Art: Chalk art  -Language Arts: Narrative and reflective writing activities. -Social Studies: Community roles and decision-making. -Drama: Re-enactment of the animals choosing a leader. -SEL: Practice teamwork and cooperation through cooperative games. First Peoples Principles of Learning:  -Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story. -Learning requires exploration of one‘s identity. -Learning recognizes the role of Indigenous knowledge.
	Extensions to Support Reading and Writing:  -Create a class chart of “What Makes a Good Leader.” -Journal response: “What kind of leader do I want to be?” -Small-group discussions using sentence starters and evidence from the text. -Write a short story or comic showing an animal being a good leader. -Make a “leader’s advice” poster using ideas from the story. -Act out a scene from the story and then write a reflection about it. -Create a list of leadership qualities with examples from the animals in the story. -Write a letter giving advice to one of the animals about being a good leader.

First Lesson Reflection:

During our three-week read-aloud with the Grade 5/6 class, my co-teaching partner Carolyn and I explored The Animals People Choose a Leader by Richard Wagamese. We introduced the book and explained that it would be read in chunks over three weeks with activities connected to each section. In the first lesson, we read up to the point where the race begins, then students wrote predictions about how they thought the story would end from the perspective of one of the animals. Many students were highly engaged and wrote detailed responses, with several continuing onto a second page, showing strong investment in the activity. To extend learning in an active and engaging way, we ended the lesson with a leadership game where one student acted as the leader, guiding the group through subtle actions, while another student waited in the hallway and returned as a detective to guess the leader within three attempts. This lesson supported the Professional Standards for BC Educators by fostering meaningful student engagement, encouraging voice and perspective-taking, creating an inclusive and collaborative learning environment, and reflecting intentional, responsive teaching practice. Through prediction writing, perspective writing, and the leadership activity, students developed communication skills, empathy, and an understanding of leadership in a playful, community-building way.

Photo of one of our perspective activities, done in our second lesson

Second Lesson Reflection:

In our chalk art activity, we had students create chalk drawings on black construction paper, inspired by the animals, nature, and overall design in the The Animal People Choose a Leader. After reading, students were to choose 1-3 animals to include in their drawings, as well as a minimum of 3 nature elements from the story. Students were very engaged with this activity, and made some beautiful art pieces!  For this activity, an adaptation that we prepared beforehand was different sized/types of chalk. We bought a variety of kinds at Staples to ensure that everyone would be able and comfortable using them. One thing we would change for next time is to give more time for the students to complete this art activity. We had two students who wanted to add a large amount of detail, and did not get to completely finish their drawing. This lesson supported the Professional Standards for BC Educators, specifically ‘Educators implement effective planning, instruction and assessment and reporting practices to create respectful, inclusive environments for student learning and development.’ We think it best connects to this standard because the chalk drawing activity was engaging and accessible, allowing students multiple ways to represent their understanding of The Animal People Choose a Leader. Students also got put into groups, and came up with strengths and challenges of each character as a leader! An example of this is shown in the picture above.

Photos of our chalk art activity

Third Lesson Reflection:

In our personal reflection activity, students reflected on the story and wrote about personal characteristics that would make them good leaders. After discussing leadership traits shown by the animals in The Animal People Choose a Leader, they identified qualities in themselves such as kindness, patience, fairness, listening, responsibility, or creativity, using a Canva prompting sheet. Sentence starters like “I am interested in…” and “I like…” helped students who needed support beginning their writing, reducing anxiety and helping them focus on expressing their ideas. One student was adapted for by sharing verbally while we recorded their responses on paper. Next time, we might allow more time for a think-pair-share before writing so students can discuss ideas with a partner and feel more confident in their reflections. This lesson connects to the Professional Standards for BC Educators, specifically ‘Educators understand and apply knowledge of student growth and development,’ as activities were scaffolded to match students’ developmental levels and allowed all learners to participate meaningfully. Students also completed a cut-and-paste activity matching student-friendly versions of the First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPLs) to examples from the story, identifying moments such as animals showing leadership, patience, or teamwork. Simplifying the FPPLs allowed all students, including those who struggle with complex text, to engage fully and make connections between the story and cultural values. Next time, we would provide more examples or story connections, as students were highly engaged and completed the activity quickly. This lesson also supports ‘Educators respect and value the history of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in Canada…’ because students explored the story and connected it to FPPLs, seeing how these teachings from the past still influence how we think about leadership and working together today.

Photo of our First Peoples Principals of Learning Activity

Connections to our course textbooks:

For our read aloud activities, we took some really great ideas from the textbook: Read Alouds for all Learners: A Comprehensive Plan for Every Subject, Every Day by Molly Ness. As shown earlier, Carolyn and I incorporated her three-step framework of Evaluate, Explain, and Engage & Extend into our planning and delivery.

Sources:

Read aloud planning template- Read Alouds for all Learners: A Comprehensive Plan for Every Subject, Every Day by Molly Ness

Professional Standards for BC Educators 

BC Curriculum