Historica Canada Education Portal

This lesson is based on viewing the Stewart James biography from The Canadians series. This Ontario born trickster made a name for himself around the world as the greatest inventor of magical tricks and puzzles that ever lived. His name lives on in magical circles years after his death and is spoken of with the greatest possible respect.

In a variety of activities, students will study the life of Stewart James and his world of magic. Students will also look at the strange genius...

Students often experience difficulty in mastering the precise vocabulary used in social studies and history courses. Faced with this difficulty, they are sometimes reluctant to ask for clarification of the terms used. The result is a loss of learning opportunity. Here is a way of clarifying those concepts and literally keeping them in the forefront of the students' minds. It is based on one of our oldest educational learning tools... remember how you learned your ABC's.

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This lesson is based on viewing the Joshua Slocum biography from The Canadians series. Slocum was an author and sea captain. During a three year voyage in the 1890s, he became the first person to circumnavigate the world alone.

Students will consider the life and experiences of Joshua Slocum and his family. These activities encourage students to do further research and examine Slocum's own writings.

Joshua Slocum started his career at sea as a cook. While he was never...

Based on the concept of Literature Circles, the lesson will introduce students to History Circles, where small groups investigate a historical topic by each completing an individual task, sharing their work with their group, and planning as a group how to present their topic to the class or wider audience.

To introduce students to different aspects of the study of history, and allow them to approach a topic from a wide variety of learning styles.

In the introductory lesson,...

This lesson plan is based on viewing the Footprint videos, The Brier and Eddie Werenich. In Saskatchewan writer W.O Mitchell’s novel, The Black Bonspiel of Willie MacCrimmon, the main character says, "You could say curling is as much for the spirit as for the flesh." Such is the feeling for a game consisting of a flat icy surface and coloured rocks. This competitive spirit has infused Brier champions like Eddie Werenich. The game may be frustratingly tedious to some, but there is no...