Canada… big, beautiful, and the true north strong and free. Do you want to teach your children about this amazing country? Every month, we’ve been studying the different provinces of Canada and we wrapped up our studies by having a final unit study on the territories! Check out our educational Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut unit study activities!
CANADIAN TERRITORIES UNIT STUDY
For social studies this year, we’re studying Canada! I previously shared our month-long studies of the provinces including:
- Newfoundland & Labrador
- Nova Scotia
- Prince Edward Island
- New Brunswick
- Quebec
- Ontario
- Manitoba
- Saskatchewan
- Alberta
- British Columbia
We’ve learned so much about Canada this year! I’m even amazed at how much I’ve learned in this process! Since this series has been so well received I thought I would share our final homeschool unit study about the territories of: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut! It was a fabulous month full of terrific books and wonderful educational experiences!
This family did a Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut unit study in their homeschool! Check out all of the fun and educational activities they did to learn about this amazing region of Canada! #homeschool #canada #yukon #nwt #nunavut Click To TweetOUR CURRICULUM
The bulk of our planning came from The Canadian Adventure Online Edition. I added some other elements to the curriculum, such as various read-aloud books and a related artist study.
YUKON, NWT, & NUNAVUT READ-ALOUD BOOKS
As I’ve mentioned many times before, we start our day with Morning Time. This peaceful way of easing into our day is something I cherish. At this time, I read aloud to my children from a variety of books. Since we were studying the northernmost areas of Canada, I selected interesting books that were related to this region.
Since our read aloud books we shorter reads, we did a few read-alouds this month:
- Crazy for Gold by Frieda Wishinsky
- Arctic Storm by Frieda Wishinsky
- Beware, Pirates by Frieda Wishinsky
T is for Territories: A Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut Alphabet was another great book. This series has been a fabulous addition to our homeschool social studies curriculum! A poem runs through every page of the book and it relates to some aspect of the region. The rhyming text is fabulous for young children with low attention spans. But there’s also detailed information about the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut on various pages to engage and enhance the learning of older children. By reading this book, we learned so much about the northernmost regions of Canada! We read about 1-2 letters of the alphabet per day throughout the month.
We have also been enjoying the Canada Close Up series. We read through:
These are fabulous non-fiction books. We’ve actually enjoyed all the books in this series. It’s full of photos and it gives us additional information about the territories. We read almost 1 book per week throughout the month.
VIDEOS
We watched many videos during the month. Most of the videos were provided by links through The Canadian Adventure Online Edition. The videos were beautiful and many times it felt like we were seeing and experiencing the various sights of the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.
POLAR PEN PAL
Throughout the month, we also enjoyed opening letters we received through our Polar Pen Pal subscription. I had purchased a 6 month subscription and saved the letters for when we studied the territories.
The girls loved the letters, links to videos and activities, as well as the special treats like the Inuit Tea (yum)!
It was through our Polar Pen Pal subscription that they also found their new favourite song… Ukiuq by the Jerry Cans. Make sure to check out this video – it gives some stunning northern views and inspired my youngest to practice throat singing!
ARTIST STUDY
Every month we study an artist who pairs well with the region we’re exploring. This month we studied the fabulous art of Ted Harrison.
The Ted Harrison paintings that we studied were:
- The Old Log Church
- Yukon Sun
- Inside Passage
- Saamis Tepee
We discussed Ted Harrison’s artwork in detail and my girls memorized the names of each piece of art. We also read The Cremation of Sam McGee and Children of the Yukon, both of which were illustrated by Ted Harrison.
ACTIVITIES
We engaged in various activities throughout the month. The girls did map work about the province. They also worked on memorizing and recognizing:
- Whitehorse – the capital of the Yukon
- Yellowknife – the capital of the Northwest Territories
- Iqaluit – the capital of Nunavut
- The flags for these territories
- Each of the territories’ flowers: Fireweed (YT), Mountain Avens (NWT), Purple Saxifrage (NU)
- Each of the territories’ birds: Common Raven (YT), Gyrfalcon (NWT), Rock Ptarmigan (NU)
As usual, we wrapped up our study of the territories with collages. I had gathered tourist guides and my girls cut out pictures that they felt depicted what they had learned about the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. I love seeing what my children choose as photos that best represent the area. It’s always an enjoyable and educational activity.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Lastly, I usually include a cooking activity with our unit studies, but I was at a loss as to what to cook for our territories unit study. So we made Inuit tea (which we got through our Polar Pen Pal subscription) and were able to get our hands on some blueberry pemmican.
Our month-long territories unit study was fabulous. We learned so much from the experience! This study of the provinces and territories across Canada has been a delightful one. The unit studies in their entirety can be found on the Complete Homeschool Study of the Provinces and Territories of Canada page.
Psst – If you’re curious about doing an in-depth study on Canada, I can’t say enough good things about The Canadian Adventure Online Edition. Make sure to check it out!
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