Elementary Level

CULTURE

Cultural Acceptance – Students whose clothes are similar are singled out and separated. “The setting of the room is a normal everyday classroom. Don’t change the room. This may bring out many emotions, be prepared to deal with a variety of reactions. PURPOSE: To be able to experience how it feels to be a minority. OBJECTIVE: Student will be able to experience first hand racial indifference.”

Triangles Are Not Bad! – Understanding cultural diversity – “We must teach people how to operate in a world that is diverse and pluralistic. Schooling is not effective if it doesn’t have a multicultural component. By not recognizing and teaching diversity, minority cultures are devalued with the implication that they are less significant. The message becomes you are not okay if you are different from the majority culture members.” Students create a societies of specifically shaped residents, and perform a scripted play. Reference: Flatland, A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott. (Check www.bookfinder.com for copies and ISBN)

Canadian Geography

Canada Mini-Unit (K-1) – Seven activities to introduce Canada to K-1 students: Locate Canada on a Map, Examine Inuit Lifestyles (using book Whiteout), Take a Journey Through Canada to the Atlantic Ocean (using Paddle to the Sea), Count in French (using book Count Your Way Through Canada), Trade, Build a House, and The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Canadian folksong. Part of the Geographic Education and Technology Program’s collection of lesson plans.
Canadian Flag (K-1) – Students learn how the Canadian flag was created. Students create their own Canadian flag out of construction paper, and then brainstorm other ideas for a Canadian flag.
Hi Neighbor! A Journey through Canada(3^rd) (PDF) – “Through active participation, learners will develop a global awareness of our neighbor to the north, Canada. Learners will explore the complex nature of the Canadian culture by examining significant historical Canadian events. Spatial sense skills are exposed and extended through various hands-on multi-sensory lessons.”
Canada: A Land Rich in Beauty and Culture (3rd) (PDF) – “Through active participation, learners will develop a global awareness of our neighbor to the north,Canada. Learners will explore the complex nature of the Canadian culture by examining significant historical Canadian events. Spatial sense skills are exposed and extended through various hands-on, multi-sensory lessons. To ensure that individual needs are met, learners will express their own appreciation of learning by sharing their new knowledge with others. This unit will establish a solid foundation that will embrace both skills and knowledge for future learning.”
Canada, Our Neighbor to the North (3rd) (PDF) – “This third grade unit focuses on Canada, its geography and history. Students will demonstrate their knowledge of spatial sense in locating Canada’s regions, provinces, major cities, and landforms. Students will work together in groups to gather information and write an informative paragraph, which will lead to a final lesson activity in which students will create a brochure. Students will have an understanding of how French and British history helped shape Canada as a nation. Students will also understand how the heritage of Canada can impact what the country is like today. Students will have an opportunity to use their imagination and creative skills to step back in history. Students will also be able to relate how people can work through language barriers and become unified. Students should have a deeper understanding of Quebec’s French speaking people along with the history of Canada as it pertains to the French and British.”
Canada Web Quest (3rd) – Working in your team you will research your Canadian province or territory and become an expert. Next, using “The Most Important Thing About” frame, you will report your research. Finally, you will create a poster and give an oral report to turn your classmates into experts, too.
A Trip to Canada Web Quest (3rd) – “Canada has many beautiful places to vacation in its provinces. Your job is to plan a summer week-long vacation for the Price family. The family consists of a dad, mom, a boy 8 years old and a girl 6 years old. The family loves to camp, fish, hike and other water sports. Using the vacation planning sheet, you will need to plan where the family goes, how long they stay in each location and what they do while they are there.”
Canadian Treasure Hunt Web Quest (3rd-4th) – Find the secret location of a mystery city somewhere in Canada.Use each of the clues provided to reveal one letter of the mystery city.Record your clues on the template provided.After assembling all the clues, go to the mystery location and explore.
Canada on Postcards – “Each student will be given a 4×6 index card, on the front of the card they will draw something that they learned and found interesting about Canada. On the back of the postcard they will explain what it is and why they found it interesting. Before this activity can take place the class will have been through an intense Geography unit on all the provinces in Canada, including the rivers and other large bodies of water.”
Canadian Currency – Students will understand and develop an appreciation for the differences between the currencies of the United States and Canada.
Geography of Canada (3-5) – Students will use the video Geography of Canada, the Internet, and library sources to learn about the provinces of Canada; create maps of Canada, indicating the provinces, major urban centers, and territories of Canada; and compare and contrast the provinces of Canada by writing descriptive paragraphs of each province.
Where is Everyone Living? (5th) – Students will use a variety of resources to identify Canada’s provinces and capital cities. They will locate the population count for each of the provinces and territories and capital cities. They will record this information on spreadsheets (student prepared or teacher prepared in Excel) and develop bar graphs (student or teacher prepared in Excel) which will allow them to compare the information and answer questions on this information.Students will then be introduced to the regions of Canada by completing a map of the regions and a chart relating the major cities and their populations to the region in which they are located. This will be used as a motivator to further investigation as to why the population of Canada is distributed as it is among the various regions. This will lead to further investigation into the regions by organizing information using databases and Inspiration webbing charts. Students may be asked a the end of the unit to produce a Power Point presentation of one of the units to demonstrate their understanding of the objectives for one particular region.

LITERATURE

Yukon Quest Reading Challenge – This site outlines a reading game to follow along with a real dogsled race, and it provides race background and a bibliography.”The objective of this reading game is for the students to challenge a Yukon Quest team to the finish line. A team of students must read faster than the musher and his dogs can travel down the trail. For Grade 3 purposes, a minute of reading is the equivalent to a kilometre (or mile) of travel. This may be easily adapted for other grade levels.” The Yukon Quest is a 1,000 mile or 1600 kilometer sled dog race that runs in February between Fairbanks, Alaska and Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. In even numbered years, the race starts in Fairbanks and finishes in Whitehorse and in odd numbered years it starts in Whitehorse and finishes in Fairbanks.

NATIVE CANADIANS

Activity 11: Aboriginal Peoples – Students examine data from the 2001 Census on the Aboriginal population. Topics include distribution of the Aboriginal population across the country, the three Aboriginal groups, age, and language. (1-2 class periods)

PIONEERS and SETTLERS

Mystery of the Old Suitcase – “A participatory, in-school historical education program designed to teach grades three to six about the history of the O’Reilly family and Point Ellice House through the use of objects, documents and photographs. “Evidence” to be studied: Packet of letters (9), Telegram (1), Painting of house (1), Diary Notes (5 pages), Photos (10). The program provides both an in depth experience of the O’Reilly family, and a broader knowledge of 19th century upper class Victorian life in British Columbia.”

SASKATCHEWAN ELEMENTARY SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM

Saskatchewan Grade 3 Social Studies – Curriculum includes: Identity – Comparing Canadian Families, Comparing Canadian Schools, Comparing Canadian Communities, and Heritage – Communities Then and Now, Culture as Reflected in Folktales. Bibliography

Saskatchewan Grade 4 Social Studies – Curriculum focuses on the province of Saskatchewan, and includes: Saskatchewan the Province, Saskatchewan Places, Saskatchewan Heroes, Saskatchewan’s First Peoples, Explorers, Fur Traders, The Métis Peoples, Early Immigrants, and Treaties, Immigrants and Settlers. Bibliography

STATISTICS CANADA EDUCATION RESOURCES

Urban and Rural Communities – In this lesson, students will compare distinguishing features of urban and rural communities using data from Community Profiles, which is composed of Canadian census statistics. Students will read and interpret data from tables and summarize their findings.
Canada and Its Trading Partners – This lesson is designed to help students identify the relationship between Canada and its trading partners. Students use two data sources, Summary Tables in Canadian Statistics and E-STAT, on the Statistics Canada website to explore the growing importance of trade in general, and trade with the United States in particular. Students will examine the seasonal variations in imports and exports using E-STAT. Finally, they will investigate how the United States affects Canada through other interactions such as the media, immigration, culture, etc
Statistics Canada – Lessons include: Aboriginal Studies, Canadian Studies, Art, Geography, History using statistics from Canadian census. See also Teachers Kits.