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Fur Trade

Northwest Rebellion

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Lesson #5                       The Beaver

SUBJECT:  Science/Health                                                            

TOPIC:  Facts and the role of the beaver in the fur trade.

TIME FRAME:  1 class

COMMON ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS:  Communication, Independent Learning, Personal and Social Values, Critical and Creative Thinking.

MATERIALS:   Question sheets

1. OBJECTIVES:            Saskatchewan Science Objectives
                                   Saskatchewan Language Arts Objectives

Cognitive: Students will...  
- recognize and discuss some common facts about the beaver.
- participate in brainstorming and classification activities on the beaver.
- summarize information on the beaver in a variety of ways.
- develop questions about the beaver.

Affective/Spiritual: Students will...
- demonstrate increasing awareness that appropriateness of language is determined by situation, purpose and audience.
- develop their abilities to recognize and accept well-supported differences of opinions and ideas.

Physical: Students will...
- participate in class and small group discussions and collaborative tasks.
- demonstrate increasing use of speech and writing to generate, clarify and extend ideas.
- participate in decisions around classroom management and appropriate behavior.

2. RESOURCES:

Group1- http://www.pcunlimited.com/wildlife/awrinfo.htm#beavers

Group2 - http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/dnr/fur/species/beaver.html

Group3 - http://tqjunior.advanced.org/3882/beavers.html

Group4 -http://www.washingtonparent.com./articles/9708/busy.html

Group 5 - http://www.telenet.net/~beavers/beaver.html

3. PURPOSE/TEACHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The purpose of this lesson is for students to learn about the beaver - what it eats, where it lives, how long it lives, what they are used for.  The beaver was very important to First Nations people because it gave them their food and clothing.

The beaver became very popular during the fur trade because of its pelt.  The beaver pelts were used for a number of things.  One example saw First Nations peoples use the beaver pelt for making clothing, food and tools.  During the fur trade, the beaver hat became "a social necessity" from the mid-1600's until the 1830's.  The special cutting quality of beaver fur-wool made it enormously valuable, which in turn affected the population of the beaver.

4.  ACTIVITIES/IDEAS:

Divide the class into 5 groups (if possible).  Each group is to work cooperatively in finding information about the beaver.  Each group will get their own question sheet to answer using computers and the internet.  Once the groups have completed their questions, they are to present their results to the whole class.

Other Furs Traded
*Visit the following website for research information of other kinds of furs traded during the fur trade.  Have students write a short report on each of the animals that are mentioned.
http://www.gov.edmonton.ab.ca/parkrec/fort/1846/furstrade.html

5. EVALUATION:

Image of  a beaver.