Starting from Social Studies
The social studies lessons aim to build students' relationship with place through issue-focused inquiry about the history of the land and people.
2
Water Protectors
Using the picture book We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom, students will dramatize and embody the text through creating tableaux. Students will expand on their understanding about natural resources and human impact.
3
Seasonal Rounds
Students will use First Nation's seasonal rounds to expand their understanding of themselves and various cultures. They will evaluate their own milestones, events, and celebrations according to a seasonal round.
I'll Trade Ya
Curricular Competencies
Social Studies
-
Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions
-
Construct arguments defending the significance of individuals/groups, places, events, or developments (significance)
-
Differentiate between intended and unintended consequences of events, decisions, or developments, and speculate about alternative outcomes (cause and consequence)
-
Construct narratives that capture the attitudes, values, and worldviews commonly held by people at different times or places (perspective)
-
Make ethical judgments about events, decisions, or actions that consider the conditions of a particular time and place (ethical judgment)
Science
-
Demonstrate curiosity about the natural world
-
Observe objects and events in familiar contexts
-
Identify questions about familiar objects and events that can be investigated scientifically
-
Identify some simple environmental implications of their and others’ actions
-
Express and reflect on personal or shared experiences of place
Language Arts
-
Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding
-
Communicate in sentences and paragraphs, applying conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation
-
Gather students outside in a natural area with lots of small objects (e.g. pinecones, unique leaves, rocks, shells, etc.).
-
Explain that the lesson will experience how early settlers attained goods, before the use of currency. Trading is an important part of Canada's history, it requires cooperation and sometimes caused conflicts.
-
Discuss: How would you negotiate to get something you want? What could you say to persuade them to give it to you? What makes a fair trade?
-
Divide students into groups of 3-4. Give groups 5-10 minutes to collect natural items (within boundaries) and put them in a designated spot. Once the items are in your group's spot, those are the only items in play, students cannot pick up more items and add them into the game.
-
Allow students to make trades with other groups (15 minutes). Encourage students to barter until they reach a trade that is agreed upon by both parties. Decide amongst your group what items you value most (and are less willing to trade away).
-
Bring the group back together. Discuss: what was your trading experience like? Was it difficult to get the items you want? What strategy did you and your team use? What item did your group prioritize and why? How do you think early settlers felt as they relied on trading to get what they needed for survival, provide long-term benefit, and accumulate wealth? If you were to do this activity again, what would you do differently?
-
Return all natural items where they found them.
Extensions:
-
Second round of trading: announce that a certain natural object is now worth more or less due to the rarity of it. See how it affects the trading.
-
Journal about your trading experience. If you were an early settler, would you be successful in trade? Why or why not?
Water Protectors
Curricular Competencies
Social Studies
-
Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions
-
Construct arguments defending the significance of individuals/groups, places, events, or developments (significance)
-
Differentiate between intended and unintended consequences of events, decisions, or developments, and speculate about alternative outcomes (cause and consequence)
-
Construct narratives that capture the attitudes, values, and worldviews commonly held by people at different times or places (perspective)
-
Make ethical judgments about events, decisions, or actions that consider the conditions of a particular time and place (ethical judgment)
Science
-
Demonstrate curiosity about the natural world
-
Observe objects and events in familiar contexts
-
Identify questions about familiar objects and events that can be investigated scientifically
-
Identify some simple environmental implications of their and others’ actions
-
Express and reflect on personal or shared experiences of place
Art
-
Create artistic works collaboratively and as an individual using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play
-
Explore identity, place, culture, and belonging through arts experiences
-
Develop and refine ideas, processes, and technical skills in a variety of art forms to improve the quality of artistic creations
-
Reflect on creative processes and make connections to other experiences
-
Connect knowledge and skills from other areas of learning in planning, creating, interpreting, and analyzing works for art
-
Interpret and communicate ideas using symbolism to express meaning through the arts
Language Arts
-
Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding
-
Communicate in sentences and paragraphs, applying conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation
Materials:​
-
We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
-
sections of text from the book (#1-8)
​
-
Introduce We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom illustrated by Michaela Goade. Lindstrom is Ojibwe, Goade is a member of the Tlingit and Haida tribes.
-
Read aloud We are Water Protectors without showing students the illustrations. Invite students to close their eyes and listen deeply to the text.
-
Move the group outside to an open area, bring printed out sections of text sheet. Explain that we will be embodying the text from We are Water Protectors through creating tableaux (a freeze-frame of a scene).
-
Explain that a tableaux is a still picture created using actors. Actors are frozen, silent, posing with expression, and focused until the teacher calls "relax". Encourage students to pose at various levels (low to the ground, middle, high to the sky).
-
Ask for 3 volunteers to demonstrate making a tableau. Give them a prompt (e.g. cutting down a tree). Allow time for students to form a tableaux (direct if necessary). Remind students they can portray any being (human or non-human) in the tableaux.
-
Divide students into groups of 4-5, giving each group a section of text (#1-8. Depending on the number of groups, pick which sections of text you think are suitable). One member of the group will act as the 'director': their role is to ensure the tableaux is accurate to the text, visually appealing, read out the group's section of the text (with expression) when the tableaux is being performed. Give students 15 minutes to create their tableaux.
-
Come back together as a group. Outline a 'stage' area. Call up groups to perform their tableaux in order.
-
Discuss: What did it feel like to embody Lindstrom's story? How is water important to you in your daily life? What is the black snake that is poisoning the water, land, plants, and animals? Is there a black snake in our community? In what way are humans and non-human creatures connected? How can you fight for those who cannot fight for themselves?
-
Read the story again showing the pictures.
Extensions:
-
Journal about your tableaux experience. Was this new to you? How can creating tableaux deepen your understanding of a text?
-
Create a class list of ways you can fight for those who cannot fight for themselves (relevant to your class/community). For example: picking up garbage when you see it so it does not wash into the ocean.
Seasonal Rounds
Curricular Competencies
Social Studies
-
Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions
-
Construct arguments defending the significance of individuals/groups, places, events, or developments (significance)
-
Differentiate between intended and unintended consequences of events, decisions, or developments, and speculate about alternative outcomes (cause and consequence)
-
Construct narratives that capture the attitudes, values, and worldviews commonly held by people at different times or places (perspective)
-
Make ethical judgments about events, decisions, or actions that consider the conditions of a particular time and place (ethical judgment)
Science
-
Demonstrate curiosity about the natural world
-
Observe objects and events in familiar contexts
-
Identify questions about familiar objects and events that can be investigated scientifically
-
Identify some simple environmental implications of their and others’ actions
-
Express and reflect on personal or shared experiences of place
Art
-
Create artistic works collaboratively and as an individual using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play
-
Explore identity, place, culture, and belonging through arts experiences
-
Develop and refine ideas, processes, and technical skills in a variety of art forms to improve the quality of artistic creations
-
Reflect on creative processes and make connections to other experiences
-
Connect knowledge and skills from other areas of learning in planning, creating, interpreting, and analyzing works for art
-
Interpret and communicate ideas using symbolism to express meaning through the arts
Language Arts
-
Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding
-
Communicate in sentences and paragraphs, applying conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation
Materials:
-
clipboards
-
worksheets
-
pencils/pencil crayons
​
-
Take students outside to an open area.
-
Show a seasonal round. Explain that Coast Salish people often adapt their homes, food, and activities depending on the seasonal cycle. They organize this way of life through using a seasonal round, a visual calendar showing events. Seasonal rounds are also a way of showing connections between place and knowledge the natural world because events on seasonal rounds correlate to the season. First Nations seasonal rounds may include activities such as: hunting, fishing, weaving, carving, gathering edible plants, and celebrations.
-
Before European settlement, Indigenous people relied on land and water for everything (food, shelter, transportation, clothing, etc.). Indigenous people studied the natural world so closely that they could use clues to predict their next harvest and plan accordingly. For example: when oceanspray blooms, Butter clams are ready to harvest (Comox people).
-
Hand out clipboards, worksheets, and pencils. Explain that students will be making their own seasonal rounds. Encourage the use of writing and drawing. Including: important events in your life (e.g. birthdays, celebrations, holidays, school events) and common natural phenomena (e.g. camas blooms).
-
Invite students to walk around the natural area, noticing what is in season and what is not. Add plants and animals in that ecosystem to your seasonal round. Keep in mind the life cycle of these beings, include each part of the life cycle in your round.
-
Come back together as a class. Invite students to share what they have on their round. How is it compare to First Nations peoples seasonal rounds? What season do you feel most connected to and why? Are seasonal cycles something you would use to keep track of events? How does the use of seasonal cycles affect the lives of Indigenous peoples? Would a Gregorian calendar (what we commonly use) be as effective as a seasonal round?
Extensions:
-
Journal prompt: if you had to choose between using seasonal rounds or a Gregorian calendar, which would you choose and why?
-
Collaboratively create a large-scale seasonal round that displays school events, celebrations, local environmental cycles, and community events.