Becoming a Country

Here are a variety of activities for Wed., Apr 13th, 2016.  Please don't be shy about asking the substitute teacher to come over and see what you are up to.

The Confederation Era is the time period where Canada became a country or "confederated." This happened in the 1850s-1870s when Queen Victoria ruled over Britain (thus we also call it the Victorian Era) and the British North American colonies decided to join together.

Options.... try as many of these activities as you can -- if you don't like one, move on to the next.

Offline activities:

1. Complete questions from class handout "3C Need for Reform"
2. Read a bit about the "Confederation Era" in Canada.  Suggestion: Horizons textbook (basically anything in Chapter 3)

Online activities:

1. Complete your "New Home" journals
2. Check out Early Settlers Life in Upper Canada 1800's (activities) -- https://sites.google.com/site/smartclickeducationservices/early-settlers-life-in-upper-canada-1800s
3. Try this game to get an idea what life was like during the "Victorian Era": http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/games/17
4. Read an article about Confederation (encyclopedia article) -- http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/confederation/
5. Drag and drop the flags of the 13 provinces and territories in the order of when they joined the Confederation (game) -- http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/games/conf/index.asp
6. Road to Canadian Confederation (quiz) -- http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz18417915172f0.html
7. Fathers of Confederation (trivia game) -- http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/games/13
8. Fathers of Confederation (info/facts) -- http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1408122550222/1408364702611
9. Try doing a video search for Canadian Confederation and see if one of the results interests you. Use headphones, please. I thought this "intro to Canada" by Rick Mercer was quite good, funny, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtQ6sIqtE6U
10. Take a look at the cartoon below. What do you think is the message? Who do the men represent? The baby is called Confederation but what does that mean? Who doe the baby stand for? What does it matter who the "father" of the baby is?  If you like you can leave your response in the comment section below.

Confederation Activities

Confederation (encyclopedia article) -- http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/confederation/

Drag and drop the flags of the 13 provinces and territories in the order of when they joined the Confederation (game) -- http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/games/conf/index.asp

Road to Canadian Confederation (quiz) -- http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz18417915172f0.html

Fathers of Confederation (trivia game) -- http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/games/13

Early Settlers Life in Upper Canada 1800's (activities) -- https://sites.google.com/site/smartclickeducationservices/early-settlers-life-in-upper-canada-1800s

Fathers of Confederation (info/facts) -- http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1408122550222/1408364702611

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Check out some of the above links before beginning your "Confederation News" piece.

Your task: create a headline and brief article for a newspaper on July 1st, 1867 explaining what all the fuss is about. Leave your article as a comment on this blog post. It is highly recommended that you write it our first on a word file and then pasted it in as a comment.

Confederation Speeches

Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/

In-class activity - Why Canada? - Confederation Research (3rd and 4th page of Lesson 2G handout).

25 minutes - read up on the Father of Confederation that you picked or had assigned.  Use any website for background info, but make sure you have the right guy!  Imagine how this person might have felt about the BNA colonies becoming a country.  From what you are reading, would they support or oppose Canada?

25 minutes - write a short speech (150-200 words) outlining your character's view towards Confederation. You can fill in details based on what you learned about the "Father" and the colony he represents (e.g. Canada East, PEI, Nova Scotia). This is a speech in the first person present tense ("I believe...") for or against Confederation, with arguments and evidence supporting their views.

This activity verifies a few abilities; self-assess as you go (ask yourself if you are "getting" these things):

• conduct an efficient and relevant websearch
• sort out useful information from fluff
• synthesize information from multiple sources
• use digital tools like a word processor and a blog
• manage time in a lab environment appropriate to the task
• express research and thinking in the form of a speech
• write clearly using factual evidence
• write convincingly using effective arguments

Post your speeches as a comment here. Leave you first name and initial so I can assess your work (e.g. Ashley B.)