Canada in 10 Objects
Game: Curators' Cut: teams pitch an object, then post sticky-note tickets to build a 5-object museum.
Become museum curators: pitch one of ten objects, then the class picks the five that tell Canada's story.
Grade 6 Social Studies · Strand A · Heritage and Identity · 2023 curriculum
Our Canada: The Stories That Made Us
Whose stories made Canada, and why do they still matter?
31 ready-to-teach lessons that end with a real class-published book in the school library. Every lesson has a game, a slideshow, a one-page teacher card, an answer key with sources, and Grade 5/6 and 6/7 split-grade lanes. 3 of 31 lessons ready.
- Pick tomorrow’s lessonFrom the blocks below or the sidebar. Ready lessons are bold.
- Read the teacher cardPage 1 of the pack: say-this script, timed flow, the game. Five minutes.
- Press Present slidesStudents play, then copy 3 prompts into their notebooks.
Act 1 · Where We Stand
Start local: our land, our town, why people come.
Whose Land Are We On?
Game: Map Detective: clue race across the map.
Find our school on a map of the Haldimand Tract and read what the treaty promised.
What Makes Canada, Canada?
Game: Identity Draft: teams draft 3 Canadian symbols (one built, one physical, one social) and defend each pick.
Leveled reading on built, physical and social features that shape how we see Canada.
Why Would You Leave Home?
Families draw life cards (famine, war, a letter from a cousin) and decide whether to stay or go.
From Berlin to Kitchener
Use old photos and newspapers to see why our region's biggest city changed its name in 1916.
Act 2 · First Peoples
First Nations, Métis, and Inuit contributions, perspectives, and history.
Gifts That Shaped Canada
Leveled reading on canoes, kayaks, medicines, travel knowledge and Haudenosaunee democracy.
Reading a Wampum Belt
Study the Two Row Wampum as a primary source. What did each side agree to?
One Promise, Two Understandings
The same treaty from a First Nations view and a government view.
Residential Schools
A carefully framed reading built around survivor voices.
Inuksuk Navigators
Inuit knowledge of the land, Nunavut (1999), and historic Métis communities in Ontario.
Act 3 · Newcomers
Settler and newcomer communities, and how groups met.
Two Languages, One Country
French and British roots, bilingualism, and the expulsion of the Acadians.
The Road to Freedom
The 1793 Act Against Slavery and Underground Railroad settlements in southwestern Ontario.
Who Laid the Track?
Photos of the last spike: who's in them, who's missing, and why. Chinese railway workers and the head tax.
Uprooted, Then an Apology
Japanese Canadian relocation in WWII and the 1988 redress, from three perspectives.
Jewish Communities in Canada
Canada's first synagogue (1768), equal rights (1832), Mount Sinai Hospital (1923), and the impact of antisemitism.
Settler Survival
A day in a settler family's life (land, work, food, faith), compared with a First Nations community.
Meeting Point
Fur-trade cooperation and conflict between First Nations, French and British traders.
Act 4 · Fair for Everyone?
Who pushed Canada toward inclusion, and how far it has come.
Changemakers
Viola Desmond, women's rights, disability rights, the Charter.
How Inclusive Is Canada?
Take a stand on a 1–10 line and move only when someone shows evidence.
Canada Stories Showdown
Review game across Acts 1–4, which doubles as a quick check before the book starts.
Act 5 · Writing Our Chapter
From question to published chapter. Studio days double as Language writing time.
What Makes a Great History Story?
Read two model chapters and find the six parts every chapter has.
Question Upgrade
Pick a topic from the menu of 35 and level up a personal question.
Mission: Find It
Use your evidence pack: 3 facts, 2 sources.
Mission: Figure Out & Decide
Sort perspectives, then decide why your moment mattered.
Map It
Make your chapter's map or image, plus a caption.
Plan & Hook
Plan the chapter and write the opening line.
The Moment That Mattered
Draft the story scene at the heart of the chapter.
Why It Still Matters + Sources
Write the significance paragraph and the source box.
Two Stars and a Wish
Peer conference, then revise.
Final Copy
Final chapter and self-check. The chapter rubric is the summative piece.
Book Launch
Read aloud, sign copies, and shelve Vol. 1 in the library with families there.
Every fact and every photo is credited inside its lesson. Heritage Minutes are linked to historicacanada.ca, never copied. No student information is stored on this site.