October is Women’s History Month in Canada, a time to celebrate the women and girls from our past, and our present, who are contributing to a better, more inclusive Canada.

In 1992, the Government of Canada designated October as Women’s History Month, marking the beginning of an annual celebration of the outstanding achievements of women and girls throughout Canada’s history. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Women’s History Month.

This year’s theme, She Did, So Now I Can, celebrates the actions of inspiring Canadian women that positively impact our lives today, right now, at this very minute. We are thankful for their courage and for inspiring us to do better.

The menu for this site includes links to explore:
- Women in Canadian History: A Timeline
- Women of Impact
- Women's History Month 2022
- International Day of the Girl Child - October 11
- Persons Day - October 18

2021 marked the 25th anniversary since The Honourable Jean Augustine introduced the motion to make February Black History Month in Canada. Alongside Augustine, many Black Canadians have played an important role in shaping our country’s history, all while facing much discrimination and racism. Although such achievements should be recognized year-round, February is a time to honour the legacy of Black Canadians and reflect on the many contributions they have made to our country. Brightspark has compiled a list of teacher resources to help you do just this! Find videos, podcasts, activities and more designed to celebrate Canada’s Black heritage and introduce diverse learning in the classroom.

This playlist features films that confront racism. They are a small selection of films from the NFB collection that look at instances of racism in Canada, and support dialogue on equality and diversity.

Sign up for a 45 minute virtual field trip, and follow it up with a classroom unit about human rights and being an upstander. The classroom unit includes an inquiry project.

Virtual Field Trip:
Students will learn how to be human rights upstanders by discovering the stories of people who used their personal strengths to take a stand to protect their rights and the rights of others, creating change.

Students will:
1. Learn to identify traits all upstanders possess and understand that each of us also possess these traits in our own unique way.
2. Experience exhibits and the inspiring Museum architecture as if they were at the Museum in person.
Interact with a Museum guide and ask questions to better understand how they can take action for positive change.
3. Engage in discussion, critical thinking and reflection on their role in the protection of their own rights and the rights of others.

Classroom Unit:
The Be an Upstander resource is a project-based learning unit designed to complement the “Be an
Upstander” school program. This resource targets students in middle years and encourages inquiry and
action on human rights issues. Students will examine the traits of human rights upstanders and follow
their example. By the end of the project, students will have had the opportunity to explore an issue they
are personally passionate about, share their knowledge and lead others toward action.

The Be an Upstander website is a digital student experience designed to support student learning as part
of a larger human rights themed, project-based learning unit. Students developing upstander projects
will engage in personal inquiry and action on human rights issues that matter to them. Students will learn
about the traits of human rights upstanders, be introduced to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and examine their personal strengths. Following the example of the upstanders they learn about,
students will be challenged to take tangible steps to becoming human rights upstanders themselves.

If you need this resource in a different format for accessibility purposes, please contact
info@humanrights.ca.

Be an Upstander website: https://humanrights.ca/upstander/#/
Complementary teacher's guide https://humanrights.ca/upstander/#/teacher-guide

This edition of Kayak opens in new window, shares some amazing stories and examples of the ways Black Canadians built and shaped this country. You get great stories , as well as articles featuring people who have helped preserve and promote Black history, Black women’s organizations with long histories, and Canadians with Afro-Indigenous heritage.

The purpose of this Guide is to enhance your students' knowledge and appreciation of the Black Canadian experience, drawing from Lawrence Hill's award-winning historical fiction, The Book of Negroes, the remarkable journey of Aminata Diallo and the historic British document known as the "Book of Negroes." Structured around themes of journey, slavery, human rights, passage to Canada and contemporary culture, this Guide asks students to examine issues of identity, equality, community, and nation-building in both a historical and contemporary context.

In 2008, a group called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was made. Their job was to listen
to stories about residential schools and then write the stories down so we can learn from our mistakes.
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced their 94 Calls to Action. These are 94
activities all governments, courts, businesses, schools, and people living in Canada can do to help fix the
mistakes of the past and present so that all children – including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children –
can grow up happy, healthy, safe, and proud of who they are.

This booklet is written by Spirit Bear as a youth-guide to the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action. Each of the calls is outlined in student-friendly language that will give them a deeper understanding of Truth and Reconciliation process.

Canadian Geographic Education provides learning resources to help improve students’ understanding of the world they live in. Geographically literate students are better prepared to face global challenges and have the skills necessary to become effective change agents. Use these resources to inspire curiosity and exploration in your classroom!

Lesson plans
Videos
Maps
Infographics
Activities

Concentus provides a full downloadable unit with a teacher and student resource booklet. This unit focuses on citizenship and aims to meet the following goals:Foster Engaged citizens who question, critically examine, advocate, and defend rights and responsibilities embedded in democracy at the local, regional, provincial, national, and global levels.Foster Lifelong learning citizens who continuously strive to understand the dynamics of change in society, and they critically seek new information to make reasoned and unbiased decisions.Foster Citizens with a strong sense of self, community, and place who value and demonstrate a positive commitment to understanding these concepts as citizens, and to the exploration of citizenship responsibilities inherent in these relationships at local, regional, national, and global levels.

CrashCourse offers many YouTube videos that support various historical topics, such as sociology, world history, and much more!

You can learn pretty much anything with these videos!

Science, History, Language Arts, & Study Skills, Games & More!

Currents4Kids.com / Infos-Jeunes.com is an engaging, online interactive current events resource for students in grades 3 and up.

*Download free articles/activities from recent issues of Building Bridges (grades 5 and up), The Canadian Reader (grades 3 and up) & What in the World (grades 5-10)!

This 21st century teaching and learning tool explores local, national, and international news stories. It works across all platforms, from iPods to iPads to desktop computers, allowing teachers and students to make meaningful use of the Internet whenever – and wherever – they choose.

C4K is published once per week (except over Christmas and Spring Break) from mid-August until mid-June.

Key features of this exciting new resource include:
-Weekly articles
-On-the-Lines and Between-the-Lines quizzes
-Comment page
-Links to relevant articles, resources, maps, photos and videos
-Suggested activities including pdfs of the articles and quizzes

A subscription will help you to:
-Encourage non-fiction reading by providing age-appropriate, leveled, engaging and relevant text.
-Build students' vocabulary and background knowledge.
-Make better use of technology and time.
-Provide students with an opportunity to express their opinions in a safe, structured environment and allow them to read what other students their age say on the same topics.
-Save time by automatically grading quizzes and allowing teachers to manage writing assessment online.
-Most of all, excite your students about their world, and what's happening in it!

How it works: Access for a full school year (10 months) costs $230 per school; after receiving access to the site, the subscriber may invite all the other teachers within the same school to join their account. Teachers can then create classes listing their students.

This is a 45 minute virtual field trip.

Your class will explore human rights ideas through an artistic lens. You will use a piece of paper and your thoughts and reflections to explore various artistic ways of expressing human rights. Our program interpreters will lead you through artistic journaling and the exciting views of art and human rights at the Museum.

Students will:

Learn to identify ways that art is used to express ideas for human rights.
Experience exhibits and the inspiring Museum art as if they were at the Museum in person.
Interact with a Museum guide and art journal to better understand how they can take action with art.
Engage in discussion, critical thinking and reflection on their role in expressing human rights through art.

Find a ton of pre-recorded virtual events from Flipgrid to use with your class.
There is something here for every age group, and every subject!
Enjoy exploring.

Find future Flipgrid events here (copy and paste into a browser) https://blog.flipgrid.com/upcomingflipgridliveevents

In this unit of study, students will be asked to complete a performance task (create a brochure) in which they design a country that will provide a productive and positive place for people to live. They will develop a constitution for the country that they created.

Lessons and accompanying assessments included:.

This is a year plan created using GAP resources that any teacher can take and use. This is intended for teachers new to teaching Grade Six, but can be used by any Grade Six teacher to offer ideas of what can be used to teach the content of the Grade Six curriculum. 

The new website for the Heritage Fairs (& High School Heritage Challenge) is now live and ready to accept project submissions for the Virtual Heritage Fair (grades 4-8) and the High School Heritage Challenge (grades 9-12)!

The Heritage Fair program provides the opportunity for students and their families, teachers and communities to learn about diverse Living Heritage projects.

There is still lots of time to prepare and submit a project to these contests, as the deadline is Monday, April 24. The online contests are open to all students in Saskatchewan.

Links to register and submit projects are on the homepage, as well as available in the dropdown menus for each respective contest.

Be sure to check out the Heritage Fairs toolkit that will give you topic inspiration, a list of popular research sources, and a detailed breakdown on how to create your presentation and share your findings. The toolkit is available in both English and French.

Le nouveau site web des Fêtes du patrimoine (et du Défi du patrimoine au secondaire) est maintenant en ligne et prêt à accepter les soumissions de projets pour la Fête du patrimoine virtuelle (niveaux 4 à 8) et le Défi du patrimoine au secondaire (niveaux 9 à 12) !

Le programme des Fêtes du patrimoine offre l'occasion aux élèves et à leurs familles, aux enseignants et aux communautés d'en apprendre davantage sur divers projets de patrimoine vivant.

Il reste encore beaucoup de temps pour préparer et soumettre un projet à ces concours, car la date limite est le lundi 24 avril. Les concours en ligne sont ouverts à tous les élèves en Saskatchewan.

Les liens pour s'inscrire et soumettre des projets se trouvent sur la page d'accueil, ainsi que dans les menus déroulants de chaque concours respectif.

Assurez-vous de consulter la trousse des Fêtes du patrimoine qui vous fournira de l'inspiration pour votre sujet, une liste de sources de recherche populaires et une description détaillée sur la création de votre présentation et le partage de vos résultats. La trousse est disponible en anglais et en français.

1 min. video
A eulogy is given for Tommy Prince, Canada’s most-decorated Indigenous war veteran.
For more information about Tommy Prince, visit: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca

This package is the online accompaniment for our feature travelling education kit: History Box. In this package you’ll find digitized copies of each object found in the box, historical context, additional resources and activity suggestions. You do not need to borrow the kit to use this online resource.

This package contains objects and resources that are represented in the Canadian Museum of History’s signature exhibition, the Canadian History Hall. Collected from across the country, and highlighting varied perspectives, these objects illuminate the richness and diversity of the Canadian experience. They can be used as entry points to discussions on different periods in Canada’s history, or as lessons in historical inquiry that can build students’ critical thinking and historical inquiry skills.

To book a History Box, or for more information, please visit historymuseum.ca/learn/history-box.

The topics covered in this History Box include Early Canada, Colonial Canada, and Modern Canada.

There are two types of activities: Package Activities and Object Activities.

Package Activities are project-based activities designed to accommodate one or more classes. These activities involve the use of historical thinking concepts while exploring the whole package, resulting in a more comprehensive experience.

Object Activities are short inquiry-based activities that typically take 5–25 minutes. These activities encourage students to think critically about the objects being presented, and to use historical thinking concepts.

Both types of activities were created with the guidance of educators from across Canada, and incorporate current educational theory and approaches.

Is everything accessible?
We know that everyone accesses information differently, and have tried to ensure that package content addresses the varied needs of students and educators. Some of the many ways in which these packages support accessibility:

- Three levels of historical context to accommodate different ways of learning.
- A variety of media, including audio and video content, for diverse learning abilities.
- Multiple activity suggestions for diverse learning abilities.
- Content can be read with Assistive Technology applications.
- Downloadable and printable content that can be accessed offline.
- Transcripts for video, audio and hard-to read archival documents.
- Video subtitles in both official languages.
- Content is available in both official languages.
- Website complies with Website Content Accessibility 2.0 AA Guidelines.

This document helps support students and teachers wishing to engage with Indigenous perspectives in science. It also covers why it is important to connect to local Indigenous communities, provides suggestions on how to develop student understanding, and shares examples of how student science research can directly connect to the
Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action.

Also check out the Indigenous Engagement Starting Points Checklist which provides a list of Indigenous groups and/or individuals you/your students can reach out to, to start this connection. A question checklist is also provided to help support those starting discussions.