Ptanyetu ahi kte!

Han Mitakuyapi! Welcome to the newsletter for Mahpiya Luta Owayawa.

We are very excited to be working with your students! It's going to be an awesome year! These newsletters will keep you up to date on our curriculum, school and classroom happenings, important events, and other helpful links and tips.

Dates to Remember

✅Monday, Sept 1st Labor Day No School

✅Wednesday, Sept 3rd Kindergarten Wophila Wednesday(10:35 arrival)

✅Friday, September 5th Crazy Horse Honoring Ft. Robinson Field Trip

✅Wednesday, September 10th 1st Grade Wophila Wednesday

✅Thursday Sept 11th, Parent Teacher Conference, 1:00 Dismissal

ASP

ASP Permission slip were sent home with students last week. They are due on Friday, Sept 5, 2025. Please have students choose one box for the club they would like to join.

Art
Cross Country
Handgames
Singing (Weds Only)

Students who sign up for ASP will have to attend during the week. Students will sign up for the club for the entire 9 weeks.

Thematic Unit: Leadership from a Lakota Perspective

Unit Goal

Students will explore leadership through the lens of Lakota values, stories, and history, developing an understanding that true leadership is rooted in service, humility, courage, and responsibility to community.

Essential Questions

What does it mean to be a leader?
How did Lakota leaders, such as Crazy Horse, demonstrate leadership?
What Lakota values guide leadership, and how do they apply to our lives today?
How can I practice leadership in my family, school, and community?

Core Lakota Values to Highlight

Wóohola (Respect) – Honoring all life and relationships
Wówačhaŋtognaka (Generosity) – Giving of oneself for others
Wóohitika (Bravery) – Facing challenges with courage
Wačháŋtognaka (Compassion) – Leading with empathy
Waúŋšila (Humility) – Understanding leadership is about service, not power

Learning Activities

Storytelling & Oral Tradition
- Read or listen to Lakota stories of leaders (Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, contemporary community leaders).
- Discuss lessons on humility, service, and bravery.
Values in Action
- Students identify examples of Lakota leadership values in their own lives (helping family, showing respect, standing up for others).
- Create a “Leadership Journal” to reflect on daily acts of leadership.
Elder/Community Guest Speakers
- Invite local Lakota leaders, elders, or knowledge keepers to share perspectives on leadership.
Art & Expression
- Students create visual art, poetry, or song inspired by Lakota leadership values.
- Collaborative mural or circle project to represent shared leadership.

John Around Him Sr. Day

Thursday our middle school students joined us as we sang an honor song for John Around Him Sr. Click on the picture to hear them sing.

He was a Lakota leader and veteran from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He was known for his work preserving and promoting Lakota spirituality, language, and culture.

Key aspects of his life and work include:

Lakota ceremonial songs: He performed and helped document many Lakota ceremonial songs, which were featured on a CD and in a booklet titled Lakota Ceremonial Songs. The project was a collaboration with Albert White Hat Sr., who provided the translations.
Community and cultural preservation: Around Him was dedicated to sharing and teaching Lakota traditions, and he was known for the concept of wolakolkiciyapi, a Lakota term that means "learning Lakota ways of life in community".
Work with inmates: He was recognized by the state of South Dakota for assisting Native American state prison inmates in maintaining a connection to their culture. He did this by leading spiritual conferences and inipi (sweat lodge) ceremonies.
Legacy: When he died in the fall of 2006, he was honored by the community and remembered for his humility, wisdom, and tireless efforts to pass on Lakota knowledge to the next generation. He was also a teacher at a local college on the reservation.

Tasunke Witko Wokiksuye September 5th

For the Lakota people, September 5th is an important day of remembrance. It marks the honoring of Crazy Horse, a visionary leader who embodied courage, humility, and an unbreakable commitment to his people.

Crazy Horse led not through titles or wealth, but through example standing firm in defense of Lakota ways of life, guided by spiritual strength and deep responsibility to the generations yet to come. His leadership was grounded in service, sacrifice, and the belief that true leaders walk beside their people, not above them.

As we reflect on this day, may we carry forward the values he lived: bravery, humility, and dedication to community. Crazy Horse’s spirit reminds us that leadership is not measured by power, but by how we protect, uplift, and honor one another.