We Are Still Here!

by Traci Sorell, Frane Lessac

In this informational picture book, twelve Native students prepare presentations for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, introducing readers to important events, policies, and movements affecting Native Nations in the United States. Traci Sorell’s recurring declaration, “We are still here!”, and Frane Lessac’s detailed illustrations emphasize Native peoples’ continued presence, sovereignty, and resilience. Although the classroom setting provides a narrative frame, the book is best taught as nonfiction rather than fiction.

Big Idea

Native peoples are contemporary peoples with distinct Nations, histories, cultures, and rights—not figures who exist only in the past. Learning about both historical injustices and Native leadership helps readers understand the continuing importance of sovereignty and self-determination.

Discussion Questions

1.Why might Sorell repeat “We are still here!” after presentations about different experiences? How does its meaning grow as we read?
2.What do the students’ presentations help us understand about the relationship between past government policies and Native communities today?
3.Where do you notice Native people making decisions, organizing, creating, or caring for their communities? What do these examples show about self-determination?
4.How do Lessac’s illustrations help us see Native people as members of living, diverse communities? Which details would you invite another reader to notice?
5.What would you want to learn next about a specific Native Nation, and how could you find information shared by that Nation itself?

Lesson Plan

⏱ 50–60 minutes after an initial read-aloud; alternatively, two 30-minute sessions.📦 A copy of We Are Still Here!, paper, pencils, crayons or markers, chart paper, sticky notes, stapler or binder clips, and teacher-selected excerpts or printouts from official Native Nation sources.

Learning Goals

Identify the book’s central message and support it with words or illustrations.
Explain, at an age-appropriate level, how a historical event or policy connects to Native life and leadership today.
Recognize Native Nations as distinct, contemporary communities with rights to govern themselves.
Create an accurate informational page using a fact, an illustration, and a purposeful recurring line.
Use phrasing, pauses, and emphasis to communicate meaning during an oral presentation.

Activity Steps

1.Read and notice: Read the book aloud, dividing it across sessions if needed. Identify the classroom presentation frame and recurring declaration; explain that Native Nations are distinct political and cultural communities.
2.Build understanding: Revisit two or three presentations appropriate for the class. Explain unfamiliar terms without minimizing harm; for younger students, describe sovereignty as a Nation’s right to govern itself.
3.Gather evidence: Give pairs a teacher-selected passage and, where appropriate, a short current source published by a Native Nation. Have them record one accurate fact and one example of Native continuity, action, or leadership.
4.Make a page: Students write or dictate two to four sentences and add a labeled illustration. Include the source or presentation topic; distinguish what the book states from information learned through an additional source.
5.Test the pacing: Partners read their pages aloud, trying a pause before the class-written recurring line. Revise any wording that is confusing, overly broad, or unsupported.
6.Publish and reflect: Assemble the pages into a booklet and share them. Ask how the recurring line connects the pages, and check that the booklet portrays Native people in the present as well as the past.

Standards Connections

ELA: CCSS RI.K.2, RI.1.2, RI.2.2, RI.3.2, RI.4.2, or RI.5.2—identify the main topic or main idea and supporting details at the appropriate grade level.
ELA: CCSS W.K.2–W.5.2—use the grade-appropriate informative/explanatory writing standard to compose a factual page with words and illustrations.
ELA: CCSS SL.K.1–SL.5.1—participate in collaborative conversations, listen to others, and build on ideas.
Social Studies: C3 Framework, D2.Civ.5.K–2 and D2.Civ.5.3–5—examine the purposes of rules and laws or the responsibilities and powers of government, with explicit attention to Native sovereignty.
Visual Arts: National Core Arts Standards, Anchor Standard 7—perceive and analyze artistic work, including how illustrations communicate historical and contemporary life.

Pace-Write-Read Study with Pace-Write It!

PART 2: PACE-WRITE-READ WORKSHOP We Are Still Here! teaches pacing through an informational structure rather than a conventional adventure plot. Its classroom frame gives twelve student presentations a shared purpose, while changes in topic move readers through difficult histories and continuing Native action. The recurring declaration “We are still here!” becomes an organizing beat: readers encounter new information, pause to consider its significance, and return to the book’s central message. In a Pace-Write-Read study, students can examine how Sorell balances concentrated information with a short, memorable refrain, and how Lessac’s illustrations invite readers to slow down and notice people, places, and community activity. Writers can borrow those craft choices—clear sections, purposeful repetition, accurate details, and deliberate pauses—without borrowing a Native identity or turning historical harm into a game. For K–2, study a few selected presentations through oral language and drawing; for grades 3–5, add vocabulary, source checks, and discussion of sovereignty.

Element	How to notice or teach it in the novel
1. Pacing	Notice how a presentation introduces information before the recurring declaration gives readers a place to pause. Read a selected section twice, changing the pause before the refrain, and discuss how the meaning feels different.
2. Plot	Identify the classroom preparation and presentations as the narrative frame, not a problem-and-solution adventure. Track how the sequence builds understanding rather than expecting a single conflict to be resolved.
3. Prosody	Model a clear, measured reading of historical explanations and a deliberate delivery of “We are still here!” Invite varied, thoughtful emphasis rather than treating every presentation as a dramatic speech.
4. Word	Examine terms such as assimilation, relocation, and sovereignty in the book’s explanations and back matter. Notice how an unfamiliar word can slow reading productively when readers stop to clarify its meaning.
5. Concept	Use the presentations to distinguish continued presence from sovereignty: being here and having the right to self-government are related but not identical ideas. Help students express each concept in accessible language.
6. Voice & Worldview	Discuss how Sorell, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, centers Native persistence and agency rather than disappearance. Look for places where Native people act, organize, and make decisions.
7. Point of View	Ask who is included in the refrain’s “We” and how the student-presentation frame shapes readers’ understanding. Non-Native students can study the line without adopting it as a claim about their own identity.
8. Setting & Place	Distinguish the contemporary school setting from the many places represented in the historical information and illustrations. Avoid treating different Native homelands or communities as one interchangeable place.
9. Original Characters	Notice how the twelve student presenters make a large body of information approachable. Study their roles as learners and presenters rather than inventing cultural backgrounds or personal histories not supplied by the book.
10. Dialogue	Compare presenting information to an audience with conversational back-and-forth. Students can practice turning a researched fact into a brief presentation without inventing quotations from historical Native people.
11. Details	Choose a concrete detail from a presentation and explain how it supports that topic. Check the text and back matter instead of treating every inference from an illustration as a verified fact.
12. Descriptions	Compare what Sorell explains in words with what Lessac shows through clothing, buildings, landscapes, and group activity. Discuss how visual description can add information without lengthening the written passage.
13. Firsts	Ask which idea is new to each reader, such as learning that Native Nations govern themselves today. Use that moment to write a precise learning statement rather than presenting Native people as newly discovered.
14. Immediacy & Engagement	Notice how present-day students and the word “still” connect historical information to now. Ask how the book would feel different if it included only images of the distant past.
15. Story Scenes, Summaries & Structures	Separate the classroom frame from passages that summarize larger historical developments. Have students label these two functions and explain why a picture book needs both.
16. Tension / Suspense / Surprise	Examine the tension between policies intended to undermine Native life and the book’s assertion of continued presence. Do not turn displacement or other harms into suspenseful entertainment.
17. Flashback, Flash-Forward, Cliffhanger	Distinguish historical explanation from a dramatized flashback: the presentations look backward without necessarily staging past events as scenes. Explain that cliffhangers are not a major organizing device here.
18. Page Turns and Chapter Breaks	Study where page turns separate or connect presentations in your copy. Ask how these transitions provide manageable units of information in a book without conventional chapters.
19. Pace & Creativity	Try presenting one accurate fact as a dense paragraph and then as a short explanation followed by a recurring line. Compare how the arrangement changes readers’ processing time without changing the evidence.
20. Play	Let students play with sentence order, movable paper panels, and pause marks while keeping facts accurate. Avoid simulations of forced removal, boarding schools, or other traumatic experiences.
21. Performance	Use the book’s presentation frame to practice speaking clearly and making time for listeners to think. Students should present as themselves, without imitating Native accents, ceremonies, or identities.
22. Personality	Look at how Lessac gives the classroom community visual variety through expressions and posture. Discuss how an illustrator can suggest individuality without readers inventing unsupported character traits.
23. Humor	Humor is not the book’s main pacing tool; its central work is informative and affirming. If students notice a light classroom detail, distinguish that observation from making jokes about historical suffering or cultural difference.
24. Pause	Pause after an unfamiliar policy term and before or after the refrain. Compare a pause for comprehension with a pause that lets an important statement resonate.
25. Poetry / Poetic Devices	Study the refrain as a poetic device within nonfiction. Its compact wording and return across topics help unite information that could otherwise feel separate.
26. Repetition	Track each return of “We are still here!” and name the new context surrounding it. Discuss why purposeful repetition adds meaning rather than simply saying the same thing again.
27. Rhythm	Listen for the contrast between explanatory passages and the shorter refrain. Have students mark the shift with a quiet hand motion rather than assigning an invented cultural rhythm.
28. Punctuation	Examine the exclamation mark in the recurring declaration. Try reading the line with a period, then discuss how punctuation guides emphasis without requiring shouting.
29. Questions	Generate genuine research questions after a presentation, such as how a named policy affected a particular Native Nation. Distinguish questions the book answers from those requiring additional Nation-specific sources.
30. Compare-Contrast	Compare policies that restricted Native decision-making with examples of self-determination and Native leadership. Keep time, place, and Nation specific rather than reducing the comparison to a universal “then versus now.”
31. Objects	Choose an object actually visible in a spread and discuss how it helps communicate setting, learning, work, or community life. Avoid assuming an object is ceremonial or culturally symbolic without evidence.
32. Threes	Do not assume the book follows a rule-of-three structure; its twelve presentations provide the larger pattern. As a writing experiment, students can group three verified details and test whether that grouping improves clarity.
33. Lists	Use the book’s twelve topics to examine how a sequence of related subjects builds a larger argument. Turn notes from one presentation into a short list, then decide which items need explanation rather than listing alone.
34. White Space & Negative Space	Inspect the space around text blocks and between visual groups in an actual spread. Ask where the eye can rest and how that space affects the speed of reading a detailed illustration.
35. Art & Graphics	Study how Lessac’s colorful, detailed illustrations extend the text’s emphasis on living communities. Invite a slow visual rereading after the first read-aloud so students can notice details they initially missed.
36. Interactives & Gamification	The book is not a game, but students can sort evidence cards by presentation topic or match a term to its explanation. Keep the task focused on understanding, not scoring or reenacting historical oppression.
37. Placement	Notice where the recurring declaration sits in relation to the explanation and illustrations. Students can test how moving their own concluding line changes emphasis and the reader’s stopping point.
38. Form	Identify the blend of informational picture book, classroom presentation frame, and supporting back matter. Discuss how these forms let young readers enter complex history while offering places to learn more.
39. Dummy	Create a folded-paper book dummy with a classroom introduction, a factual presentation, a recurring line, and a source note. Move the panels before illustrating to test sequence and page-turn pacing.
40. Passion	Ask what the repeated assertion of Native presence suggests about the book’s purpose. Invite students to write with commitment to accuracy and respect, allowing Native students to choose whether to share personal connections.

Pace-Write It!

20-MINUTE PACE-WRITE-IT! TASK: One Fact, One Pause, One Powerful Ending Minutes 0–4: Revisit one previously taught presentation about sovereignty or self-determination and its accompanying illustration. Review one accurate fact and discuss how “We are still here!” connects that information to the book’s larger message. Minutes 4–7: Model a three-panel paper strip: Panel 1 names the topic; Panel 2 explains a verified fact; Panel 3 offers a reader’s reflection, such as “Native Nations govern themselves today.” Explain that students are writing as learners, not impersonating the book’s Native presenters. Minutes 7–13: Students fold paper into three panels, write or dictate their sentences, and add a small illustration grounded in the selected spread. K–2 students may use teacher-provided sentence frames; grades 3–5 add a precise term and a brief source note. Minutes 13–17: Partners read the strips aloud twice—first continuously, then with a deliberate pause before the final panel. They choose the version that makes the information clearest and mark the pause with a slash. Minutes 17–20: Invite two or three readings and collect the strips. Use a quick check: Is the fact accurate? Does the ending recognize Native life or leadership today? Does the pause help listeners understand the message?

Classroom Activities

Past, Present, and the Power of a Refrain

Students create a collaborative informational booklet inspired by the book’s student presentations. Each page pairs one carefully sourced fact from a selected presentation with an explanation or illustration showing continued Native presence, leadership, or community life. Students experiment with a recurring class-written line, such as “Learning the past helps us understand today,” while recognizing that the book’s “We” belongs to its Native speakers—not automatically to every reader.

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