Purpose:  Introduce Canadian Geography to the students as the beginning of  a unit on Canada. Objectives: 1. Have students become familiar with parts of Canada. 2. Review types of maps and geographic features. 3. Have them create a map that will serve as a resource for the entire unit.

Teachers Chitra Mills and Michael Marrapodi became students participating in lessons taught by colleague Kathleen Fair at a summer institute for geography teachers held summer 1999.

Procedure:
1. Brainstorm what people already know.
2. Present some interesting facts to whet appetite and raise some questions.
3. Divide students into cooperative groups and give out mapping assignment.
4. Create a map of the area through cooperative exercise.
5. Reading and discussion questions when not working on map
6. Summarize what they learned and questions that may have occurred to them.

Materials:
Atlases with various maps of Canada, large paper, paints and sponges/or markers and or colored pencils, overhead projector and transparency of a Canadian map, handout, reading and questions.

 Group One:  Uses overhead to create outline map of Canada
Group Two:  With markers, sponge paint, or colored pencils, indicate elevations of Canada.  Label the coastal Mts. Rocky Mountains and Canadian Shield.
Group Three:  With Markers put in and label rivers and bodies of water.
Group Four:  With markers put in and label rivers and bodies of water.
Group Five:  Put in the cities that you feel are important.  Also put in any other features that you think are missing.
Additional Groups:  will fill in the smaller specialized maps
Give the mapping assignments and have them decide what they need to put on the map and where it should go.  Have the groups come up to the map when they are ready and when there is space for them.

While they are waiting to put their features on the board, they should read the handout on Canadian Geography and discuss the questions as a group.

 Canadian handout
From - World Cultures:  A Global Mosaic Prentice Hall

The Shape of the Land
Canada sprawls across the northern half of North America from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific in the west.  Its border to the north is the frozen Arctic Ocean.  To the south, Canada borders the United States.  This boundary line, which is 3000 miles long, is the longest undefended border in the world covering an area of 3.8 million square miles.  Canada is one of the world’s largest countries.
Canada has clearly defined political and physical regions.  It is divided into ten provinces and three territories.  Excluding the Arctic Islands, Canada’s many and forms shape five distinct geographic Regions.

Appalachian Region:  The most eastern region of Canada lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the heavily forested Appalachian Mountain.  This region of low hills, plains, islands, and peninsulas includes the Atlantic Provinces of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
 The sea has long shaped the life of the Appalachian region.  Early Europeans built small fishing settlements along the rocky coast.  From there, they fished in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, one of the world’s riches fishing areas.  Since the 1960’s, however fishing has become less profitable because the region has been overfished.  Discoveries of offshore oil and natural gas promise to revive the regions’ economy.

Great Lakes-St. Lawrence lowlands:  To the north and west of the Atlantic Provinces is a region of fertile lowlands that stretches along the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes.  The St. Lawrence Seaway, a system of locks and highways that connect the Canadian interior to the Atlantic Ocean.  Good transportation, fertile soil and a mild climate have helped to make this region the agricultural and industrial center of Canada.  Six out of ten Canadian [people live there in its low province.  Quebec and Ontario.

Canadian Shield:  Covering almost half of Canada, the Canadian Shield stretches west and north from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic Ocean.  It consists of low hills, swamps, lakes and streams.  Because the soil is poor and the climate is cold, few people live in this region.
To Canadians, the Shield is both a cures and a blessing.  It cuts the country in half and contributes to divisions between the easterners and westerners.  At the same time the shield is rich in mineral resources.  Its forest once supported huge numbers of fur baring animals.  Hardly trappers and traders once paddled up its rivers and streams to trap animals or trade skins.

Great Plains:  Farther west lie the Great Plains, part of the vast interior plains that stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean.  Because of its rive soil, the region is known as Canada’s breadbasket.  In the moist eastern plains, Canadian farmers grow grains.  The drier western area supports cattle ranching.

Western Mountain Group:  The fifth region is a mountainous strip of and about 500 mules (805 km) wide.  It stretches from the towering Rocky Mountains to the Coastal Ranges along the Pacific.  Between the mountains lie rugged plateaus.
The Western Mountains form an imposing barrier.  Until the late 1800’s, the people in the province of British Columbia was isolated from the rest of Canada.  Even today, people in the far west have an intense regional pride and sense of independence.  Distance also affects trade patterns.  Vancouver, British Columbia is closer to Tokyo, Japan than to Halifax, Nova Scotia.  As a result British Columbia has developed trade ties with the countries of the Pacific Rim.

Note:  Most of your maps will only show 2 Territories, the Yukon and the Northwest Territory.  As of 1999, a new territory was created called Nunavut, which will be controlled by the Inuit Peoples.

 Questions

1. What is Canada’s largest province?  What is the relative location of this province?

2. What water way provides a major route for trade by connecting the interior of Canada with the Atlantic Ocean?

3. Why do you think Canada’s geography has limited the size of its population and determined where most people live?

4. There is a large segment of the population of the province of Quebec that would like to secede from Canada and become a separate nation.  What effect might that have on the rest of Canada?

5. Why is the Canadian Shield both good and bad for Canada?

6. What explanation can you think of which would explain how small the provinces are along the Atlantic Coast of Canada?
 

Finally, with your group decide what places you will learn to locate on an outline map for a quiz.

You need to know
1. 10 provinces and 3 territories
2. 3 oceans and 1 sea
3. A gulf, 1 river, a bay and 5 lakes
4. The Canadian Shield, The Rockies, the Coastal Mts., the Appalachian Mountains
5. 1 city to get an 85

For each additional location of feature you will get 1 point.  You will loose 2 points for each missing feature.