Social Studies Grade ThreeConcepts
Students will know that:
Skills/Abilities Objectives
Students will:
Students will:
Students may:
Industry Review the industries in the local community. Make a web. Have students identify industries in communities they are studying. Identify one or more that they would like to learn more about. Build on and expand understandings which the students developed in grade two. Use local examples to introduce understandings and then develop a global perspective by exploring examples from further afield, making comparisons to your own community.
A focus for grade three might be economic understandings such as cost of production, profit, loss, and market. Visit a local factory. Record the steps in manufacturing an item in flow chart format using pictures.
Develop understandings about global interdependence as you identify the raw materials needed in the production of the goods and discuss markets.
Develop the understanding that goods are manufactured and services are offered in response to needs.
A study of industry should include identifying whether or not the industry supports sustainable development.
An assembly line
Manufacture a product in your classroom using an assembly line. View the video Soap. Use it to motivate the students to explore the production of other products. Set up an assembly line to produce an environmentally friendly product.
Conduct an experiment to demonstrate the benefits of assembly lines. Find a task with several steps, for example the office may have letters that need to be sorted, stapled, folded, and put into envelopes. Set up two groups. In the first group each person does all the steps. The second group sets up an assembly line. Which group produces more of the finished product in a given time? Which group found the work more interesting?
Another assembly line activity could be the production of greeting cards including folding of paper and putting a manufacturing mark on the back, a greeting on the front, a picture on the front, a verse inside, and a picture on the inside. If possible, visit a business with an assembly line.
Learn about the production of a specific article such as aluminium cans. Find out the location of the raw materials, the manufacturing plant, and the market. The article that you and your students study will vary depending on the interests of your students and the learning resources you have available. Use the following as a model.
Example: Aluminum Cans - Where Do TheyWhat do we use to make an aluminum can? Consider all costs including raw materials and energy for transportation and manufacturing.Come From and Where Do They Go?
Aluminum is produced in Canada. It takes a lot of energy to produce aluminum and Canada has resources for producing that energy. Another resource needed to produce aluminum is bauxite. Canada does not have any supplies of bauxite. Ask:
Aluminum is produced in Kitimat, British Columbia, and in the province of Quebec. Find Kitimat on Canada's west coast and the port of Montreal on Canada's St. Lawrence Seaway. Bauxite is shipped from other countries to these ports.
Have students label Canada, Kitimat, Montreal, and the bauxite producing countries on an outline map of the world and mark the route the bauxite would likely follow to get to Kitimat and Montreal.
After the bauxite has been made into aluminum it is manufactured into goods people can use. Name some things that might be made out of aluminum (aluminum foil, airplanes, cooking utensils). How are these articles made? Who buys the manufactured goods. (The goods are sold to people in Canada and other parts of the world.) Use maps to establish how aluminum foil manufactured in Quebec would get to the students' homes.
Make connections. Use the Global Atlas pages 18 and 19 to discover that Canada's Atlantic neighbours that have bauxite also have very low levels of energy production. Canada has a very high level of energy production, but has no bauxite. The necessity to share resources makes countries interdependent.
Look at Nelson Canadian Atlas pages 34 and 35. Notice that `molybdenum' is found near Kitimat. What is this? Do you think it might have some use in aluminum production? Use an encyclopedia to find out if it has any use in aluminum production or have on hand a short paragraph that explains this. Look at a map showing the minerals found in Quebec and Ontario. Do any of them have a use in aluminum production?
What happens to an aluminum can after it is manufactured? Establish that the can then must go to a processing plant where some food item is put in the can, is labelled, and then sent to the business which sell it.
Work in groups to consider all the expense involved in producing an aluminum can from the time it is bauxite in the ground until it is an aluminum can. Bring the class together and compile their ideas on a flow chart. Sketch pictographs at each stage in the flow chart. Include items such as the cost of extracting the bauxite, shipping, building the aluminum producing plant, producing the energy required to make the aluminum, shipping the aluminum to the plant where they make the cans, packaging the cans to send them to the packing plant. Consider the energy used at each step and the human power used at each step.
Divide the class into groups a second time and have them consider all the expenses of recycling an aluminum can. Bring the class together and record their ideas. Include items such as the cost of collecting the cans, shipping them to the recycling plant, cleaning them, melting them down, sending the recycled aluminum back to the plant where they make cans, making the cans, and shipping them to the packing plant. Consider the energy used at each step and the human power used at each step.
Have the students speculate upon which would be the most efficient way to get aluminum cans. (Recycling aluminum takes about 1/10 the energy of producing it the first time. It is one commodity that makes recycling worthwhile.)
Divide the students into groups, assigning each group one of the Links books. After perusing the book the students might do one of the following:
Learn about factories or assembly lines in another community, for example the manufacture of cars in Japan or Korea.
Example: Car Manufacturing in JapanIn Japan and Korea cars are manufactured on assembly lines with the assistance of computerized robots. Japan began to mass produce cars in 1957. By 1980 Japan had surpassed the United States to become the world's largest producer. Toyota is the second largest car manufacturer in the world, and Nissan the fourth largest.
Car manufacturing is done on an assembly line. The body of the cars moves along conveyor belts without stopping. Each worker has a special job to do as the car passes them. Some install radios, some heaters, the engine, the brakes, and so on. If the car is going to England or Japan the driving wheel goes on the right hand side. If the car is going to Canada or the United States the driving wheel is put on the left hand side. Cars going to tropical countries don't need a heater.
Sometimes robots do some of the work. For example a robot might apply glue all around a windshield and then place the windshield in its place on the car.
All the employees want to do their work better and faster and then more cars will be sold and they will get a bonus. Any worker can stop the assembly line at any time if something goes wrong. The crew that works together on the assembly line often has a meeting after work to discuss how they can do their work more efficiently. The foreman of the crew leads the crew in exercises during breaks. They do worm-up exercises before they start work.
Robots allow the company to produce more cars with the same number of workers.
Ask the students if they can name any products produced in Japan (or Korea). Ask them to look at the electronic equipment in their homes to see if they have anything produced in these countries.
Use learning resources describing the manufacture of cars. Children's encyclopedias may be a good source for such information. Have each group read the description. Give each group a piece of paper about 1 1/2 metres by 30 cm. Have them plan a car assembly line drawing what would be added to the car at each stage. They would have to start by compiling a list of parts that will be added to the car and then planning the order in which they will be added.
Use Michael Bird-Boy to develop understandings about responsibilities related to manufacturing.
Learn about the role of robots in manufacturing.
India is a country of great diversity and there is a danger of stereotyping. This case study is of a hypothetical village in the state of Rajasthan. This village is in a semi-arid area. During the rainy season from May to October they receive about 15 cm. of rain and during this time they grow a crop, likely beans or peas (pulse crop). During the dry season from November to April they receive very little rain. A second crop such as rice may be grown using irrigation. Cattle are kept as a source of milk, but these people are Hindus and do not eat meat of any kind. There are about 100 people living in the village.
Set up a model of a village in India. Use juice packs to represent houses. The house would be very simple with walls and floor made of mud and thatched roofs; some houses may have roofs made of curved tiles. Larger houses would be made with three boxes arranged to form three sides of a square with a courtyard in the middle. Arrange about ten to twenty houses along twisting streets and lanes.
The only furniture in most houses is a charpoy, a cot with a wooden frame and a lattice of ropes that serves as the spring, or a straw mat called a chatai. The weather allows cooking to be done outside. The cooking utensils are made of wood or pottery, and sometimes of brass. Everyone squats on their heels to prepare or eat food. There are no chairs or tables.
Arrange the students in an extended family grouping with grandparents, their sons and their wives, and children. Explain that an extended family lives together in India. A couple goes to live with the husband's family when they are married.
Several of the inhabitants of the village farm. The fields are spread out from the village in every direction. (Compare this to Saskatchewan farms where the farm families have traditionally lived on their own farm.) A well or a nearby river would be used for irrigation.
Many people conduct businesses out of their homes. Small shops may sell wheat, rice, sugar, salt. Women and children may have carried bags of produce from the field and placed them for sale by hey are married.
Several of the inhabitants of the village farm. The fields are spread out from the village in every direction. (Compare this to Saskatchewan farms where the farm families have traditionally lived on their own farm.) A well or a nearby river would be used for irrigation.
Many people conduct businesses out of their homes. Small shops may sell wheat, rice, sugar, salt. Women and children may have carried bags of produce from the field and placed them for sale by oduce a good or service. Role play bartering.
Sometimes goods produced in homes are taken to markets in nearby towns. The villagers may receive cash for their goods at these markets. In the production of goods the villagers must always consider how they will obtain the raw materials to make more items for sale or barter.
In a family that is involved in a cottage industry, children and other members of the family often either help with the industry or have other responsibilities.
Children may be seen herding cows, goats, or sheep out to pasture. Camels are used to carry heavy loads or to pull ploughs. The main means of transportation is walking. People are often seen carrying heavy loads on their heads including fire wood, sacks of farm produce, or laundry.
For the women and girls much of the day is occupied with hauling water from the one village well or gathering fire wood from the surrounding area. The village well serves as a social centre where friends meet and gossip.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain firewood. All the wooded areas are disappearing and the women and girls have to walk further and further to get the firewood they need to cook their evening meal.
Cows are considered holy and are allowed to roam where they please. The flesh of the cow is not eaten, but milk provides Hindu people with much of their nourishment. The milk is often made into yogurt. Cow dung is gathered and formed into patties and set in the sun to dry and then is used as a source of fuel.
There may or may not be a school in the village. If there is a school not all the children attend. Most of the girls would not likely attend school and if they did they would probably only go up to about the third grade. Their chores would keep them too busy to attend school.
Present the information as a matter of fact. The housing and way of life are suitable for the time and place. Avoid comparisons that lead the students to believe that our way of life is better.
Guide the students in identifying instances of people working out of their homes in their own community. Technology will allow more and more people to work out of their homes in the future. Computers with modems, fax machines, and telephones will allow people to keep in touch with their offices. Many Saskatchewan people are also starting cottage industries in their homes and produce items such clothing, pottery, soap, and toys, or provide services such as accounting, rototilling, auto repair, and hairdressing.
Find out if anyone who runs a cottage industry in your community ever trades their product or services for other goods and services. Find out how they make and market their product.
Trade fairs and farmers' markets are becoming increasingly popular. Some people rent tables in malls.
Case study of a company Some classes, groups, or individual may wish to do a case study of a company nearby or far away. The research could include:
United Aalsmeer Flower AuctionsCollect media stories about other auctions. Learn about the use of technology in auctioneering, for example satellite auctions.
Legmeerdijk 313, 1431 GB Aalsmeer
P.O. Box 1000
1430 BA Aalsmeer, Holland
Explore how Lego manufactures and ships its products all over the world. Information about the history and the system can be obtained by writing to:
Lego Systems A/SParks Discuss a national park in Canada that the students are familiar with (e.g., Prince Albert National Park, Grasslands Park in southern Saskatchewan, Banff). List all the services in the park. Consider where the money comes from to run the park. Consider their purpose. Are the parks just for enjoyment, or are there other purposes for the parks? Write away for information about national parks in general and Jasper National Park specifically.
DK-7190 Billund
Denmark
Do a comparative study of Hakone National Park in Japan and Jasper National Park in Canada. Locate Jasper on a map. Explain that Jasper was twinned in 1982 with Hakone, which is southwest of Tokyo and near Mount Fuji. Locate it on a map.
Send away for information about both parks. Compare summer and winter activities and facilities in each park.
Use the park study to develop understandings about international cooperation. Write to Jasper and request information about the twinning arrangement and special activities and events. Watch for other examples of international cooperation in current events.
Learn about festivals in Hakone Park and compare them to festivals in the local community.
"Kosui Matsuri" is the Lake Festival. This is an annual festival of the Hakone Shrine held on July 31 on Lake Ashi. Red rice is dedicated to the dragon god of the lake. There is a display of fireworks held over the water at night. Lighted lanterns are set afloat on the water.
"Hakone Daimonji-yak" is the Bonfire Festival. On the night of August 16 each year, huge torches set up in the shape of the Chinese character "Dai" meaning "great" are kindled at the summit of Mt. Myojo (alt. 924 m.). The crossbar of the ideograph measure as long as 110 m., the strokes each being as wide as 7.5 m. This event is held for the purpose of sending the souls of the dead back to heaven.
Placing skipping ropes on the gym floor, have students discover how big the bonfire is.
"Hakone Daimyo Gyoretsu" is the Feudal Lord's Procession. This procession is held every year on November 7th. It is held to remember the journey of the feudal lords to Edo, the old capital city. A total of 400 local men and women in ancient costumes parade through the streets. It is held near the Hakone-Yumoto Spa.
Ask students:
Transportation Use resources to develop understandings about different methods of transportation for moving both goods and people and their suitability to needs and environment.
Have students compare several means of transportation. Use the following as a catalyst to further research:
A rickshaw without a motor is pulled by a person. One or two people can ride in this rickshaw. It is like a basket with two big wheels on each side. Of course the sides of the basket are missing in the front so people can climb in and out easily. There is a seat in the basket where the people sit. Like I said, someone pulls this rickshaw so there are two long poles sticking out from the sides of the basket. The person stands between the poles and pulls the rickshaw.
A rickshaw with a motor is something like a golf cart. It is very small. The driver and one other person can sit in the front. Two passengers can sit in the back. There is a roof overhead, but no doors. They don't go very fast, but it is much faster than walking. In some countries children are taken to and from school in these rickshaws. About a dozen children your age are squeezed into the cart. Their book bags hang outside.
The women prepared the seal skins to cover the kayak. First they soaked them in water and then they stretched them. Next they sewed them together very carefully so they would be waterproof. The men were always very thankful to the women for sewing the skins together so cleverly that they would not leak.
The seal skin was stretched over the frame and totally covered the frame, leaving only a hole in the middle for the rider. The paddler and his possessions could be protected from the cold Arctic wind and water.
Have students work in groups to do the following:
Learn about canals. Find the Panama Canal on a map. Use a children's encyclopedia to find out more about the Panama Canal and how it was built. Are there similar canals in other parts of the world? (e.g., Suez Canal) How do canals serve to link communities? Use maps of the world to speculate upon the shipping routes before the building of canals. Listen for items about Panama Canal, Suez Canal, or others in current events. Summarize your findings in a class composition or big book. Use resource materials to do further research about canals.
Learn about ferries as a method of transportation. Examine a map of Canada. Ask the students to speculate how people would get to Vancouver Island or Prince Edward Island. Do we have ferries in Saskatchewan? Check a road map of Saskatchewan to find out. People pay to ride on the ferry. Some ferries are privately owned but many are a government service.
Learn about space travel and people involved in that industry. Use resources, current events, and/or the profile about Roberta Bondar.
Profile: Dr. Roberta Bondar
The year was 1983. Roberta heard an advertisement on her car radio. The ad said that the Canadian Astronaut Program was looking for people to fly on a NASA space shuttle. Roberta applied. She was one of 4 300 people who applied. Six people were selected. Roberta was one of them.
Why was she one of the top candidates? There are many reasons.
When she was in elementary and high school, she and her sister were active in church groups, Brownies, Girl Guides, and other community groups every night of the week. In school, they participated in every house league, sports event, club and activity they could. Her father taught them how to hunt and fish. He believed that you can learn as much outside of school as in school. Her mother insisted that you should always be the best that you can be, no matter what you are involved in.
When she went to university, she worked hard and received high marks. She earned several degrees, mainly in sciences and medicine. After she graduated, she became a teacher of medicine at a university. She continued to hike, fish and play tennis. She got her pilot's license.
She also has the right kind of personal characteristics. She is very confident. She never panics, is never flustered. If she is ever afraid, she doesn't show it and she certainly doesn't let it interfere with whatever she does. She could work long hours, day after day, and never seem to get tired.
When the six people were selected, they all went into training. Marc Garneau was the first Canadian astronaut to fly on a space mission. That was October 5 - 13, 1984.
In 1986, the Challenger spacecraft exploded shortly after takeoff. All seven astronauts were killed. Future space missions were delayed.
Finally, on January 22, 1992, the space shuttle that carried Roberta Bondar and other crew members. The mission lasted 9 days. During the mission she worked 14 hour days as a payload specialist. She completed 55 scientific experiments. She didn't let space sickness interfere with her work. She didn't have much time for sightseeing, but she talks about how very beautiful the earth is when viewed from space.
After the flight, she travelled across Canada several times speaking to school and church groups, Girl Guides, and others. She encourages girls and boys to study science and maths and think about careers in those areas. She recalls how she was teased and often rejected by her classmates because she was interested in different things than they were. Her advice, especially to girls, is to think for yourself and not to do things or be someone just to fit in with the crowd.
On that space mission, Roberta Bondar was a smart and bold explorer. Canadians everywhere were proud of their hero.
Sustainable development Develop understandings about renewable and non-renewable resources.
Setting the scene:
As the teacher tell the students that you are the Minister of the Environment for India and that you are concerned about the wild tigers and the fact that they are an endangered species. You have heard that they are in danger of becoming extinct. You would like to call together the Ministers of Environment from all the countries that have wild tigers and invite them to contribute ideas for addressing this challenge.
Present a list of countries with wild tigers and assign a group of students to each country. These groups of students will use encyclopedias and other resource materials to develop a short presentation about their country to the remainder of the class. Students could be guided to use pictures and captions to develop understandings about their country. They will want to be able to locate the country on a world map. Their presentation may include some interesting facts about their country. They may wish to wear an item of clothing, or to make a prop to enhance their presentation.
The next phase will be the meeting of the Ministers of the Environment and their assistants in the city of Delhi in India. Groups will introduce themselves and their country. The teacher in the role of Minister of the Environment for India will present the problem, the extinction of tigers. Incorporate relevant vocabulary by talking about the need for funds to support a project, and difficulties getting funds because of the government debt.
Suggest that as a group they should do some fact finding regarding tigers and factors contributing to their extinction. This can be done in one of two ways. Your students could do the research in groups if you have the resources or you could conduct the research as a large group. Small group research could be interspersed with large group research, for example you may bring in a film or speaker for large group research.
Once the information has been accessed and organized return to your role as Minister of the Environment for India and call another meeting of representatives from other countries. Compile information on charts. Identify the issues. Web ideas. Identify attempts that are presently being implemented to deal with this problem.
Have the students divide into groups made up of representatives from different countries and challenge them to come up with solutions to the problem. Bring the group together and have solutions brought forth. Discuss drawbacks, incorporating relevant vocabulary and discussing issues such as reaction of citizens in the home countries and funds to pay for projects. Guide students in a discussion of ways they can solicit support for their project(s) at a grass-route level. Have them discuss ways of educating people in their home countries.
Have students design posters, newspaper headings and articles, or advertisements.
Countries that have wild tigers include:
Develop the following understandings about forests:
Use a series of scenarios that encourage students to explore their feelings related to issues. Small groups discuss their reactions to each scenario. Adapt the following scenario to meet local needs:
Adapt the following simulation to develop an understanding of the interdependence of the economy, the environment, and social well-being.
A Fishing Village Anywhere
Set up the simulation. The classroom becomes a fishing village. Students make about 100 small paper or clay fish and about 100 tiny fish babies. Make a bulletin board into an ocean display; put on 100 mature fish. Divide the class into families - one family member fishes and the others work in the fish factory.
Start the simulation.
Let the game take its natural course. The supply of mature fish may start to become depleted in which case guide the students to discover the need for quotas.
The supply of mature fish may grow and the students may decide to improve the technology they are using to catch the fish. Use dice with larger numbers.
After each day of fishing continue the simulation. The fishermen return to the village and sell their fish to the processing plant and get $1.00 per fish. They keep one for their family. Families who didn't catch any fish in a day will have to pay $2.00 to get a fish for the family to eat.
Develop the following understandings:
Extend the simulation to develop further understandings about the fishing community; maybe the fishing plant has to close down when fish stocks are depleted.
Explore fishing villages in different areas of the world using resources such as books and videos.
Contact a school in a fishing community by writing to the school board. Have students communicate.
Make a diorama of a fishing village.
Interview someone who lived in a fishing village.
Have several classrooms learn about a fishing village in a different part of the world and share what they have learned.
Have students watch and listen for relevant news items. Use this simulation to help them understand depletion of other resources, for example, soils, forests, water. Make connections with the management of resources in your area.
Ask students to predict what will happen if quotas and regulations are not imposed and obeyed. Explore the use of nets that kill many species.
Write to organizations such as Green Peace for information about the world's oceans and related issues. Find out what they can do to help the situation. For example, there have been boycotts of certain products to force industry to make changes.
Managing waste
Imagine you are at a garbage dump. Identify sights, sounds, smells, and forms of life. What garbage is most offensive (old fridge, plastic bag, broken furniture, wasted food)? What technology and resources were involved in producing that piece of offensive garbage? How was it used? How were we dependent on it? What were its different uses? Speculate upon the "journey" of the garbage, from the time it was made until the time it was dumped. Write this as a story, then role play it for the class, or present it to the class as an oral history. Make a display showing the change of a useful product to a useless product. Write a story about the "second chance" telling how was recycled and given a second chance to "live a useful life once more".
What are the temptations and dangers of living in a "throw away" society? Reflect upon interdependence. We depend on technology to make our lives easier. Once the technology becomes "useless", does the earth/environment need to depend on us to recycle, reuse, repair? Why is this (interdependence between people and the environment) important? Identify ways technology helps us, and ways we have not used it wisely.
Technology and pollution
Discuss positive and negative impacts of technology.
"Your Town"
Play the following simulation game.
Your Town
Develop a list of events that could happen to your town, for example:
Use journal writing to have students reflect on sustainable development. Have them record their vision of the future in words and pictures. Have them observe, sketch, and describe things in nature, for example trees, insects, and birds. Use their journals to think about interdependencies using webs.
World View and Sustainability
There are different ways of thinking about the way people fit into the rest of the world. One view held by people all over the world and throughout time understands the importance of maintaining the balance of nature. People are seen as being an integral part of nature and resources are used carefully with consideration being given to maintaining the harmony of nature. Another view of the world sees people as above nature. There is the belief that this view has led to an overuse and abuse of resources. A contemporary view is emerging that combines these two views. It is based on an understanding that we should be using the earth's resources wisely to meet our needs today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Read Chief Seattle's speech prior to the signing of the treaties (part of the speech found on p. 4 Keepers of the Earth). Identify elements in nature referred to in the speech. Ask students to pick out the important things Chief Seattle was trying to tell people. Ask, "What do you think Chief Seattle meant when he said, `Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it'?" What do you think Chief Seattle would say if he were alive today?
Have students close their eyes as you read the speech. Ask them to visualize the scenes described in the speech. Draw a picture of the what they saw. Integrate with arts education by identifying works of art that remind them of Chief Seattle's speech or by choosing music that makes them think of the speech and creating a dance to go with the music.
Learn about the medicine wheel and what it teaches us about interdependence and sustainability.
Use two hoops to represent two views of the relationship of humans to nature. Lay them separately on the floor. Invite students to choose items to fit into each hoop to represent the view of humans as part of nature (pictures of nature, models of animals), and humans as dominating and changing nature (pictures of factories, clear cut forest area). Avoid making value statements about the preference of one view over the other. Explain that today people are starting to realize a combination of the two views would be wise. Move the hoops together so they intersect and form a subset. This is a contemporary view. Ask students to think about why a combination of the two world views is necessary. The social well-being of people must be considered. For example, we need clean air and water. More and more people are valuing this contemporary view.
Learn about a sustainable world view by studying the four elements of the physical world, fire, water, earth, and air. Demonstrate the way these four elements work in balance by creating a display. Make a large circle and divide it into quadrants. Represent one element in each quadrant.
Have students choose one of the four elements. Making a T-chart, have them identify how the element helps humans and how humans can help the element.
Use Synectics to have students explore their thinking about the elements. For example:
Make a chant, rap, poem, ceremony, expressing thanks for the elements. Reflect upon the contemporary view of earth's resources through journal writing. Ask students to reflect upon why they think they should be thankful for earth's resources.
Use literature and stories to explore world view. In The Birth of Nanabosho, Nanabosho can change himself into anything imaginable. The storyteller explains to the children that they must treat everyone and everything with respect because they never know when Nanabosho has changed himself into something around them and they would not want to be disrespectful to him or anything in Creation. Introduce this book by asking the students if anyone has ever said to them, "You better behave because you never know who is watching." Follow up by asking the students to relate similar teachings and stories. Reflect through journal writing. Do future forecasting by identifying things they would tell children about proper behaviour if they were adults.
Read or tell The White Buffalo Calf Woman and the Sacred Pipe from Keepers of the Earth and use resources such as Jason and the Sea Otter, Jen and the Great One, and A Salmon for Simon to develop understandings about sustainable development and a world view that supports sustainable development. Identify the action that the children in Jen and the Great One took to bring about change. Ask students to identify ways they can bring about change.
Learn about Indigenous peoples and their use of resources and how the culture that evolved in each case reflects the way the people used the resources in the environment.
World Systems
Use resources such as Environmental Atlas for Children, Global Atlas,Tomorrow's World,Under the Same Sun: Water, Unicef Environmental Atlas for Children, Ways of Life: Farming, and Ways of Life: Fishing, and Project Wild Aquatic Times p.310, Deadly Waters p.322, and What's For Dinner? p.46.
Introduce the four interdependent and life- sustaining biological systems on our planet that through environmental damage, are increasingly under attack. These biological systems are:
Create a display illustrating the four world systems. Draw a large circle on paper and divide it into quadrants. Label the quadrants with the four world systems, the oceans and fisheries, the forests, the croplands, and the grasslands. Have students search for items to include in each quadrant. This could include seeking input from adults including parents, and other print and non-print resources including magazines and television documentaries. The result could include some of the following:
- about double the size of croplands
- provide grazing for most of the world's livestock herds
Watch newspaper and magazine articles for stories that tell about attacks on and defence of the biological systems.
Help students understand the impacts of the decisions they make. For example, a decision not to use styrofoam cups not only saves the cost of the cups, but it also saves the resources that were used to make the cups, the energy and pollution caused to make the cups and transport them to the consumer, and the impact on the environment when they are disposed.
World Systems is adapted from Tomorrow's World. Canadian Red Cross Society, 1982.Suggested Resources
Benjamin and the Pillow Saga Stéphane Poulin (ELA)
Book (MHP, V244)
The Cake That Mack Ate Rose Hobart (ELA) (Use the cumulative pattern
in this story as a model to make a book about a factory or assembly line. Computers
and Robots (MHP, V8125)
Earth Ltd. (MHP, V2732)
Fire and Sand: The Mysteries of Glass (MHP, V3380)
Glass Blowing (MHP, V319)
Global Atlas (Gr.6 SS)
How Are They the Same Judith and Garfield Reeves- Stevens (Sci) (Shows
an Ontario pet food production plant.)
Mixtures (Sci) (MHP, V3242) (Includes a visit to a soda pop factory.
Paper (MHP, V8131)
Plastics (MHP, V8133)
Robots (MHP, V8005)
Soap (MHP, V8137)
Resources - clothing industry
Clothes (MHP, V8124)
Clothing (MHP, V8182)
The Hat Maker (MHP, 3176)
Man and Society (kit) (Arts Ed) use the filmstrip "Costume and Fashion"
Ties That Bind: Fibres (Arts Ed) (MHP, V3384)
The Weavers Jenny Nelson (Arts Ed)
Resources - companies
Auctioneer (MHP, V2364)
Florist (MHP, V2356)
Market Gardener (MHP, V2369)
More Potatoes Millicent E. Selsam (Sci)
The Toy Tester (MHP, V3182)
Why Is The World Shrinking? (MHP, V2543)
Resources - zoos
Animal Special (MHP, V8428)
Animals (MHP, V5034)
Begula Baby (MHP, V3409)
Chimpanzee (MHP, V4040)
Getting Ideas (Arts Ed) (MHP, V3535) - use to integrate with arts education
Gorilla Anthony Browne (ELA)
Incredible Jumbo (ELA) (teacher read)
Nicholas and the Vet (MHP, V8240)
Project Wild (Sci) Polar Bears in Winnipeg? p. 145
Zoo Families (MHP, 7568)
The Zookeeper (MHP, V2570) (Sci)
Resources - sustainable development
All Around Robin Kerrod (Sci)
All Change (MHP, V257)
All My Relations: Sharing Native Values Through the Arts Catherine Verrall
(Sci)
The Big Tree and the Little Tree Mary Augusta Tappage (Arts Ed)
Buying A Rainbow (MHP, V8383)
A Closer Look At Recycling (MHP, V8473) Connecting Canada This
teacher resource has been placed in every division office. See pages 56 - 59
for background information, teaching strategies may be adapted.
Conserving Our World Series (Sci)
Conserving Rainforests Martin Banks (Sci)
Conserving the Atmosphere John Baines (Sci)
A Developing World. Earth Ltd. (MHP, V2732)
Earth Science Activities for Grades 2 - 8 Marvin N. Tolman and James
O. Morton (Sci)
Earth Songs Myra Cohn Livingston and Leonard Everette Fisher (Sci)
Educating For A Greener Generation (MHP, V8468)
Education Goes Outdoors Frank Johns, et al. (Sci)
The Elders Are Watching Dave Bouchard (ELA)
Endangered Wildlife Martin Banks (Sci)
Energy Andres Langley (Sci)
Energy (Sci) (MHP, V8029)
Energy and the Environment (MHP, V8442) The Energy Carol (MHP,
V3839)
Environment Show (MHP, V8434)
Exploring the Sea: Oceanography Toady Carvel Hall Blair (Sci)
The Forest Dawn Adams (Sci)
Gaia: An Atlas of Planet Management Norman Myers ed. (Sci)
Global Atlas (Gr 6 SS)
Good Planets Are Hard to Find: An Environmental Information Guide, Dictionary
and Action Book for Kids (and Adults) Roma Dehr and Ronald Bazer (Sci)
Green Careers (MHP, V8467)
The Green Man Gaile E. Haley (ELA)
Handle With Care (MHP, V259)
The Harmony Puzzle (Sci) (MHP, V3476)
How Do Living Things Shape the Earth's Surface? (Sci) (MHP, V3422)
I Am Leaper Annabel Johnson (ELA)
Images in Northern Saskatchewan (Sci) (MHP, V2618)
It Starts At Home (episode 12) (MHP, V5023)
Jason and the Sea Otter Joe Barber-Starkey (ELA)
Keepers of the Earth (Sci)
The Kid's Question and Answer Book Editors of Owl Magazine (Sci)
Kidzone I - Electrical Safety and Conservation (MHP, V3845)
Kidzone I - Environment (MHP, V3846)
Kidzone II: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle MH,V3850)
Kidzone II - What's Up (MHP, V3854)
Land Ecology Jennifer Cochrane (Sci)
Lester and Clyde James H. Reece (ELA)
Looking at the Environment David Suzuki (Sci)
The Man Who Planted Trees Jean Giono (Sci)
Miss Rumphius Barbara Cooney (ELA)
Modular Science for GCSE - Book 1 -
Modules 1-3 Mike Hiscock, et al. (Sci) The Mountain Goats of Temlaham
William Toye (ELA)
Mrs. Frisby and the Cats of NIMH Robert C. O'Brien (ELA)
On the Brink: Endangered Species in Canada
J. A. Burnett, et al. (Sci)
Our Natural Resources: Where Are They Now?
Where Will We Find Them Tomorrow? (kit) (Sci)
Pacific Estuaries - Where Rivers Join the Sea (Sci) (MHP, V2678)
Pollution Herta S. Breiter (Sci)
Pollution and Conservation Malcolm Penny (Sci)
Pollution and Wildlife Michael Bright (Sci)
Project Wild (Sci)
Rainforest Helen Cowcher (Sci)
Recycling (MHP, V8431)
Reusing and Recycling (GEP, p.32)
Rocks (MHP, V3245)
A Salmon for Simon Betty Waterton (Sci)
Seeds Program (Sci)
A Shell on the Beach Helen Cowcher (Sci)
Solving the Harmony Puzzle (Sci) (MHP, V3477)
Sound Pollution (MHP, V8474)
State of the Ark: An Atlas of Conservation in Action - A Gaia Book Lee
Durrell (Sci)
The Story of Three Whales Giles Whittell (ELA)
Teaching Global Responsibility (Saskatchewan Global Education Project Resource
Catalogue, p.52)
Tomorrow's World Canadian Red Cross Society
Trees and You: Friends of the Earth This kit was distributed to all elementary
schools in 1990.
Urban Ecology Jennifer Cochrane (Sci)
Vermicomposting (Saskatchewan Global Education Project Resource Catalogue,
p. 33)
Waste (Sci) (MHP, V3250)
Waste and Recycling Barbara James (Sci)
Environmental Resource Network, a list of freestanding units on the environment
and Clean Cat Road Show, a forty-five minute free live presentation on
the 3 R's:
Saskatchewan Environment and Resource ManagementGreenpeace
3211 Albert St.
Regina, SK S4S 5W6
Tel: 787-6392
815 Spadina Avenue, 6th FloorSaskatchewan Environmental Society
Toronto, ON M5T 2C6
Tel: (416) 345-8408
Fax: (416) 345-8422
P.O. Box 1372Somewhere Today, and Under the Same Sun
Saskatoon, SK S7K 3N9
Tel: 655-1915
CIDATake Action
Youth Editions
P.O. Box 1310
Postal Station B
Hull, PQ J8X 9Z9
Project WildWhat Can We Do For Our Environment? Hundreds of Things To Do Now Atlantic Region (Sci) This resource introduces sustainable development within the context of environmental stewardship and is available from:
Box 14
1495 St. James Street
Winnipeg, MB R3H 0W9
Tel: (204) 945-7763
CIDA PublicationsObtain trees for planting from:
Public Inquiries
200 Promenade du Portage
Hull, PQ K1A 0G4
Tel: (819)-997-6100.
Treemendous SaskatchewanAsk about their programs such as Seedling Is Believing.
Box 400
Prince Albert, SK S6V 5R7
Tel: 763-2784
Shand GreenhouseShand Greenhouse provides tours and materials that develop understandings about the interrelationship between plants and the generation of electricity. They also have an Arbour Day program.
Box 1248
Estevan, SK S4A 2K9
Tel: 634-9771
