Unit Plan Canadian Shield Grade 5

UNIT: Canadian Shield TIME FRAME: 4 weeks TEACHER: Melissa

Kujundzic
Unit Summary and Rationale:
This social unit fosters students who are informed and
engaged in exploring the unique and dynamic relationship that
humans have with the land, places, and environment. While
studying the Canadian Shield Region of Canada students will gain
a better understanding for the impact physical geography has on
social, political, environmental, and economic organizations of
societies.
We will look at the culture and community in the Canadian
Shield region of Canada. This will allow students to identify shared
or different values by looking at the beliefs, traditions and
languages of others.
Students will explore economics and resources of the
Canadian Shield region. They will understand how access to
different resources and the effects of economy have on the
quality of life.
This unit will aim to foster critical thinking, creative thinking,
historical thinking, geographical, decision making and problem
solving, and metacognition.

Unit SLOs:
Values and Attitudes
5.1.1.1 Appreciate the variety and abundance of natural resources in
Canada. (ER, LPP)

5.1.1.7 Appreciate the geographic vastness of Canada. (LPP)

5.1.1.5 Appreciate the influence of the natural environment on the growth
and development of Canada. (LPP)
5.2.1.3 Acknowledge the roots of Francophone identity and presence in
Canada. (CC, I, TCC)
5.3.1.1 Recognize how economic and political changes impact ways of life
of citizens. (C, ER, I, PADM)
5.1.1.4 Appreciate how the land sustains communities and the diverse
ways that people have of living with the land. (GC, LPP)

Knowledge and Understanding

5.1.2.2 How do landforms, bodies of water, and natural resources affect the
quality of life in Canada? (LPP)
5.1.2.5 How is the geographical region they live in different from other
regions of Canada? (LPP)
5.1.2.6 What are the factors which determine climate in the diverse regions
of Canada (e.g., latitude, water, mountains)? (LPP)
5.2.1.2 Acknowledge oral traditions, narratives, and stories as valid sources
of knowledge about the land and diverse Aboriginal cultures and history.
(CC, I, TCC)
5.2.1.4 Acknowledge the British influence and presence in Canada. (CC, I,
TCC)
5.2.4.2 How do stories about ways of life in fur trade forts reflect the British
influence in Canada? (CC, TCC, PADM)
5.2.4.3 What were the main languages spoken by fur traders and their
families in the fur trade forts? (I, CC, TCC, ER)
5.2.2.1 What do the stories of First Nations, Mtis, and Inuit peoples tell us
about their beliefs regarding the relationship between people and the land?

(I, CC, TCC)

5.2.4.1 How are the stories of the Mtis people, their culture, and heritage
rooted in the fur trade? (CC, I, TCC)
5.1.3.2 How are natural resources used, exchanged, and conserved in
Canada? (ER, LPP)

Skills and Processes

5.S.7.10 Use a variety of technologies to organize and synthesize
researched information.
5.S.8.4 Create visual images for particular audiences and purposes.
5.S.8.6 Extend the scope of a project beyond classroom collaboration by
using communication technologies such as the telephone and e-mail.
5.S.3.6 List, map, and discuss major waterways that have been significant
in the establishment of communities in Canada (e.g., St. Lawrence River,
Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway, Red River).
5.S.8.1 Select appropriate forms of delivery of written and oral information,
taking particular audiences and purposes into consideration.
5.S.1.5 Seek responses to inquiries from various authorities through
electronic media.
5.S.7.3 Draw and support conclusions based on information gathered to
answer a research question.
5.S.8.3 Listen to others in order to understand their perspectives.
5.S.1.1 Analyze significant local and current affairs from a variety of
sources, distinguishing between fact and opinion.
5.S.1.3 Re-evaluate personal opinions to broaden understanding of a topic
or an issue.
5.S.4.2 Collaborate with others to apply strategies for decision making and

problem solving.
5.S.4.6 Use graphic organizers, such as mind mapping/webbing, flow
charting, and outlining, to present connections between ideas and
information in a problem-solving environment.

Essential Questions:
What are the factors that drew
Europeans to explore this
Region?
How is Canadas Identity
shaped by its geographical
regions?
What might a person from
another region in Canada think
about the quality of life in the
Canadian Shield?
Why might someone choose to
live in the Canadian Shield
instead of another region in
Canada?
Why might a Hudsons Bay
Company trader prefer his
method of trading where First
Nations people travel to trade
at the forts?
Why might a North West
Company trader prefer his
method of trading where
voyageurs travel to trade with
the First Nations?
Why would Etienne Brule and
other coureurs des bois and
voyageurs have learned the
languages of the First Nations
people?
How do Francophones living in
communities that date back to

Big Ideas:
The students will value
Canadas physical geography
and natural environment. They
will also appreciate the
complexity of the Canadian
identity and understand how
changes affect citizenship and
identity.
ER This chapter focuses on the
vastness of the Canadian Shield
region, providing details of its
resources. It also traces the
history of trade in the Canadian
Shield, noting the roles played
by the Hudsons Bay Company,
coureurs des bois, voyageurs,
and the North West Company.
LPP In this unit, the students will
explore how humans have
adapted to the challenges
presented by the physical
characteristics of the Shield.
The chapter illustrates how the
vastness of the Canadian Shield
figured historically in shaping
the Canadian identity and how
it remains a part of the
Canadian identity today.
CC This unit demonstrates how
humans settled and formed

the fur trade maintain their

language and identity? How can
the Metis and First Nations
people do the same?
When people are buying or
trading goods or services, how
can a fair price be decided?
How can people with different
viewpoints reach a decision
about how to use a
communitys natural resources?
Who should decide how to use
a communitys natural
resources?

communities in the Canadian

Shield region.
TCC This unit notes the
adaptations that some resource
communities are now making as
mines close.
I This unit demonstrates how
human adaptation to the Shield,
and human use of the resources
offered by the Shield, have
become part of Canadian
mythology.

Learning Tasks:
Reading Tasks:
Textbook reading
Algonquin Legends reading
photo walk
listen and read along
paired reading.

Skills:
5.S.7.10 Use a variety of
technologies to organize and
synthesize researched information.

Writing Tasks:
Foldable
Notes graphic organizer
Fill in the blank notes
work independently to answer

5.S.8.4 Create visual images for

particular audiences and purposes.
5.S.8.6 Extend the scope of a
project beyond classroom
collaboration by using
communication technologies such as

the questions
Poem
Create a 10-question True or
False quiz
T-chart
Discussion Tasks:
Think-pair-share
photo walk
Brainstorm
jigsaw
Language/Vocabulary Tasks:
Foldable vocab Flap
Voyageurs Songs

the telephone and e-mail.

5.S.3.6 List, map, and discuss major
waterways that have been significant
in the establishment of communities
in Canada (e.g., St. Lawrence River,
Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway,
Red River).
5.S.8.1 Select appropriate forms of
delivery of written and oral
information, taking particular
audiences and purposes into
consideration.
5.S.1.5 Seek responses to inquiries
from various authorities through
electronic media.
5.S.7.3 Draw and support
conclusions based on information
gathered to answer a research
question.
5.S.8.3 Listen to others in order to
understand their perspectives.
5.S.1.1 Analyze significant local and
current affairs from a variety of
sources, distinguishing between fact
and opinion.
5.S.1.3 Re-evaluate personal
opinions to broaden understanding
of a topic or an issue.
5.S.4.2 Collaborate with others to
apply strategies for decision making
and problem solving.
5.S.4.6 Use graphic organizers,

such as mind mapping/webbing, flow

charting, and outlining, to present
connections between ideas and
information in a problem-solving
environment.
Key Terms / Vocabulary:
Erosion
Bedrock
Algonquin
Boreal Forest
Muskeg
Porous
Forestry
Deciduous
Fjords
Voyageurs
PortageLes
The Hudson Bay Company
The North West Company
The Coureurs des Bois
Assessments:
Formative assessment: 20%
Not all assignments will be marked but to ensure students are completing
quality work and understanding the curriculum, some will be taken in.

Summative Assessment:
Foldable Information Holder, Test from the region, as well as a poem If you
are not from The Canadian Shield.
Projects 40%
Test 40%

Lessons:
1. Prior Knowledge KWL
2. Mapping/ inferences
3. Landforms and Climate
4. Resources
5. Industry
6. Foldable creation
7. Titles and Map
8. Vocabulary
9. The Fur Traders / Coureur
de Bois /HBC/ les
voyaguers/
10.
Foldable completion
(3 lessons)
11.
Test

Resources / Text Selections:

VoicesofCanada(Chapter4)
VoicesofCanadaTeacherResource
Guide
Video The voyageur legacy our
story Southern alberta resource
center
How we saw the wind C.J taylor
The rough faced girl Rafe Martin
and David shannon