Canada unit

Hi Future Ticia 2023 here, actually I’m republishing this in 2023, so it’s just present Ticia. Almost 10 years ago we had a Canada Unit, but kids being kids they didn’t remember much, and so when we reached high school we studied Canada again in our geography lessons. Now I return you to past Ticia, and present Ticia 2023 will pop in from time to time with many additions to the Canada Unit.

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It’s time for another round of Around the World in 12 Dishes, and this month we’re in Canada!  My main knowledge of Canada is from the Revolutionary War period, so this was a fun country for me to research as I put together a Canada unit for elementary (I’m working really hard to not just cook a meal, but also get in some studies of the country).

So, here’s what we did this month:

Canada unit recipe: Maple Syrup Cookies

This month, our schedule just was not working to cook an entire meal, and I’d done some preliminary research that found me the recipe for maple syrup cookies, and I knew that’d be a hit (and it was).  The kids were very excited about it and wanted to make the entire thing by themselves, so they did, aside from my putting the cookies in the oven and taking them out.

Here’s the recipe. If you want to make your own, we mostly followed this recipe.

And if you want an official and not at all snarky version of these directions, scroll down to the recipe card. I kinda want to make these cookies again now.

Ingredients: 1 cup butter softened (or microwaved to soften right before you make them), 1 cup brown sugar firmly packed, 1 egg, 1 cup maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 4 cups of flour

Directions:

1. Mix together the butter you hastily melted in the microwave with the brown sugar and maple syrup.  Happily show off your skill at leveling the sugar, and spill large amounts of sugar on the counter.
2. Argue over who gets to crack the egg, and finally let Superman do so.  Then mix in the egg.
3. Add the vanilla, and only spill about an extra teaspoon into the mix.
4. Stir together the dry ingredients before adding them in, only spill about half a cup of flour on the counter.
5. Cheerfully scoop handfuls of dough into ball shapes and then roll them in sugar.
6. Impatiently wait for cookies to bake, then declare them to be delicious through a mouthful of cookie.

Maple Syrup Cookies

Print

These delicious maple syrup cookies practically melt in your mouth

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Additional Time 30 minutes

Total Time 52 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter softened
• 1 cup brown sugar firmly packed
• 1 egg
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups of flour

Instructions

1. Mix together the softened butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup. 
2. Mix in the egg, stir thoroughly. Add the vanilla.
3. Stir together the dry ingredients before adding them in. Mix until fully incorporated.
4. Scoop tablespoon-sized balls onto the cookies sheet and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Canada lapbook, the heart of our Canada unit for elementary

I’ve figured out recently that my kids are old enough to read simple reports on the states, but most books I check out from the library either have too much information, the wrong information, or not enough.  Or the library doesn’t have a book on that country.   So, I spent an hour or two researching and bugging my Canadian friends with questions, and came up with:

My boys took turns reading the report and finding the information they needed.

And yes, that picture is from making cookies, but I really like it, and needed a 3rd picture for the collage.

To see how to use the lapbook pieces, head over to Creating Country Reports (the printable is also on the subscriber page), I also talk through the process of how I taught them to find the information.

Canada unit craft: Inukshuks

So, I saw this blog post about 3 months ago where they made these really cool stone statues for part of their Canada unit, and I swear I pinned it to my country studies board, I found the blog it’s from: Our LIfe’s Adventures.  Then I spent 30 minutes looking for it and never found it.  Thankfully, Valerie from over at Glittering Muffins had a clue what I was talking about and she gave me a name to look up.

These are stone statues built by the Inuit people, and they have been recreated multiple times. The image was used in the Olympics, basically, they’re everywhere…..

So, I had a great plan we were going to build one of these out of stones using hot glue to hold them together.

And the kids gamely tried, but we have limestone here, and the hot glue just wasn’t sticking to it, then Superman accidentally put the hot glue gun down on his sister, and we decided to call it.

That’s when Batman said, “Why don’t we use the blocks?”  “Brilliant!” I said and the new plan was born.

Only Batman’s hopes were cruelly dashed when I wouldn’t let him glue the blocks together.  He still has plans to do that, he fondly remembers gluing our last set of Jenga blocks together to make cannons.

Now, eventually it deteriorated into a general mass-building frenzy of all our building materials, the cans, the peg dolls, the Phoenician boats, and our Bethlehem set.  All of it.  The entire family room was covered in their creations.

Present Ticia 2023 is about to add a whole slew more material, everything from here on out is from her.

Canada Unit resources

Now, we use all sorts of things, though I am surprised at the time we studied Canada back in 2014 I never told all about the books we read. What is up with that?

Here are the results of my quick search to find some facts. Sadly, I didn’t save where I found all of my information from the early elementary Canada report.

• 201 Weird and Interesting Facts about Canada– I have to admit I didn’t read all of these
• Kids’ World Canada– this gives a good general overview and is one of the sites I like best for these purposes
• National Geographic Kids Canada– my general other good site for information on most countries
• 72 Funny and Interesting Facts– these facts are so funny, they have a picture on the site of someone laughing hard while wearing a Canadian flag
• 47 Interesting facts– How did they arrive at 47 facts, why 47?

In high school, we used Geography Now for our country studies because it does such a great job of giving an overview.

On to books

Canada booklist

I’m picking up these books from the library this afternoon, so I’ll come back with an update after I’ve scheduled this post and looked over the books.

• Canada lynx– interesting, the book has been updated with a completely new author, but the exact same series from the copy in my library
• On the Road of Stars: Native American night poems and sleep charms
• A dog came, too: a true story– this is like Homeward Bound (remember that movie), only with explorers
• Shi-shi-etko– Sadly this book is checked out right now, so I can’t read it
• Shin-chi’s canoe– next book after Shi-shi-etko
• The Great Antonio–
• Stolen Words– I’m so sad this book is checked out because it looks like a beautiful story of a granddaughter helping her grandmother grandfather learn the Cree language
• The Water Walker– I remember this from when we studied it earlier, and it is an interesting story about a woman who worked for clean water for her people
• On the Trapline– I love simple stories like this, it just shows relationships
• Building an igloo– sadly also checked out
• From maple trees to maple syrup– currently checked out, but I’ve read it before and is great for early elementary kids
• Ice hockey by the numbers– secretly a math book disguised as talking about sports, only included because Canada is so known for hockey
• Goose’s story–
• Pictures from our vacation– could be easily left off because it is nothing specific to Canada, just happened to be set there
• Proud as a peacock, brave as a lion– a grandchild remembers his Grandpa’s service in World War 1, so not set in current times, but such an interesting concept
• From There to Here– a young girl moves to Toronto (see the Canada connection) and it’s different than where she was from
• Still this love goes on– a book about indigenous people

So many books, I wish my library still allowed me to sort by call number.

Canada Unit: notebooking pages

We used the North America notebooking pages, and then I added in some extra minibooks for particular topics that are more well-known

Extra minibooks added:

• Henry Hudson– I actually have several other explorers I should have added, I’m realizing so many others I could have added, sigh
• Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables
• First Nations
• Maple Syrup
• Ice Hockey

Canadian animals to study

I started adding in a list of animals you could add into your study, using the animals minibooks (also on the subscriber page)

• moose
• Canada lynx
• beaver
• reindeer
• beluga whale
• grizzly bear

• Canda picture from Wikimedia commons by Michal Klajban
• Originally published February 19, 2014