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Canada:  Fur Trade

Page history last edited by Mallory Burton 10 years, 1 month ago
Grade 4 Social Studies IRP :  Grade 5 Social Studies IRP: 
  • early European exploration of BC and Canada
  • contact between Aboriginals and Europeans
  • bartering, money
  • factors affecting exploration; technologies used
  • exchange between Aboriginal peoples and Europeans
 
  • maps and timelines
  • key events in the development of BC and Canada
  • resources and economic development
  • location of natural resources
 

 I have had requests for websites for grades 3-5 and also for grade 8-9, so quite a range of resources is presented below.

 The Voyageurs Role-Playing game below would make an excellent vehicle for a fur trade unit.  What fun to choose a crew, buy supplies, find a canoe, locate maps, decide on trade items, learn a voyageur song to keep time for paddling, and plan other aspects of the trip! 

 

Student Links

 

 

Sqworl Student Pages

These are quick links to some of the resources below.  Here's a set for younger students (lower intermediate) and a set for older students (upper intermediate, middle school, high school.  

If you want to create a different set for your own students, just register for a a free Sqworl account... took less than a minute to create these pages. 

 

Research

 

World Book Kids

World Book Kids includes a short entry about the Hudson Bay Company.  The article can be read aloud and printed, along with a picture of a Hudson Bay Trading Post.  There's a link to WorldBook from our SD website and you don't require a password when using it at school.  If students need access at home, they can ask the school librarian for the username and password. 

World Book Students

A search for "Canada Fur Trade" on World Book Student returned 82 items including entries on Fur Trade, Hudson's Bay Company, North West Company.  These entries would be suitable for older students, and supports on the site include highlighting, saving, printing, text-to-speech, dictionary and translation.  There's a link to WorldBook from our SD website and you don't require a password when using it at school.  If students need access at home, they can ask the school librarian for the username and password.

Fur Trade and HBC

Exploration:  Fur Trade and the Hudson Bay Company is a great site with both an English and a French version.  The content is written for students age 9 and above but may be too difficult for students not working at grade level to read on their own.  Kurzweil's Read the Web feature and the free NaturalReader both work well on this website.  There are also teacher resources available on this site.

Primary Sources, Artifacts, Art

The amazing Fur Trade Stories website seeks to preserve the stories of the early fur trade using primary sources.  The site contains stories from articles/diaries/journals, photos and explanation of artifacts, artwork/illustrations of the time, original maps/diagrams, and audio/video resources.  Many of the stories are available in audio form and can be downloaded.  Suitable for middle to high school students, especially gifted students you would like to challenge.

 

The Northwest Journal

Great collection of articles on various aspects of the fur trade including how to make a birchbark canoe, what the voyageurs wore, women in the fur trade etc.  You are allowed to use these articles for educational purposes provided you credit the Northwest Journal.  Suitable for middle to high school students.

 

Interactives/Games

Museum Boxes

How about creating a Museum Box that characterizes various aspects of the Fur Trade era?  These could be items that were traded, items that a Voyageur might own, etc.  You could create a Museum Box out of cardboard or create a Virtual Museum Box at this website.  You could also just use the website to demonstrate what a Museum Box is. 

Interactive Map

An interactive map at the HBC Young Explorers site shows 4 stages in the development of HBC.  Click on each of the 4 links at the top to change the map.  The explanation is contained in a window that unfortunately can't be accessed by text-to-speech readers so non-readers will need some help with this site.

Interactive Timeline

An interactive timeline at the HBC Young Explorers site provides detailed information about the history of HBC and the fur trade.  Suitable for middle or high school students.  Cannot be accessed by text-to-speech readers so non-readers will need some help with this site.  Go to the Learning Centre and then Young Explorers.

 

Printables

 

Colouring Pages

There are a few printable colouring book pages at the Hudson Bay Company site for Young Explorers.   Go to the Learning Centre and then Young Explorers.

 

Ebooks

 

Ebook and Comic Books

There are 4 downloadable ebooks (and teacher's guides) available at the HBC Young Explorers site.  Adventurers is a 30-page, richly illustrated ebook that is downloadable in .pdf format in 4 sections. 

Tales from the Bay is a set of 3 comic books that are available both online and in downloadable .pdf format.  These ebooks are suitable for older students.

Go to the Learning Centre and then Young Explorers.

 

 

Photos/Videos

Paintings of the Time:  Think Like an Historian

Frances Anne Hopkins was a Canadian artist married to an official of the Hudson's Bay Company.  She painted many scenes of the fur trade and a selection of her paintings, now in the public domain, are collected on this Wikipedia Commons page.  Would be interesting to see how much students could learn about the voyageurs just from viewing these paintings.

 

 

Short Films

Short National Film Board Canadian Vignette about the Voyageur (1 min) and Trading Posts (1 min)

 

Trade Items

Great film showing items that were traded by Hudson's Bay Company for furs. (4 min)

 

Long Film

The Voyageurs (19 min) is a superb National Film Board film which dramatizes the life of the voyageur, traveling from Lachine to Athabasca in the early 19th century.  Suitable for all ages. 

 

Clicker5 Activities (requires Clicker5 software) from SET-BC

 

Contact and Change (Grade 4)  This activity contains a Learn, Write, and Words section.

This activity supports the Ministry of Education Learning Outcomes for Grade 4 Social Studies: - demonstrate knowledge of early European exploration of BC and Canada. - identify effects of early contact between Aboriginal societies and European explorers and settlers. Created by Kathy Ryan.

 
 

 Fur Trade (Grade 4) 

This activity contains Learn and Write sections.

This activity supports the Ministry of Education Learning Outcomes for Grade 4 Social Studies: - demonstrate knowledge of early European exploration of BC and Canada. - identify effects of early contact between Aboriginal societies and European explorers and settlers. Created by Kathy Ryan.

 
 

 Fur Trade (Grade 5)

This activity contains Learn and Write sections.

This activity supports the Ministry of Education Learning Outcomes for Grade 5 Social Studies: - describe the significance of key events and factors in the development of BC and Canada, including - the fur trade. Created by Kathy Ryan. 

 
Fur Trade Timeline (Grade 9)

This activity contains an interactive timeline.  Students click on each point to discover more information.

This activity supports the Grade 9 Social Studies Prescribed Learning Outcome: Identify major exploration routes and historical events in the development of Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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