Below you will find web links, articles, videos, and more to go with each unit of the Canadian History & Geography course.
Also get the YouTube playlist for Canadian History and for Canadian Geography.
First Nations
- Why the salmon come to the Squamish waters
- Listen to Squamish ABC’s
- Squamish words
- Coast Salish Welcome Song
- Tale of Sedna crafts
- Bifaces discovered in Oregon
- Gwich’in Tales
- Inuit throat singing
- Inuit themed crafts
- Several lesson plans about the lifestyle of the Mi’kmaq people
- Read Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back by Joseph Bruschac to learn about the First Nation’s calendar year. Each year has 13 moons and each moon has 28 days. Color a turtle printable to show this calendar.
- Read about some of the games played by the Dene people and try some out in your own competition
- Look at some examples of beautiful birch bark baskets made by Dene people. Then make your own baskets out of paper, but leave the handles off.
Explorers
- John Cabot’s Discovery of America
- Martin Frobisher’s Expedition
- The Canoe
- The Mystery of Champlain
- Henry Hudson: Searching for the Northwest Passage
- Enchanted Learning has an extensive list of Canadian Explorers. Learn about one you’ve never heard of before and make an illustrated fact sheet for him.
- Draw a sailing ship. Write a caption about one of the explorers you read about during this unit.
New France
- Economics of the Fur Trade
- The Coureur de Bois, the Jesuits and the difference between the French and English in the New World
- How to walk quietly in the woods
- Slavery in Canada
- What Were the Beaver Wars?
- The effects of smallpox on First Nations
- What if disease hadn’t wiped out the native Americans?
- Champlain in America
- The Great Peace of Montreal
- Biography of Kondiaronk
- Kondiaronk and the Great Peace of Montreal
- The Beothuk extermination
- Captain Christopher Martin and the defense of St. Johns
- Check out a few books about beavers from your local library and make a beaver puppet. Why were beavers important enough to fight wars over?
- After you have read about the fur trade pretend you are a Wyandot tribe and the French have approached you about trading for beaver pelts. Hold a tribal council meeting where you debate on whether you should trade with them or not. Use a “talking stick” during your discussion. Only the person holding the talking stick can talk. Make sure you consider how a decision to trade will change your lifestyle and your relationship with neighboring tribes.
- Learn about Les filles du roi, or the King’s daughter’s. Make a brochure convincing French women to immigrate to the Canadian wilderness.
Colonial Wars
- Acadian historical village tour
- St. John poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. About the Acadian expulsion.
- Siege of Louisbourg reenactment video. Seven minutes long. This battle happened during King George’s War.
- Site that helps you write a Choose Your Own Adventure story.
- Seven Years War from Khan Academy
- Jeffery Amherst was the British commander during the Seven Years War in North America. Louis-Joseph de Montcalm was the French commander during the war. Learn about each man. Write a puppet show where the two men meet. What would they say to each other? Make puppets and put on your show.
- Print paper soldiers from the colonial war era and use them in reenacting a battle or a raid.
British Canada
- What was the French Seigneurial System?
- The Canadians: Alexander Mackenzie video (45 min)
- Uncharted Territory: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau video (58 min)
- 1812 Part 2: The Story of Laura Secord video (3 min)
- Design a postage stamp
- An article about the 1837 rebellions
- Rebel Rabble: The Rebellion of 1837 as explained by Big Red video (10 min)
- Read an article and watch a video about the Canadian perspective on the war of 1812. Choose a Canadian of the day: a former American Loyalist, a French Canadian, a recent immigrant from Great Britain, a First Nations person, or a recent immigrant from the United States. Draw a portrait of your person and write their opinion on the war and which side they are on. You can put your person on either side of the conflict, but they should have a logical and/or compelling emotional reason for their decision. The writing can be several paragraphs down to a single sentence depending on the ages of the children.
- Learn about John Macdonell, a hero of the Battle of Queenston Heights in the War of 1812. Listen to the song “MacDonnell on the Heights” by Stan Rogers”. Then write a diamante poem about Isaac Brock and John Macdonnell.
Canadian Government
- The 72 resolutions
- Monarchs of Canada printable matching cards
- Parliamentary Procedure 101: How Motions Work – 6 Steps in 6 Minutes video
- Parliament of Canada – Parliament Buildings video 2 min, 1st in a series of 6 videos
- Paper model of the Canadian parliament to purchase and build
- How to draw and color Parliament Hill video
- Constitution of Canada video 18 min
- Charter of Rights and Freedoms document
- Charter of Rights and Freedoms video 7 min
- Why should you vote? video 2 min
- Animated History of Canada – Territorial Evolution video 1 min
- Wikipedia territorial evolution of Canada
- Print the Monarchs of Canada cards to learn about and memorize the kings and queens of Canada from Francis I of France to Elizabeth II.
- Make a poster that shows and explains the three levels of Canadian government: federal, provincial, municipal
- Play a Charter of Rights and Freedoms bingo game
Early Canada
- The Metis life style
- Famous Mountie stories
- They Came for the Children, a pdf booklet about the residential school system
- The Building of a Transcontinental Railway in Canada video 9 min
- North-west Rebellion Map
- Article about the North-west Rebellion
- News report on Batoche
- Newspaper template
- Sam Steele’s diary
- RCMP Musical Ride video 3 min
- Letters from Canadian pioneers
- How to draw a Mountie
- Article on selling the west to potential pioneers
- How to draw a WWI soldier
- The King-Byng affair
- Make a Mountie craft from DLTK
- Read this pdf book about the Canadian Pacific Railway.
- Read or listen to Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Use this study guide for the novel with all of your kids, if you like.
- Use the linked photographs to create a lapbook about Canada in WWI. Hint: Let your kids do the writing and the work instead of creating a pre-made set of lapbook printables for them.
Modern Canada
- History of Canada in a Nutshell video 11 min
- Paper model of a Canadian patrol ship
- How to make a newspaper boat
- D-day Juno Beach video 45 min
- Newfoundland and Labrador video 1 min
- The Provinces and Territories of Canada video song 3 min
- Canada Printable Map
- How to make a Canada flag cake
- The Hawker Hurricane was one of the most famous British planes of WWII. They were built in Canada and designed by a woman named Elsie MacGill, the world’s first female aeronautical engineer. Read about her. Then, on paper, design a museum display about her life.
- Watch Building the Alaska Highway for view of how rugged the terrain is and difficult the job was.
- Use this lesson plan with printables to learn about the important Battle of Kapyong during the Korean War.
Canada Geography
- Memorize the map, rivers, and landmarks of Canada
- Political and physical geography of Canada video 13 min
- Printable 5 page tabbed booklet
- Print a mega map of Canada
- 4 sided pyramid template
- Printable Canada worksheets
- The real story behind the Canadian flag video 7 min
- How time zones work
- Hockey Theme Song
- Documentary about Canada video 60 min
- Canada crafts from DLTK for younger kids
- Canadian province fact sheet for your province or territory
- Map of Canadian National Parks
- Bay of Fundy video 4 min
- Print a paper quiz of the provinces and territories to label
- Coloring page of eastern Canada
- Free Canada lapbook
- Buy maple leaf cookie cutters, or a set of Canadian cookie cutters and make patriotic sugar cookies