Kids' Activities
Jane Lind presents ...
A Child's Story of Canada
Written and illustrated by Karin Moorhouse
Theme: Canada's Story, Ages 5 to 8
A Child's Story of Canada
This book begins with the first Canadians and takes the story of Canada
through to the end of the eighteenth century and the formation of the Yukon
as a Canadian territory. The format is somewhat like an encyclopedia in that
each page or two has a new heading and each entry is complete in itself.
Examples of headings: Buffalo Hunters; Vikings; Alexander Mackenzie Crosses
Canada; The Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
Each spread, made up of a page of text and a black and white line drawing,
tells one small, separate segment of Canada's story in the different parts
of the vast country. Altogether, the reader gains a sense of the whole which
makes up the country's early history.
The technique the author uses works well for young readers--they can absorb
one or two pages at a time, with each spread being complete in itself and
they can dip into the book for the parts they want without having to read
the entire volume in sequence. This book is an excellent resource for the
classroom.
Questions
1. Who were the first people who lived in this country?
2. Why did white people come here and where did they come from?
3. How do you think the first white people and the Native people talked to
each other?
4. What was this country like when only the Native and Inuit people lived
here?
5. How has the country changed? (Point out the cover illustration)
6. Where in this vast country do the most people live? (Use the map.) Why?
7. Find your part of the country on the map, and find out which part of the
book is about where you live.
Note
Teachers can build a unit of integrated studies for young children on parts
of A Child's Story of Canada: language, history, science, art. The sample
project ideas below can be adapted to fit different sections of the book.
Materials
Sand
Dried grass
Small pebbles
Fabric scraps
Sticks
Plasticine
Clay that is very moist
Tempera paints
Projects
"Buffalo Hunters," page 9
1. Bring into the classroom pictures of buffalo and books that the children
can use to learn as much as possible about buffalo.
2. On a large table or in your sand table, work with the children to create a large 3-D prairie
scene. The children can make figures from plasticine and build tepees from
sticks and pieces of fabrics.
3. Let the children create imaginary characters their age who lived on the
plains and build stories around them. The children can write their stories
into small books and illustrate them, or use story writing as a class
project on large paper on the wall.
"Cross Canada Railway," page 63
1. Bring into the classroom books and photos that show scenes from the
different landscapes of the country: the west coast, the far North, the
Rocky Mountains, the plains, the forests and lakes, and the east coast,
perhaps Newfoundland or Prince Edward Island. Let the children browse
through the books and discuss how different the different parts of the
country are.
2. Let the children each choose one part of the country and have a library
session in which they can find out what the wild life is in that area.
3. On a large table, or even on two tables pushed together, or in your sand
table, work with the children to build a large 3-D topographical scene. The
mountains can be built up with clay. Trees can be made with sticks (inserted
into the clay) and green paper leaves glued on, or plasticene. The children
can also make the animals that are found in a particular landscape, but the
landscape itself is the important part of the project.
4. Let the children build a plasticene railway across the large landscape.
Choose an object that indicates where on the landscape your school is.
from the
Theme Catalogue and Teaching Guide for Children's Books
written for Penumbra Press by Jane Lind
© Jane Lind
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