Lesson planning-Subject Social Studies
Grades 1-3
Topic of Lesson: First Nations and Inuit Traditional Shelter
Materials Required:
Fabric/canvas
Sticks and twigs
String or yarn
Square cardboard base- 1/ child
Glue/glue gun
Tempura or acrylic paint
Red,yellow, orange tissue paper
Teacher activity
1. The teacher opens the talking circle by acknowledging the
traditional territory their classroom/school resides on and thanking
and honouring the First People's for the land which it resides.
2. The teacher engages the students by reading a book about
traditional dwellings of the First Nations, Metis and Inuit people.
It is important to also teach students that there is over a million
FNMI people living in Canada today and that they are currently
living in modern homes, as well as urban and rural settings. If a
book is not available to the teacher she/ he may use other
findings such as the example below (taken from eco kids.ca):
“The type of homes that aboriginal people built depended on the
kinds of materials they could find nearby, the kind of weather they
had to shelter from, and how often they moved from place to
place. Some tribes who did a lot of hunting and gathering created
houses, like tipis and wigwams, that could be packed up or left
behind. Others who lived in permanent villages could make more
solid homes from materials like logs and bark.
Due in the harsh Arctic climate, the Inuit had to build strong,
comfortable homes. Different Inuit groups had different kinds of
houses.
While hunting out on the sea ice, they would build igloos only as a
temporary shelter from the wind and cold. However some Inuit
groups began to use igloos for the entire winter.
Other winter houses were built with stones and covered with sod.
The coastal Inuit sometimes built larger homes that were partly
dug into the ground and covered by seal skin or sod roofs. To
make summer homes, animal hides were sewn together and held
up with sticks or whale ribs.
The Algonquians of the Eastern Woodlands lived in small villages
near rivers and lakes in dome-shaped homes called wigwams.
They built the frame of the house with young saplings set in a
circle and tied together at the top, and covered the frame with
mats woven from cattails as well as birch bark.
The Iroquois were farmers who did not need to move around so
their houses could be much larger and sturdier. They built elm or
cedar-bark “longhouses” which were big enough for several
families to live in together.
Many of the Plateau tribes lived in log huts covered with bark or
grass. In the winter, some lived in “pit houses.” These houses
were holes dug into the ground, with a cone-shaped roof held up
by wooden poles, and covered with branches and dirt. They used
a ladder to enter and leave through an opening at the top.
On the Plain, most tribes moved around a lot to hunt buffalo and
gather plants for food. The most common home was a tipi, built
with long poles that were tied together at the top and covered by
buffalo hides.
Often they had to travel great distances to find tall straight trees
that would make good tipi poles, so they brought them along
whenever they moved camp.Tipis were built and set up very
precisely so that they would stay dry, keep extra warm in the
winter and stand up against strong winds.”1
1 Ecokids.ca Children's activity
1) Construct a tipi using sticks either provided by teacher or collected by the children from a teacher guided nature walk. Using a cardboard square as a base for your tipi, attach sticks to cardboard base using hot glue, joining the tops of the sticks together using string. 2) Cut muslin/fabric to form the tipi covering. Have the children paint the tipi using tempura or acrylic paints. The children should be allowed the freedom to decorate their tipi’s however they like, respecting their desire for artistic freedom and expression. However prior discussions of First Nations strong links to nature and animals can and should be encouraged with respect to the theme of the painting. 3) The children can finish their tipi by adding a small fire made of twigs and coloured tissue paper. © 2015 www.passthefeather.org The content of this lesson plan is free – anyone may use it. If possible, please provide a link or donation to http://www.passthefeather.org