Lesson 6: Braiding Sweetgrass, “An Offering,” “Asters and Goldenrod,” and “Maple Sugar Moon”

Retell & Paraphrase Partner Check

Transition students into pairs. Assign each student the role of Partner A or Partner B. Have students take out their copies of Braiding Sweetgrass and their Journals and turn to the annotations they made for homework after the previous lesson.

• Lesson 5 Homework: Students read the chapters “An Offering,” “Asters and Goldenrod,” and “Maple Sugar Moon” and annotated passages where Kimmerer describes giving something back to the land. Students also wrote brief notes explaining how these moments relate to the idea of reciprocity.

Say these directions: With your partner, take turns retelling and paraphrasing the chapters you read for homework. Partner A will retell and paraphrase one example from the text where the author describes giving something back to the land and explain how the example connects to the idea of reciprocity. Partner B will listen carefully and compare the explanation to their own understanding of the reading. Then Partner B will paraphrase a different example from their annotations while Partner A listens and compares.

• Partner A: One example I marked is when the author describes her father pouring the first sip of coffee onto the ground as an offering to the land. This act shows reciprocity because he is giving something back to the land in gratitude for the place where they are camping.

• Partner B: What I heard you say is that the father’s coffee offering shows gratitude toward the land. Another example I marked is when the author describes her mother’s rule to “leave this place better than you found it” (p. 52) and to leave wood for the next camper’s fire. This also shows reciprocity because the family takes care of the land and thinks about the people who will come after them, creating a cycle of respect and responsibility.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, you will analyze how Kimmerer uses imagery, figurative language, and tone to describe these everyday actions. Through these descriptions, the author shows how small, repeated choices can express gratitude, respect, and reciprocity between humans and the natural world.

Fluency Practice

Direct students to the paragraph on p. 69 that begins with “Maples have a far more sophisticated system for detecting spring” and ends with “. . . like all newborns, they are hungry”

Say these directions: Turn to page 69 in your copy of Braiding Sweetgrass, and follow along as I fluently read this paragraph.

Explain that fluent reading is more than reading fast. It means reading accurately, grouping words into meaningful phrases, and using punctuation and expression to show what the author is saying.

• Say: First, listen as I read the paragraph aloud so you can hear how punctuation, phrasing, and expression help us understand the author’s meaning.

Provide a model of fluent reading of the paragraph.

As a class, briefly discuss the gist of what is happening in this paragraph.

• Ask: What is the gist of this paragraph? What is happening with the maple trees here?

  • The paragraph explains that maple trees can sense spring and begin moving stored sugar to feed new growth. The author compares the new growth to newborns, which helps show that the trees are active and need energy.

Set a purpose for reading the text a second time. Have the class echo-read the text.

• Say: Let’s build a deeper understanding of this paragraph by reading it a second time and paying attention to where the commas help us pause and where the author wants us to slow down and hold on to an idea.

Set a purpose for reading the text a third time by explaining that students should try to read smoothly for expression and for accurate reading.

• Say: Now let’s read the paragraph one more time to practice our fluency. This time, you will read with a partner and listen for accurate words, smooth phrasing, and expression that matches the meaning.

Have students partner-read the text. First, Partner A reads, and Partner B provides feedback. Then Partner B reads, and Partner A provides feedback.

Say these directions: Partner A reads the full paragraph while Partner B listens for three things: accuracy, pauses at punctuation, and expression on important phrases. Then Partner B gives one strength and one next step. Switch roles and repeat.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: When we read this paragraph fluently, it becomes easier to notice how Kimmerer blends science, imagery, and meaning. That will help you analyze how her language develops ideas about reciprocity in the reading that follows.

Part A: Understanding Ceremony (RI.8.3, RI.8.4, SL.8.1.a) (10 minutes)

Transition students into pairs for this part of the lesson.

Give One, Get One

Explain that students will reread an excerpt from the text and practice refining their analysis through discussion.

Instruct students to reread pp. 49–52, starting with the paragraph that begins “I can picture my father, in his red-checked wool shirt” and ending with the paragraph that concludes “These offerings were made only under an open sky and never back in town where we lived.”

Say these directions: Reread the passage titled “Gods of Tahawus” on pp. 49–52 with your partner. As you read, consider this question:

• How does Kimmerer show that her father’s daily coffee offering is representative of “ceremony”?

Talk with your partner about the question. Then transition to discussing with another partner in order to iterate on your first discussion and share new ideas.

• Kimmerer describes her father’s pouring of the coffee as a kind of ceremony that they experienced at the camp. By describing the careful way he pours the coffee onto the ground and the way they “know, without being told, that it’s time to pay attention,” she suggests that the action is a way of showing gratitude toward the land. She explains that the coffee offering was a ceremony for their family and “taught us the respect we owed these other beings” (pp. 51–52). Kimmerer knows that this familial ceremony is tied to other Indigenous ceremonies that are similar.

After students have discussed the question with several partners, transition the students back into a whole-group discussion.

• Ask: How does Kimmerer describe ceremony over the course of the chapter “An Offering”? What tone is created by her description of “ceremony”?

  • She describes her “secondhand ceremony” as being just as important as “the right ceremony” because the ceremony helps you live “gratefully” (p. 53). It doesn’t matter that her father’s coffee ceremony is not the official ceremony, only that it is “founded on respect and gratitude” (p. 53). Her tone is one of reverence or appreciation for her family’s ceremony. She realizes that the ceremony created belonging and a “home” (p. 55), and the tone she creates is one of gratitude.

Part B: Analyzing Figurative Language (RI.8.4, SL.8.1.d, L.8.5.a) (20 minutes)

In this part of the lesson, students will remain in their pairs and engage in the Iterative Conversation routine to analyze two excerpts.

Iterative Conversation

Say these directions: Reread the last paragraph of the first part of the section “Asters and Goldenrod” on p. 59 with your partner, starting with “And yes, as it turns out, there is a good biophysical explanation.” As you read, underline one phrase that describes the colors of the flowers or the way pollinators respond to them. Think about the following question as you read:

• What does Kimmerer learn from observing asters and goldenrod together, and how does this connect to the idea of reciprocity?

Model for students how to engage in the Iterative Conversation protocol.

• Ask: Who can share an initial response to this question? Everyone else, listen carefully and think about how you could improve the answer.

  • Kimmerer learns that asters and goldenrod help each other by growing together. Their purple and yellow colors attract more pollinators than either plant would alone, which shows reciprocity because both plants benefit from the relationship.

Ask for feedback as part of the Iterative Conversation protocol.

• Ask: Who has feedback to help improve this answer? Remember, your feedback should add evidence, clarify the idea, or offer another interpretation.

  • She also explains that purple and yellow are complementary colors, which makes them more visible to pollinators. This shows that their cooperation is not accidental but part of how nature works.

Model for students how to use the feedback to revise their response.

• Ask: How could we revise the original response using that feedback?

  • Kimmerer learns that asters and goldenrod benefit from growing together because their purple and yellow complementary colors attract more pollinators. This shows reciprocity because each plant helps the other reproduce, and it also shows how cooperation is built into natural systems.

Explain that students will now apply the same Iterative Conversation routine with their partner.

• Say: With your partner, reread the section on sugaring, pp. 67–70 in “Maple Sugar Moon,” and also read the last two paragraphs on p. 73, starting with “When my daughters remember our sugaring adventure . . .” As you reread, underline examples of imagery or figurative language that show the relationship between people and maple trees.

Provide time for students to reread and underline examples with their partners.

• Say: When you are done reading and underlining, engage in an Iterative Conversation with your partner using the following question.

  • How does Kimmerer use figures of speech, such as personification or imagery, in “Maple Sugar Moon” to demonstrate the reciprocity between humans and nature?

• Say: Follow these steps:

1. Share an initial response with your partner.

2. Your partner gives feedback by adding evidence or improving vocabulary.

3. Revise your answer using the feedback.

4. After you revise your answer, switch partners and repeat the conversation with a new partner.

Students should complete two or three rounds of Iterative Conversation if time allows.

• My first response was that Kimmerer uses personification when she writes, “The responsibility does not lie with the maples alone.” This shows that people and trees share the work of making maple syrup together. My partner suggested that I also explain the imagery of sweetness, because the syrup is literally sweet, but it also represents the sweetness of the relationship between humans and trees. My revised answer is: Kimmerer uses personification when she writes that “the responsibility does not lie with the maples alone” (p. 73). This imagery shows her mindful awareness that humans and trees depend on each other, creating a relationship that produces both literal sweetness in the syrup and figurative sweetness in their shared responsibility.

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Quick Write

Instruct students to reflect on today’s lesson by writing the final version of the answer they refined during the Iterative Conversation in a Quick Write response.

Say these directions: Write the final version of your answer from the Iterative Conversation.

• How does Kimmerer use figures of speech, such as personification or imagery, in “Maple Sugar Moon” to demonstrate the reciprocity between humans and nature? Name a figure of speech, and explain the idea it conveys.

  • Kimmerer uses personification to show that people and maple trees share responsibility for producing maple syrup. When she writes that “the responsibility does not lie with the maples alone” (p. 73), she personifies the trees as partners who share the work with humans. This figure of speech conveys the idea that humans must work mindfully with nature; it is not just a transaction but a relationship of reciprocity, in which both humans and trees contribute to creating the sweetness of the syrup.

Provide students with a copy of two poems by Joy Harjo: “Perhaps the World Ends Here” and “Don’t Bother the Earth Spirit.” Instruct students to read the chapter “Witch Hazel” in Braiding Sweetgrass (pp. 75–82) and the two poems, then take notes in their Journal on the following prompt:

• In both the Braiding Sweetgrass chapter and the Harjo poems, underline moments where an everyday object or place is treated as something meaningful or sacred.