The Class Made Paper Headdresses. One Little Girl Went Home Quiet.

In Honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day 2026 · A Message to Early Childhood Educators from Theoria Technical College

Every year on the second Monday of October, which falls this year on October 12, we observe Indigenous Peoples' Day. It is a day to honor the histories, cultures, languages, sovereignty, and ongoing contributions of Indigenous Peoples across the United States. Here in California, that includes more than one hundred federally recognized tribes, along with many more Native communities, families, and children.

Many of those children are in our classrooms right now.

A Story Too Many Teachers Will Recognize

A few years ago, a preschool class spent a November afternoon making paper headdresses and feather crafts. The children loved it. The photos went home in the weekly newsletter.

One little girl in that class was Native. She did not say anything during the activity. She went home quiet. That evening she asked her mother why her classmates were dressing up as her family.

Nobody in that classroom meant any harm. The teacher had done the same activity for years, the same way it had been done when she was a child. But a craft meant to "celebrate" had turned a living culture into a costume, and a four-year-old felt it before any adult did.

That is why this day matters for early childhood educators. Young children form their first ideas about who belongs, who is real, and who is "from the past" long before kindergarten. What we put on our shelves, our walls, and our craft tables teaches those ideas every day.

What This Looks Like in the Classroom

Honoring Indigenous Peoples in early childhood is not about one special day or one themed week. It is about everyday practice:

• Teach in the present tense. Native people are not only part of history. They are doctors, teachers, artists, parents, and children today. Choose books and images that show contemporary Native life.

• Be specific. There is no single "Native American culture." Learn and use the names of specific nations, especially those whose homelands your program sits on.

• Retire the costumes. Headdresses, feather crafts, and "dress-up" activities turn sacred and cultural items into play. Replace them with stories, music, games, and art shared by Native creators.

• Read books by Native authors and illustrators. Look for stories written from inside the culture, not about it.

• Partner with families. If a Native family is in your program, invite them to share what they would like to share, on their terms, and never ask a child to speak for a whole people.

• Learn whose land you are on. Find out which tribal nations are the original peoples of your area, and share that with children in age-appropriate ways.

Our Commitment

At Theoria Technical College, we believe culturally responsive practice is not an extra. It is the job. That belief shapes our early childhood coursework, including ETHN-101: Introduction to Ethnic Studies, where students study the histories and present-day realities of Native American communities alongside African American, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Latina/o communities, and apply what they learn to real classroom practice.

As Native American Heritage Month begins in November, we invite every educator in our community to look at their classroom with fresh eyes. Check your bookshelf. Check your November lesson plans. Ask what a Native child in your room would see.

The little girl who went home quiet deserved a classroom that saw her. Every child does.

With respect,

Theoria Technical College Office of Academic Affairs academics@theoriatechnical.com · (760) 487-8436

"A college with vision. A career with purpose."