The Canadian Heritage Minutes are a novel and fascinating solution to deliver the wealthy historical past of Canada to life in your homeschooling curriculum. These brief, impactful movies created by Historica Canada seize important occasions, folks, and tales which have formed our nation. By integrating Heritage Minutes into your classes, you may present your kids with a charming glimpse into Canada’s previous, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation for its heritage.
I keep in mind watching the unique set of minutes throughout TV commercials as I used to be a toddler. That they had an ideal influence on my curiosity about Canadian historical past. It’s thrilling to see what new minutes are launched as a result of it continues to encourage children and adults to be taught extra in regards to the historical past and influence of various folks, experiences, and locations in Canada.
What are Canadian Heritage Minutes?
The Heritage Minutes are a set of brief, dramatic narrative movies that focus sometimes on an individual or occasion all through Canadian historical past. The unique movies have been launched in 1990 and are produced even to at the moment. These 60 second clips introduce subjects in a method that may’t totally give the entire story and context, however permit us a snippet alternative to find sufficient to need to know extra.
The movies deal with some fairly large overarching subjects, similar to variety, politics, navy historical past, arts and tradition, human rights, Indigenous historical past, innovation, enterprise, and extra.
One of many greatest options of those minutes is how accessible they’re to the general public both straight on the Historica Canada web site or by their YouTube playlist. On the time of this publish (June 2024) there are 100 official movies within the collection with 4 which have been eliminated on account of inaccuracies, misrepresentation, or different causes. In case you are curious to see the lacking ones, you may sometimes discover them on YouTube with just a little looking out.
Navigating the Heritage Minutes Assortment
Each the web site and the playlist checklist all of the minutes by the date of their launch, with the latest productions on the high. It is sensible for them to current it this manner, as many individuals simply need to see what’s new. On the web site, you may as well select to have the movies listed alphabetically, and with some extra superior search choices, you may filter outcomes to point out outcomes by theme or by time interval.
I created a downloadable checklist of the movies of their chronological order which it can save you without cost right here. *contains the minutes produced as much as June 2024.
Utilizing Heritage Minutes in Homeschooling
Very like the Nationwide Movie Board of Canada, the Heritage Minutes provide a chance to “see” historical past in motion – though the content material may be very concise and restricted inside the 1 minute time restrict. As a homeschool mum or dad, you need to use these clips in a wide range of methods:
- Introducing a brand new historical past subject or idea. With these brief movies, you may whet a scholar’s curiosity on a brand new historical past subject earlier than you dive extra deeply into it. I’ll at all times keep in mind watching the clip of Nellie McClung shouting “Good Males Don’t Need the Vote!” in her parody speech introduced within the Heritage Minute – it caught out to me for some purpose and result in me eager to know extra about what this entire factor was about! It will probably work the identical on your kids too: An introduction earlier than getting actually into the lesson!
- Alongside your curriculum plans. Let’s say you’re studying about residential colleges and also you watch the Heritage Minute about Chanie Wenjack together with the opposite sources that you just’ve been utilizing. You should use the video to match, join, and distinction what you’ve been studying already – is what you’re doing in your curriculum work matching the identical views because the video or are they completely different?
- Dialog starters. Typically the very best studying comes from simply speaking by issues. These movies can result in some very fascinating discussions and questions from our youngsters – issues that couldn’t be utterly lined in 60 seconds and require extra time and data. For instance, the clip about Viola Desmond and racism within the Forties can simply lead right into a dialogue about how we deal with folks at the moment, in regards to the social justice actions, about what life would have been like for folks of color in these instances and since, and so forth. There are many issues we are able to discuss and children are often stuffed with nice, deep questions when they’re curious!
- Exploring the Six Historic Pondering Ideas: Historic significance. Main Sources. Continuity and Change. Causes and Penalties. Historic Views, and Ethics. A few of these are massive ideas and will be troublesome to totally grasp, however we are able to use these movies to get children considering as if they’re historical past detectives, by asking open-ended questions similar to “Why did Historica Canada resolve to choose this particular person or this occasion to make a video of?” or “Why do you assume this occurred?” or encouraging them to search for main sources about that particular person or expertise to allow them to study it for themselves.
- Mixed with studying. One thing that historic fiction and the heritage minutes have in frequent is storytelling – drawing you into the motion and serving to you see what is going on in actual time. That’s why they go nicely collectively. Select some Canadian historic fiction books to match the subject lined within the brief video and preserve the storytelling going so your children get engaged and invested by discovering extra from another person’s eyes.
- Use the sources offered. Most of the movies have extra hyperlinks listed beneath. Some are academic guides with classes and exercise plans, sometimes of the larger overarching theme similar to Indigenous or Ladies’s research. Others are classes created by the Canadian Encyclopedia with printables and extra movies. Others are associated articles. See what they suggest and if their sources are an excellent match for your loved ones.
Canadian Heritage Minutes Printable Worksheets
Strive these worksheets to assist make connections between what they know and what they discovered. Free to obtain and use. The questions are common sufficient that they can be utilized for any of the movies. There are two completely different ranges. One is designed for grades 4+ and the opposite for grade 8+. You should use whichever one will work greatest on your baby.
