Heritage & Identity
Grade 3: Heritage & Identity
Communities in Canada, 1780–1850
Nature Journaling: I Notice..., I Wonder...?, It Reminds me of...
Nature Journaling is an incredible tool for students to observe the community around them and compare it to maps and photographs of what it once looked like. What treaty land are they journaling on and what does that mean? Their nature journal allows them to write/draw their observations helping to cement the concepts being taught.
At this age all three prompts "I notice..., I wonder...?, and "It reminds me of..." become very intuitive. However the last statement becomes very important for connection making. Encourage them to begin writing themselves using single words or simple sentences. Please note that spelling is not a focus in the nature journal. At this age you may start to see art fears - please ensure you are re-iterating it is not about a pretty picture. It is about their observations. Please see the link feedback at the bottom of this lesson for tips on this. Using words, pictures and numbers allows the students multiple tools to document their observations. With permission Bethan Burton has allowed us to link to her website as she has written a blog post for Teaching nature journaling at all ages.
Here are some more ideas to get you started.
Engage the fives senses (whenever possible)
Make leaf prints ( paint the leaf and press the print into the journal)
Make leaf rubbings
Trace the items they are looking at
Add leaves into the journal using tape
Count the birds/squirrels/insects etc.
Measure as much of the phenomena as the students can using non standard and standard units of measurement.
Here is a downloadable lesson from John (Jack) Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren book: How to Teach Nature Journaling. All resources shared with permission. "I Notice..., I Wonder...?, It Reminds me of..."
GIVING FEEDBACK here is a fantastic resource from Jack and Emilie
NOTE: You are encourage to spend time in the outdoors Nature Journaling. However, you can also bring nature inside, look out your wonder window, have a refrigerator Safari or even observe a house plant or pet.
Early Settler Games
Let’s take a stroll back in time. A time where things are very different from today. One of the biggest changes that may be hard to fathom is the lack of electricity. How did the children of the 1800’s occupy their time?
Early settler children had to be creative and use what resources they had to keep themselves entertained
Find a partner, get outside or a space with room, try some of these early settler style games and activities.
Click on the links below to learn how to play these vintage style games.
Hopscotch - How to Play Hopscotch
Leapfrog - learn how to play here: Leapfrog
Hide and go seek - A classic game to learn How to Play Hide and Go Seek
Marble games - Four Marble Games
Jumping Rope - Can be done individually or with family members
Quiots / Ring toss - DIY instructions found here: Make your own ring toss
Plan an early settler picnic - Try doing it in the fashion of the 1800’s. Put a blanket down on the ground and enjoy lunch in the sun. Can you make bread from scratch? Throw in some cheese, hard boiled eggs, and local fruit like apples. Can you do it without creating any garbage?
To learn more about Victorian times and life in an 1852 Old Britannia Schoolhouse in Peel visit Friends of the Britannia Schoolhouse
Then and Now
We all play games, learn from each other, eat food and help around the house, but how did that happen 150 years ago?
Head outside to look for things in your neighbourhood that you would not expect to have seen 150 years ago. If you’re inside, walk around your home and identify as many things as you can that children or adults 150 years ago would not have had.
Identify items that we have now because of creative and necessary inventions. For example, bicycles were around but they have changed in many ways in the last 150 years.
Imagine that for one day you do not have electricity. How would your day be different than a regular day?
The Social Science of Making Butter
Times have changed. Long ago the ancestors of people who live in Canada today did not have the same conveniences and technology that we have in modern times. The Indigenous people and colonialists, the people who came to live and settle in Canada from other countries, had to find, hunt, grow and make their own food. Men, women and children all had roles to play, and jobs to do in order to help their family and their community. Today, families share stories and traditions from their past. Some of these traditions carry on today while others have changed. Some of the ways people live have changed too and the activities that they took part in may not be as much a part of everyday modern life as they were in the past.
Explore traditional activities that were part of daily life for Indigenous men, women and children in Southern Ontario before 1850.
Explore traditional activities that were part of daily life for men, women and children of settler families in Southern Ontario before 1850.
Compare the similarities and differences between these activities and those done in modern times. Identify who in the community is expected to do those. What chores are you expected to do? What traditions and activities do you and your family still do today that your ancestors did in the past?
Watch the attached video and follow the steps to make butter. Who would have traditionally done this activity? Try this with your family.
Identify things in nature that might have been used as food in the past, and still may be today by some people.
NOTE: This can be used with the Nature Journaling activity at the top of the page.