This lesson has students creating a self portrait using image and text.

This lesson can be completed in Art & ELA.
Morphology of the word micrography – micro – small; graphy -writing – students use small writing to create portraits!

Students will need to have a good understanding of self to create their portrait. Ideas could include words to describe the student, phrases, quotes, song lyrics, family members, poetry, or random thoughts. Some students may need guidance as to what information to include (or a model).

Sun West - Contact your school’s technology coach if require help with the technology piece of this lesson.

Extension – this lesson could be extended further into Social Studies or ELA by having students complete micrography portraits of historical figures, indigenous leaders, scientists or characters from novels or stories they are studying.

Multiage - Grade 4 students could complete this activity for prairie landscapes & Grade 5 students could complete this on pop art.

Enjoy this video to teach First Nations traditional pow wow dance.

How To Pow Wow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IePIeLBi6hI

In this interactive online activity, you will explore the Canadian Arctic, the history of the Northwest Passage and the importance of maintaining a strong Canadian presence in the northern region.

Questions:

1. Identify four unique characteristics of the Canadian Arctic region.
2. Identify contributions made by some of the Arctic explorers who searched for the Northwest Passage.
3. To what extent did the Inuit culture in the Canadian Arctic help with the discovery of one of Franklin's lost ships?
4. What impact would climate change and the opening of the Northwest Passage have on the Inuit people socially, environmentally, and economically?
5. How might the opening of the Northwest Passage affect Canada’s claim to Arctic sovereignty and its relationship with other countries?
6. What are some of the ways Canada is getting involved in protecting the Arctic?

This resource contains an abundance of ELA infused, cross-curricular lessons organized by themes for Grades 4, 5 and 6. Non-fiction, poetry and fiction reading lessons are all included. 

An inquiry-based project to map the land in your community. The key concepts in this unit are grounded in Indigenous beliefs of interconnectedness, connectedness, and respect for all things.

The driving inquiry questions for this unit are:
1. How can respect for the land be shown?
2. What do we look for when setting up a camp?
3. What stories or teachings are connected to key locations in and around our community?
4. How has the land around our community changed over time?
5. Who do we share our community’s lands with?

Sign up for a free account, allowing you access to all of Canada's National ballet School's courses and dance programs for kids.

Once you have signed up for an account, you can access the many cross-curricular dance units created by the National Ballet School. Note: If you are looking to access these units in French, please navigate to the "All course offerings" on the home page and you will find the French version of this course listed.

Great options to consider:
Grade 4: Rocks
Grade 5: Christine Friday Artist Study (Indigenous world-view)
Grade 6: Angela Gladue Artist Study (pow-wow and hip hop) (available in Cree as well)

Explore the elements of art, culture, and identity through this guided lesson based on Leah Dorion's "The Giving Tree: A Retelling of a Traditional Métis Story." We are connected through place and culture! The values, beliefs, traditions, religion, natural environment, recreational activities, music, dance, and art that surround us help to form our identity. We share, listen, learn, and grow from and with each other. Students will think about their own identity and the many pieces that make them unique as they create a painting in the style of Leah Dorion's work.

FourDirectionsTeachings.com is a visually stunning audio narrated resource for learning about Indigenous knowledge and philosophy from five diverse First Nations in Canada. Navigate to the site map for access to the teacher lesson plans to go along with the interactive audio and visual content.
Junior: Grades 1-6
Intermediate: Grades 7-9
Senior: Grades 10-12

Four Directions Teachings rend hommage à la tradition orale autochtone, en mettant en valeur le procédé d’écoute attentive, lorsque un ancien ou un professeur traditionnel partage un enseignement, selon son point de vue, sur la richesse et la valeur des traditions culturelles provenant de sa nation.

Available in:
Flash Version - English and French
HTML Version - English and French
Subtitles Version - English and French

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.

Honouring the Buffalo: A Plains Cree Legend is a useful educational tool for social studies/treaty and language arts/literacy curriculum teaching. Included on the website is a resource guide, educational guide (questions), audio recordings, and curricular connections. There is a book trailer as well as an exerpt in English and in Cree.

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.

Find speakers to come to your classroom in person or virtually, based on their specialty.

This lesson teaches Cree words through songs. These songs often serve a specific purpose and have great meaning. With the guidance of an Elder, Knowledge Keeper, or singer/songwriter, students will listen to songs and understand the meaning behind the lyrics. Students will consider how cultural identity is reflected in the work.

These 3 - 5 minute YouTube videos show students how to dance the various Pow-Wow dances in a step-by-step instructional video. The Pow-Wow dances include Men's Fancy Dance, Men's Grass Dance, Chicken Dance, Jingle Dance, Double Beat, Crow Hop, Traditional, and Old Style.

This resource aims to support educators, school administrators, and community members facilitate more culture-based learning on the land. It was created by four Dene and Metis education resource developers, hired by the Dene Nation in summer 2020.

The lessons in this document can be used as stand-alone activities to bring more cultural learning into classrooms and to get students learning outdoors during the regular school day. However, in order for students to build deeper connections with the land, culture and language, the ideal practice would be to bring them out on the land for more extended experiences. The lessons in this document can be used as part of multi-day culture camps, for example, or other outdoor excursions.

The “Camp Logistics” section of this document aims to facilitate this type of extended on-the-land learning. It provides sample gear lists, safety protocol suggestions for organizing a camp. Section A of the appendix also includes sample schedules or organization materials to help with this.

Lessons in this document can be used as starting points for a whole week of activities on the land, for example. Since each community is different, we encourage educators to reach out to cultural knowledge holders in their own community, to explore other activities that would connect with the ones described here. For example, the lessons on Labrador tea and sweetgrass in this document could turn into a week-long medicine camp, in which students learn about the protocol around harvesting and processing several different types of plant medicines with the guidance of local Elders.

Learn about Métis culture, history, and language through beautiful colouring pages paired with informative lessons. This resource contains downloadable lessons and colouring pages to go with each letter of the alphabet.

The Métis Alphabet Colouring Book is an adaptation of Joseph Jean Fauchon's popular children's book of the same name. With enhanced cultural content, this colouring book highlights historical figures, significant events, places of interest and other aspects of Métis identity to take youthful readers beyond the alphabet to explore the richness of Métis history and culture. George Gingras's images--which are meant to be coloured and are inspired by illustrations and photos--provide an engaging complement to the text. The Métis Alphabet Colouring Book strengthens Métis pride and identity while providing young readers with an informative reference book about the essence of being Métis.

All Nations Hope Network, Saskatchewan has created a resource for the sacred story of the Mistasiniy including background information into story telling from generation to generation. The atayohkewina (sacred story) is presented with both English and Cree.
The sacred telling of Buffalo Child, is a living narrative of how Buffalo Child stone (Mistasiniy) came into being. We follow the life story of a little boy called Buffalo Child, as he transitions into manhood within the embrace of his buffalo family. In this âtayôhkewina - sacred story, we trace Buffalo Child’s transformation as a human and into a four legged being, finally his manifestation into stone. The sacred telling ends in the demise of Mistasiniy.

Each year, Canada’s National Ballet School commissions a Canadian artist to create a piece of choreography that embodies a thoughtful theme.

Step-by-step instructional videos guide you through the choreography—whether you want to invest in learning and performing the full piece, or are exploring just a small portion of the material.

The choreography builds towards NBS Sharing Dance Day, a nationwide dance party bringing together tens of thousands of people in communities across the country. NBS Sharing Dance started as a flashmob in Toronto in 2010 and has grown over the years into an incredible celebration of the joy, creativity and community of dance from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

The dance day can be extended by a teacher to include additional arts ed. outcomes (CR6.2, CH6.1, for example)

Reconciliation is about exploring the past and choosing to build a better future. Sharing stories of understanding helps one another to build trust. We want to hear about your moments of reconciliation.

Head to the "Education" Tab to access resources.