| INTENDED
GRADE/SUBJECT AREA |
| Grade 5 / History, Math,
Social Sciences |
| CONCEPTS
|
- Local history, fur trade history,
geography, long division, communication,
resourcefulness
|
| INSTRUCTIONAL
OUTCOMES |
Students will:
- practice estimating
- use primary resources to analyze
and discuss objects with little information
provided
- understand and compare differences
and similarities between historical
artifacts with objects used today
- use computers to search FurTradeStories.ca
for answers to questions
|
| RECOMMENDED
TIME FRAME |
Approximately two hours.
|
| BACKGROUND
INFORMATION |
| This lesson plan is a combination
of the teacher presenting to the class using
a computer for projection on screen and
the students using their own terminals or
working in pairs. If you don’t have
enough computers or reliable Internet access,
you can print off the artifact images and
hand them out in the classroom. Set up
website prior to class so that students
don’t get a peek ahead of time.
Go to FurTradeStories.ca then work
your way through > 1600-1867 >
Identity, Culture & Communities >
Artifacts > Mailbox Bench (or go
directly to http://www.furtradestories.ca/details_content-id-272_cat-id-2_sub-cat-id-1)
and click on the Zoom In button.
A new window will open with a larger view
of the Mailbox bench. Minimize the other
window so the information can’t
be seen on-screen.
Provide your students with a preamble
to set stage for life in the fur trade,
the distances traveled, and the time it
took to complete tasks we take for granted.
Maybe make a connection to today by asking
how often they get mail, or communicate
with relatives over the phone or friends
using email or instant messaging; or compare
communication changes from their grandparents
time to their parents time to their time.
Try to get them to imagine asking their
best bud a question, and waiting a year
to hear the answer.
|
| ACTIVITIES |
| Activity
One |
Open with a modern map
of Canada* and have students guess what
the distance is between Red River (Winnipeg)
may be a few possible answers depending
on method used (as the crow flies, TransCanada
route, actual ground covered which may include
detours). Tell them Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière
once travelled 3000 km over 150 days delivering
dispatches for the HBC, going from the Red
River settlement to Montreal.
- Have students work out on paper:
how many kilometers did he average per
day? 3000/150
= 20 km.
Possible follow-up threads: How many
kilometers do the students walk in a day?
Compare length of their school year with
time it took him to cross three provinces.
* One map you can use is available
at CanadianGeographic.ca.
Click on the Explore the Maps in
the left-hand column. When the new map
window pops up you will see a red triangle
next to the distance 7100 km. Click once
on the 7100 to open the field, then type
3000 and hit update. You can adjust the
view to move a little more southerly –
the silver star slightly to the right
is a Pan tool and if you click once on
the bottom point you should have the perfect
view of the map covering Manitoba to Quebec. |
| Activity
Two |
Bring up the zoomed image
of the Mailbox Bench, but ensure that the
title and text are hidden from view.
- Ask if they know what it is, get
specific (i.e., not just a bench)
a. Bench that
doubles as a mailbox to four different
trading posts
- Does anyone know what it was used
for or how it might have been used?
a. In addition
to seating, there are slots on the seats
that allow mail to fall into four compartments
and stay protected until someone is
charged with delivering the mail and
places the mail in packet boxes.
- Why would they use it that way?
a. The dual purpose
of the bench allows more room in what
is typically a small or crowded area.
(If students have visited a trading
post such as Fort Langley or Fort Gibraltar,
remind them of how cramped the buildings
were.)
- Anything else? Ideas on how long
it would take for mail to arrive?
a. Even as recent
as the 1920s, it would take a year for
someone’s letter from a remote
post in Labrador to arrive at the Winnipeg
District Office.
- What would be a good time of year
to send mail to Europe?
a. Spring, as
soon as the ice thawed and the ships
could leave. It allowed for the possibility
of mail being delivered, and for the
recipient to send their response before
the Fall.
What would be a bad time of year?
a. Late fall or
winter, if there was an early freeze
packets could only get as far as the
port and would have to wait until the
next spring thaw. |
| Activity
Three |
| Hand out The Scavenger
Hunt [see Appendix 1a] to the students.
Students should be stationed at a computer
terminal (either individually or in pairs)
go to FurTradeStories.ca, and then
directly to the artifact list [instructions
are on the sheet]. They will find the answers
to the questions by clicking on the links
[see Appendix 1b].
While the students
are working on their Scavenger Hunt, close
the window that displays the larger image
of the Mailbox Bench and maximize the
Fur Trade Stories window again. Click
on the back button once so you see the
list of links in their categories. Click
on Historical Connections in the left-hand
column – the screen should refresh
and under Artifacts you will see Lagimodière’s
Sash. Click on the link and Zoom In. Minimize
the other window so the information can’t
be seen on-screen. |
| Activity
Four |
If
you haven’t already, go to FurTradeStories.ca
then work your way through > 1600-1867
> Historical Connections > Artifacts
> Lagimodière’s Sash
(or go directly to http://www.furtradestories.ca/details_content-id-252_cat-id-2_sub-cat-id-3)
and click on the Zoom In button.
A new window will open with a larger view
of Lagimodière’s Sash. Minimize
the other window so the information can’t
be seen on-screen.
- Ask if they know
what it is, and point out that it is
believed to have belonged to Jean-Baptiste
Lagimodière, whom they learned
about earlier.
- Guessing it’s
a sash would be pretty easy, so now
ask what else it could be used for.
Rope, harness,
belt, horse bridle, tumpline*.
- Why wouldn’t
the fur traders just use a rope, harness,
belt, bridle, tumpline? Canadian
Tire or RONA wasn’t around then,
and trading posts were few and far between.
Fur traders bought all their provisions,
usually on credit, at the beginning
of winter and traveled great distances
to their hunting or trapping areas.
If any thing was lost or broken, they
had to make do with whatever was available
until they returned in the spring, or,
if they were lucky enough, met a fellow
traveler willing to part with theirs.
In the spring, they brought the furs
to the store that gave them the credit
for their provisions and paid off their
debt. With the amount left over, they
were able to use that credit for more
goods, for example, a copper kettle,
sewing needles, clothes, food, or a
present for their wife.
- Can they give you
another example of a fur trader’s
resourcefulness by finding multiple
uses for an item? The
Mailbox Bench.
*Tumpline: A strap
slung across the forehead or the chest
to support a load carried on the back. |
| Activity
Five |
| Hand out
Then & Now [see Appendix 2] to
the students. Seated at their computer terminal
again, have them go back to the artifact
list and find the objects listed and provide
answers in the spaces provided. |
| MATERIALS/RESOURCES
|
- Computer lab time to access
- FurTradeStories.ca > 1600-1867
> search Artifacts > Mailbox
Bench, Lagimodière’s
Sash
- CanadianGeographic.ca –
for the map of Canada
- Paper and pen/pencil
|
| |
