Social Studies Grade Three

Unit 1: Identity

Module Three - Comparing Canadian Communities

Concepts:

Identity, group, community, natural environment
Knowledge Objectives
Students will know that:

the natural environment helps shape the community.
the constructed environment is part of the community.
various reasons determine the differences and similarities between communities .

Skills/Abilities Objectives
Students will:

identify characteristics of various communities.
identify and explain some similarities and differences between communities.
Attitudes/Values Objectives
Students will:

appreciate that communities have similarities and differences.
Citizen Action Objectives
Students may:

participate cooperatively in group tasks.
Suggested Approaches

Review features of the local community which was studied in Grade 2. Include natural features such as climate, seasons, size, the landscape (e.g., hills, vegetation, river, lakes), and constructed features (e.g., streets, buildings, dam).
The teacher may choose to deal with information about Saskatchewan and Canada, in order to help students identify with a province and country.
The teacher may choose to have the students study and compare two communities from nature (e.g., a nearby swamp and a bluff of trees). Comparisons may involve the life forms and food chains as well as the smells and sounds.
Compare the local community with one that is quite different but that the students are familiar with. For example, a class in an urban community may compare their city with a nearby rural community, a class in a small town might compare their community with a nearby Hutterite Colony. Brainstorm for similarities and differences. The teacher may choose to have the students web or chart the information (see samples).
Read stories or information about other selected communities in Canada (e.g., an Inuit community). Make comparisons with the local community. Chart the comparisons.
Compare the climate of the two communities. Make connections between climate and lifestyles of the people.
Compare the landforms and environments of the communities. Make connections with how the physical environment affects the constructed environment as well as people's lives.
If the community under study has a well-known structure (e.g., Toronto's Sky Dome, Golden Boy in Winnipeg), have the students recreate it.
Study a map of the local community as well as maps of the communities under study. Display the map along with pictures of the community. Have the students make connections between the pictures and the maps.
In studying maps of cities, compare where the different areas (e.g., downtown, industrial area, parks) are located. Identify various natural features (e.g., river, hills, islands, ocean) and how the city is built on or around them. Compare where certain buildings (e.g., museums, hotels, City Hall, police station) are located. Discuss reasons why they are located in similar or different areas.

Module 3: Activity Guide

The local community
Have the students review their identity within the local community through a brainstorming activity. For example, provide the stem:
Because I live in ____ I ___.
or
I like my community because ____.
Answers could include descriptions of local landforms, vegetation, sports, attractions, businesses, problems (school closure, pollution from a nearby factory).
Make a web or chart showing characteristics of the local community. The teacher may wish to organize information under the following headings: location, land, water, weather, people, attractions, resources, industries, governance.
Canada
Introduce the students to Canada as a country. The teacher may choose to use a map of the Canada and of the world. Discuss different places within the country that the students have heard of, have visited, or know something about.
Display reference books about Canada. Give the students 20 to 30 minutes to browse the books in pairs. Provide the stem: Canada is ________. Ask students to search for ways to finish the stem, getting information from pictures and captions.
Bring the class together. Compile and categorize the information and then organize the categorized information into a finished product, for example, a big book about Canada or a bulletin board display.
Learn songs and poems about Canada. Read stories about Canada. Learn about Canadian artists and art forms.
Compile a list of Canada's sports teams. Use resources such as the sports section of the newspaper to get this information. Research the symbol for each team. Using maps, locate the home town of each team. Place the symbols for teams on an outline map in the proper location. Make a key.
Identify reasons why Canadians are fortunate to live in Canada.
Guide students to be proud of being a Canadian. Learn the national anthem in both languages, songs, chants, and verses about Canada. Learn about the flag.
Provinces and territories
Pose the question, "What is a province? Record students' responses on a chart and keep the chart for future reference. As a homework assignment ask students to find out if they have ever visited any other province of Canada, how they travelled to that province, and information they would like to share about that province. Find out if they have relatives in other provinces of Canada. Display a political map of Canada. As students share their information, discuss features such as mountains, rivers, oceans, highways, railways, and airways.
Make a collection of objects that depict the provinces. Collections could include:

stamps;
postcards;
calendar pictures;
brochures;
news stories;
pictures of cities;
celebrations in different parts of the country;
stories, poems, songs about Canada; and people (I met a person from -).
Saskatchewan
Using a variety of resources, have students working in groups, with each group creating a web about the following: climate, vegetation, people, sports, resources, and symbols. Some classes may be ready to work in groups to brainstorm and then organize their ideas. If students have done this work as groups, combine their webs to make a master copy for the class.
Learn poems and songs about Saskatchewan. Examine the works of Saskatchewan artists or available photos which reflect the diversity of the province. Read stories. Learn about Saskatchewan's diversities.
Have students reflect upon their identity as a citizen of Saskatchewan. Provide the stem: Because I live in Saskatchewan _______.
Answers may include:

I wear warm clothes in the winter.
I cheer for the Roughriders.
I can enjoy a prairie sunset.
I can skate well.
I can see the geese flying south in the fall.
Other communities
In preparation to expand this study to other areas of the world (Unit 3), the teacher may initiate activities that will increase the students' knowledge of world geography, for example:

compile a list of place names they hear throughout the year, and use an atlas to locate these places;
collect stamps and/or postcards;
collect news stories;
collect environmental projects from around the world.
For this module, however, continue the "journey" theme of the grade three curriculum, using a variety of resources to explore other places in Canada.
Use a resource like Canadian Families or Canadian Neighbours: How They Live. Read the story to the students or have them read it in groups. Discuss in what ways the community in the story is similar to and different from the local community.
Model how the information may be organized using a web, chart, Venn diagram (see Module 1), or a matrix (see enclosed model). Information may be in the form of words, phrases, sentences and/or pictures.
Read another story. Discuss similarities and differences. Have students working in groups to record information in the way it was modelled.
Note:
When comparing communities, guide students to do so without being judgmental.

Emphasize unique and interesting characteristics.
Emphasize similarities more than differences.
When dealing with differences, ask, "Why?" "What are the advantages or disadvantages?" Emphasize that differences are not necessarily better or worse, but rather address different needs and experiences.

Suggested Resources
(listed in other bibliographies and catalogues)
Resources - natural environment
Forms From Nature (Visual Sources for Learning Series)
Jerome Hausman and Flora Hausman (Arts Ed)
Global Atlas (Gr 6 SS)
Sketching Outdoors in Summer (Spring, Autumn, Winter) Jim Amosky (Arts Ed)
Tillie and the Wall Leo Lionni (ELA)
Resources - constructed environment
Architecture Eleanor Van Zandt (Arts Ed)
Architecture In Newfoundland (MHP, V372)
The Architecture of Animals: The Equinox Guide to Wildlife Structures Adrian Forsyth (Sci)
Ben's Dream Chris Van Allsburg (ELA)
Classifying Polygons (MHP, V3256)
Exploring Buildings Ralph Whitlock (Arts Ed)
Homes (MHP, V8369)
Sidewalk Artists (Arts Ed) (MHP, V7079)
Up Goes the Skyscraper Gail Gibbons (Arts Ed)
Visual Sources for Learning Series: Man-Made World (kit) (Arts Ed)
Watch Out For The Tetrahedron (MHP, V3253)
Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment Bulletin Board System (BBS) offers an oppportunity for twinning classrooms via modem.

Using a matrix to compare communities

Community #1 Community #2
Location

Natural
Features

Constructed
Features

Things to
do & see

Using webs to compare communities

	Community #1	Community #2
Location
Natural Features
Constructed Features
Things to do & see