Canadian Fur Trade Teaching Ideas
By MARISSA DESPINS Updated Dec 12, 2023
Fur Trade Teaching Ideas for Upper elementary and Middle School
Are you looking for engaging activities and teaching ideas to introduce your students to the history of New France and the Canadian fur trade? Invite your students to explore this exciting period in Canadian history with these fun ideas and interactive activities.
Looking for a COMPLETE unit on the Canadian Fur Trade that you can print and use right away? Click on the image or button below to download a copy!
Keep reading for an overview of engaging Hudson’s Bay Company and the Canadian fur trade teaching ideas!
Introducing the unit
Nothing beats a short video clip to engage learners and get them excited about the unit to come. The video linked below if one of my favorite fur trade teaching ideas – it gives a great overview of the Canadian Fur Trade.
Reading Comprehension through Text Mapping
Text Mapping is one of my very favourite way to sneak some quick literacy practice into a Social Studies lesson. In case this term is unfamiliar to you, Text Mapping is a fun technique that can be successfully used to teach reading comprehension, writing skills, study skills, and course content.
As an alternative to books, Text Mapping is done on large paper scrolls. First, students take their reading and tape the pages together. This creates a scroll that can be rolled out onto the floor. After, kids see the text in its entirety, instead of flipping through multiple pages. Having the entire text visible at one time, instead of just two open book pages, helps students make connections across the lesson that they wouldn’t normally be able to make. As a result, students are able to better understand complicated text. In summary, students are able to see the text as a whole, instead of focusing on individual parts.
For more detailed activities and examples on text mapping, you can explore our Text Mapping Activities page, which offers a variety of resources to enhance this technique in your classroom.
This Canadian Fur Trade activity comes with everything you need to get started with Text Mapping – full text article, instructions, and student guide. It is a great way to introduce students to new Social Studies content. Grab a copy to use with your learners by clicking on the image below!
Additionally, for a broader range of historical teaching methods, consider visiting our History Stations to Engage Your Learners page, which has some great teaching strategies that can complement your teaching of the fur trade.
Hudson’s Bay Company Fort Scavenger Hunt
In this fun activity, students learn all about fur trading forts, what they looked like, and reasons for their specific locations. I love this activity because it is so much more fun than boring whiteboard notes! Because of this, it really helps engage reluctant learners!
To prep this fun fur trade teaching ideas, simply print and cut out the cards and tape them around your hallway, classroom, or outdoor space. Next, have students hunt around for the cards and complete the information on the included worksheets. It is a great way to get students up and moving!
Grab a copy of this activity to use in your classroom by clicking on the image below.
Design a Fur Trade Post
For this activity, students take all of the information they have learned about fur trading posts and design their own!
First, students must decide on the location for their forts, and mark it out on a map of Canada. Students must reflect back on what they have learned about specific locations of forts to help them with this activity. Because of this, it makes a great review activity!
Next, Students write about the location of their fort and describe what it looks like. If you like, you can have students research images of historical forts to help them with this part, or pass around the images included in this resource. This is a great way to tie in some descriptive writing practice!
Finally, students create a visual of their fur trade forts. This could be a a full color illustration or 3D model, depending on how in depth you want to go with your learners. It makes a great STEM challenge as well!
All of the engaging fur trade teaching ideas above can be found in my “Design a Fur Trade Post” unit. Grab a copy for your learners by clicking here or on the image below.
To provide students with a more comprehensive understanding of Canadian history, including the era of the fur trade, our Residential School in Canada page offers valuable insights and educational resources.
To further enrich your curriculum with diverse perspectives, especially regarding the Indigenous history intertwined with the fur trade, consider incorporating materials from our Indigenous Read-Alouds page.
Looking for more fur trade teaching ideas?
Click here or on the image below to grab my COMPLETE Canadian Fur Trade Bundle! It contains ALL of the activities mentioned in this post!
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