Design A Prairie Homestead Colonists in Early Canada Project Based Learning | Paper and Digital

Have your students use their creative, critical and historical thinking skills to learn about life in Early Canada as people migrated west and colonized the prairies in this low prep task. Students take on the role of documentarian reporting on the life of a family as they live on a homestead on the Canadian prairies.

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This project-based learning activity includes:

• a complete lesson plan for teachers to help complete the project with students.
• quick modifications for differentiation and flexibility.
• conceptual learning activity about the challenges of living on the prairies during the westward expansion.
• passages with information to get your students started. The groups of people are: Ukrainians, Europeans, Chinese, Germans, and Black people from the USA, mormons, hutterites and people from India.
• student planning pages.
• tips for project-based learning
• three differentiated student task checklists.
• background information about prairie life for teachers.
• assessment rubrics.
• student examples of the map, visual representation and written portions..
• student reflection pages.
• a blank Alberta map.
• suggested web links to use for reference.
• a digital version of some of the student pages. Loose text on the slides can be read by your assistive technology. Please download the PDF and use the link in that file to find the digital version.

In this task students will:

• create a map of the location
• develop a visual representation of what the homestead looks like.
• write a report outlining the family's move to starting a homestead. They will describe nearby towns and Indigenous People nearby, access to water, how and what they will build, potential animals or crops that can be raised and explain the chores and responsibilities of the family.

This activity has been tested with eight different groups of grade four students and is a HUGE hit. Students have made homesteads that included diagrams, Lego®, Minecraft®, cardboard and even one made of sticks and moss.

Ninja Note: If you teach in Alberta, this resource has been rewritten for the new social studies curriculum. Learn more about how we're writing and adjusting resources for the new curriculum. https://brainninjas.ca/social-studies-in-alberta/

This resource aligns with:

• the Alberta Social Studies Curriculum Grade 3 ©2025
• the Alberta Program of Studies for Grade 4 Social Studies (old curriculum)

This resource supports:

• any lesson covering early settlements in the west or Canadian prairies.
• critical thinking and research skills.
• Language Arts skills: visual representation, writing, research, reading for information, paraphrasing and much more.

Looking for more social studies for Alberta teachers?

• Time and Place Unit for Alberta Social Studies Grade 3
• Systems Unit for Alberta Social Studies Grade 3
• Citizenship Unit for Alberta Social Studies Grade 3
  

Our Grade 3 Social Studies Full Year is here.

Ninja Note: To access the digital version of this file, download the PDF and click on the access link in that file.

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