Historica Canada Education Portal

This project is designed to be an introduction to mythology utilizing local history and culture. The project will involve elders telling local legends to students and then collaborating with students on producing a storybook with illustrations of the legend as told to them by the elders. This project demonstrates the traditional working relationship of First Nations people – elders sharing their wisdom with the students in turn interpreting the history and culture taught to them. The...

The student will identify Canada’s Prime Ministers since Confederation and place the Prime Ministers along a time line. The student will report on important events in the life of a Prime Minister. The student will report a significant contribution that the Prime Minister has made to the development of Canada. The student will produce a piece of art/drama that has relevance to the life of the Prime Minister.

This is a researched based project. The students will use secondary...

This exercise presents an historic photograph for your students to recreate, or step into. The photo of The Last Spike shows many of the key people involved with building the Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR), some unidentified people, and a young boy who is poking his head through the crowd. This photograph was taken on the dreary morning of 7 November 1885 at Craigellachie, British Columbia at the western entrance to Eagle Pass.

In this lesson, students will become actors in the...

A lesson plan that gives students a chance to celebrate their heritage and have fun at the same time.

Time Allowance: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Procedures:
Defining heritage: Have students watch some of the Historica Canada Heritage Minutes. What information is each of...

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...

This lesson offers students an opportunity to explore Canada's regional treasures and heritage. They will compare their own life in their own community and province to life in another province. This activity could also serve to offer opportunties for art and geography lessons.

This project is designed as a vehicle that will be applicable to any grade level or expectation within the Social Studies Curricula.

Students will develop the following skills:
• Research
• Presentation
•...

Students will interview relatives for their childhood memories of the Second World War. The relatives should have been near the ages of the students during the War. After the interview, students will provide a first person written account in postcard format with a prepared charcoal drawing or an archival photograph to represent the memoire. The students will learn interview techniques, creating a postcard, an art medium, and importantly family lore.

To learn interview...

The students will study the relationship between the Thompson (Nlaka'pamux) Indigenous people of the Nicola Valley in British Columbia and how they used local vegetation in their daily lives prior to the evolution of European goods within their society.

This lesson is designed around a localized area in BC, but teachers can re-conceptualize to make the lesson applicable in any locale.

The student will develop an understanding of how the Thompson Indigenous people of the Nicola...

The student will write a fictitious letter as if they are a pioneer in the Canadian west in the early part of the twentieth century. The student is to include the changes and challenges homesteaders would face and the adjustments to their lifestyle these would cause. As well, the student also must include a drawing depicting their fictitious dwelling.

This study focuses on the people who have contributed to Canada's history and development, beginning with the original...

Your group has been transported back though time to the period of the Fur Trade in Canada (prior to Confederation). Your goal will be to create and perform a dramatic presentation to share your perspective of the social and economic impact of the fur trade through the eyes of your assigned role-playing characters. Your dramatic presentation will be the only way your classmates will develop a true understanding of the impact of the fur trade on your group.

Note: this assignment is...

This lesson is based on viewing the W.A.C. Bennett biography from The Canadians series. William Andrew Cecil Bennett was the premier of B.C. for twenty consecutive years in the second half of the twentieth century. He ran the province with a mix of socialist, capitalist, and populist tactics; and his political dynasty transformed the economic, social, and cultural face of B.C.

By writing opinion pieces and engaging in discussion and debate, students will assess the leadership of...

This lesson is based on viewing the Tom Thomson biography from The Canadians series. Thomson is famous for his paintings of the Canadian landscape and his association with members of what became known as The Group of Seven painters.

In a series of brainstorming and writing activites, students will learn about Tom Thomson, The Group of Seven, and Canadian art.

From amateur artist to national icon, Tom Thomson sprang into Canada’s collective memory in only a few short...

The aim of this lesson plan is to develop the concept of citizenship and immigration by requiring students to explore, reflect, and empathize with the situations and feelings that new immigrants experience. Students will be required to produce a short dramatization to demonstrate this. Students will explore what it would feel like to be an immigrant coming into Canada. They will explore different real life situations and empathize with the frustrations, excitement, and realities of...

This lesson is based on viewing the Sam Steele biography from The Canadiansseries. Sam Steele, knighted by the King of England, was a courageous, determined man who helped "tame" Western Canada as one of the most important leaders of the North West Mounted Police.

Steele was directly involved in several pivotal events in Canadian history – everything from dealing with Louis Riel, Sitting Bull, and the miners in the Klondike Gold Rush to his involvement in the Boer War. The...

This lesson is based on viewing the Nell Shipman biography from The Canadians series. Shipman was a silent screen legend who is credited with performing her own stunts, filming the first nude scene, and being a devoted animal rights activist.

Students will explore the life and accomplishments of Shipman, paying particular attention to her concern for animal rights.

Filmmaking as we know it today began little more than a century ago with the birth of silent screen...