Pioneer Web Sites
Here are some great web sites to accompany the Grade 3 Pioneer Life Strand of Social Studies.

Grade 3 Expectations

Student Web Sites

Teacher Websites

Grade Three Expectations From the Ontario Curriculum

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There are 30 expectations for the Pioneer Life strand in grade 3. Although the web sites listed below address most of the expectations in some way or another, they seem particularly well suited to the following:
3z1	identify early settlers and their origins, and describe their lives and contributions;
3z5	identify the areas of early settlement in Upper Canada;
3z9	explain how the pioneers used natural resources (e.g., water, forests, land);
3z13	describe the lifestyles of male and female pioneers, and the various roles of individuals in a pioneer settlement.
3z14	describe the major components of a pioneer village or settlement (e.g., grist mill, church, school, general store, blacksmith’s shop);
3z15	use appropriate vocabulary (e.g., grist mill, pioneers, settlement, general store, blacksmith) to describe their inquiries and observations;
3z17	locate key information about pioneer communities from primary sources (e.g., local museums; pioneer houses, forts, villages) and secondary sources (e.g., maps, illustrations, print materials, videos, CD-ROMs);
3z30	identify significant heritage symbols on the Canadian coat of arms (e.g., beaver: fur trade; maple leaf: early settlers; Union Jack: Britain).

Student Web Sites

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Pioneer Webquest	Take your students on a virtual exploration of pioneer life! This a great site that provides a lot of organized information about pioneers. Students examine the different lifestyles & roles of pioneer settlers in Upper Canada, and compare the lives of pioneers to their own.
Virtual Museum of New France	http://www.civilization.ca/mnf/mnfeng.html In this Virtual Museum you can travel in time through over two centuries of a French presence in North America, and learn about people from Canada's past. See how the French pioneers sought to establish a European presence on this continent, side by side with the aboriginal peoples who already lived there.
Scugog Shores	http://collections.ic.gc.ca/scugog/ Here's a site that will help students see what life was like in pioneer times. It contains real stories about real pioneers, with photos, biographiess, and even a few recipes. Students can compare photos of "then" and "now". The reading level is not out of reach for grade 3, and the site is provided in French, too.
Black Creek Pioneer Village Photo Gallery	http://www.trca.on.ca/vtbc1.html This is a straightforward collection of photos of the buildings and sights at Black Creek Pioneer Village. Not a lot of text, but great images. (...the source of several on this page...)
Canada Hall	http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/cmceng/canp1eng.html This is the Canadian Museum of Civilization's site... an amazing source of information and resources. Scroll to the bottom of the first screen and select from one of four time frames: On the Edge of a New World: 1000 - 1600 Taking Root: 1600 - 1810 Expanding Frontiers: 1700 - 1860 Towns and Trade: 1840 - 1890 The links and content really have to be seen. Students may find the reading level a bit high, but the images, and clickable tours are well worth the visit! There are 21 Quicktime VR tours at http://www.civilization.ca/membrs/canhist
Canada's Official Symbols	http://home.ican.net/~marlatt/craig/symbols.html A clean and simple resource for information about the origins of Canadian Symbols. Students will be able to use this as a resource themselves.

Teacher Websites

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More Pioneer Lesson Plans	Lots of Lesson Plans! This site provides a long list of plans related to Pioneer Life. This is a page from the Colonial Williamsburg Site. Reading levels may be a bit high, but "Signs of the Times" looks promising, as students research the different roles of pioneers and create shop signs for store fronts: http://www.history.org/other/teaching/signs.htm
Teacher Vision	http://www.teachervision.com/ This is a practical and useful site as a source of lesson plans and links to other resources. Although a search on "pioneers" brings up sites with a bit of an American flavour, there are some super cross-referenced items that are linked to other subject areas like literature and science, allowing you to integrate the study of pioneer life with other subjects..
Some Resources Related to Canadian Heritage and History
Canadian Heritage Resources This site has several classroom resources for teachers, and they are available in French and English! 5th Floor 25 St. Clair Avenue East Toronto, Ontario Canada M4T 1M2 Tel: (416) 973-6234 Fax: (416) 954-6329	Ceremonial and Canadian Symbols Promotion Programme http://www.pch.gc.ca/ceremonial-symb/english/index.html The Canada Day Poster Challenge is open to Canadians from 18 years of age and under to express their sense of being Canadian. There are some very good activities related to the various peoples who made up this land. http://www.pch.gc.ca/affiche-poster   The Ultimate Symbols of Canada Page ! contains colorful illustrations and text explaining national symbols and provinces and territories. There are even online colouring pages.
Canadian Info Page	http://home.ican.net/~marlatt/craig/ This site has over 200 pages of information about Canada - its government, history, facts, people, security, geography, provinces, symbols and more. Browse through statistics, maps, and photographs and then choose from dozens of fact sheets to download to your computer. A great source of general background information about Canada, as well as symbols, artwork, etc.