Dalnavert Museum School Programs - Grade 4 - Blast into the Past!

Program Description

Would you like to step back in time? Where would you go? Who would you meet? What could you learn? Students will be transported to another time as they explore what life was like for a child living in Winnipeg in 1895.

Goal

To encourage students to compare and contrast their lives with those of the children who lived in 1895. To introduce critical thinking skills and support students growing understanding of the historical past through experiential learning.

Curriculum Links

4.3.3 Cultural Communities in Manitoba	4.4.1 Early Life and Settlement	4.4.2 People and Events that Shaped Manitoba	4.4.4 Changes in Way of Life
4-KI-005 Identify cultural communities in Manitoba	4-KH-034 Give examples of the impact of European settlement on Aboriginal communities in Manitoba Include: Displacement of communities, disease, cultural change	4-KH-033 Relate stories of people and events that shaped Manitoba e.g., voyageurs, Louis Riel, Chief Peguis, Lord Selkirk, Nellie McClung, Thanadelthur, bison hunt…	4-KH-035 Describe ways in which life in Manitoba has changed over time e.g., housing, food, hunting and fishing, clothing, recreation, languages, education, agriculture, transportation…

Time Line - 90 minutes

Component	Time (minutes)	Description
1. Introduction	10	Students are introduced to the house, discuss the concept of museum, and are told that when they cross the threshold they are time traveling to 1895. Students are provided with notebooks to record their observations during their time travel trip.
2. Trunk Activity	15	Students handle authentic objects stored in a trunk and brainstorm what these objects tell us about the lives of the children in the Macdonald family.
3. Tour	25	Students explore the house, comparing and contrasting it to their own home and recording their research in their notebooks.
4. Chore Activity	25	Students participate in chore activities that children in 1895 would have done.
5. Sharing Notes Workshop	10	Students return to the present-day and share their observations. These are recorded on a Venn diagram that helps students compare and contrast 1895 to 2011. The diagram is then sent home with the school as a resource for later discussions in the classroom.
6. Conclusion	5	The major concepts of the day are recounted and any final questions are answered.

Dalnavert School Programs

Page revised: 19 February 2012