Regional Geography of North America

We will be learning about the geography (and therefore the history) of North America.  How can we be learning the geography and history at the same time?  Well, even land has history and North America is no exception.  


How was North America formed?  To answer that question, let's look at how all the continents were formed in this film The Early Earth and Plate Tectonics.




As you watch this clip, answer the following questions:

1.     Describe the make up of the earth.

2.     How are we protected from the cosmic wind put of by the sun?

3.     What are some of the unlikely neighbours that were created through the movement of continents? (find 3)

4.     Describe the movement of magma. 

5.     What can be found at the centre of the earth? 

6.     What does this heat and movement of magma create on the surface?

All the parts of Canada have changed over time.  This video clip - The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes - shows how the Great Lakes changed.  The region that the Great Lakes fall in is called the Canadian Shield.  There are 8 physiographic regions in Canada.

Using the chart handout, fill in the information for each area:

Cordillera:

• sometimes called the Western Mountains 
• besides the mountains it also includes the Interior Plateau and the Yukon and Stikine Plateau.
• found in British Columbia, the Yukon and partially into Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
• it was formed through Plate Tectonics when two plates collided and lifted one plate into the air.
• sediments (pieces of earth, minerals) are washed down the rivers and leave rich river valleys like the Fraser Valley which is excellent for farming.
• There are lots of minerals such as copper, gold, molybdenum, and coal.
  

Great Plains/Interior Plains:

• this area stretches from the Western Mountains to the Canadian shield, covering most of Alberta, about half of Saskatchewan, about a quarter of Manitoba and part of the NWT.
• the interior plains were formed by eroded material (bits of earth, rocks, minerals etc.) spreading out over the prairies in layers.  
• Millions of years ago, the area was tropical (think Hawaii or Mexico) and was often flooded - this left bits of plants and dead animals.  
• Over time the bits of dead animals and plants got squished into layers between the bits of earth and rock.
• This made rich soil that is good for farming.
• This also created fossil fuels like oil and natural gas and evaporites such as potash.

Canadian Shield:

•  The Canadian Shield covers a small corner of Saskatchewan, most of Manitoba and the NWT, Nunavut, Ontario, Quebec and Labrador.
• The Canadian Shied is made up of large masses of very hard rock which are the oldest parts of the earth.
• the CS was once a volcanic mountain range as high as the Himalayas (Mount Everest).
• Over millions of years weather and erosion has worn it down to a lot of exposed rock and lakes.
• The CS is a storehouse of minerals including copper, gold, lead, and nickel.
• The rockiness means the land is not good for farming.

Arctic Lowlands:

• The AL lie in the upper middle parts of the NWT and Nunavut.
• AL is also known as the Arctic Archipelago.
• It consists of a series of islands that are made up of rock with a gently rolling landscape.
• Because of the rock and the harsh climate, the AL is not suitable for farming.
• It is rich in minerals such as lignite (a kind of coal), oil, natural gas, and limestone.

Innuitian Region:

• This is the most northern part of Canada and is part of the Arctic Archipelago - specifically the Queen Elizabeth Islands.
• The landscape is a series of mountains, plateaus, uplands and lowlands.
• There are three mountain ranges: the Grantland, the Princess Margaret Range, and the Victoria and Albert Mountains.
• The mountains are almost nearly covered in sheets of ice throughout the year and the rest is about 1/3 covered in ice all year.
• This means that there is no ability to farm or mine in the region.

Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Lowlands:

• This area is along the southern edge of Quebec and parts of Ontario.
• The Great Lakes cause hot and humid weather in the summer.
• Generally the weather is mild, although the winters can be unpredictable - the humidity can make cold winters with sticky snow or frozen rain.
• The rocks in this area hold many minerals including iron ore, zinc, silver, coal, copper and lead.
• Scientists believe that this area was once a sea for along period of time. Layer after layer of sediment fell upon the sea floor. Once the sea began to dry up it left behind this very rich fertile soil which makes the St. Lawrence River area very good for farming.

Appalachian Region:

• The Appalachian Region covers  New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and the eastern part of Quebec.
• The landforms in the area are low rugged mountains, flat uplands, forests, rocky cliffs, and many islands.
• the Grand Banks, which extends 400 kilometers off the east coast, is where the mixing of ocean currents created one of the richest fishing grounds in the world. 

Hudson Bay Lowlands:

• This area runs along the southern shores of Hudson Bay and a very small section at the north.
• It is a poorly drained piece of wetland with wide and slow moving rivers.
• Population is low here for a number of reasons; lots of black flies and mosquitoes, heavy rainfall in the summer with wet & marshy lands, freezing temperatures and icy winds in the winter.
  

In groups of two to four, write the names of each region on a separate piece of paper and then spread them out face up on the desks between you.  You will see sixteen different pictures.  When you think you know which region the picture represents, slap your hand down on the correct piece of paper.  Be careful not to hurt each other!  The person with their hand on the correct region will get one point.  Only one hand on each piece of paper! There will be prizes!

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Using Culturegrams (found on the library page) you will make a powerpoint or Prezi describing one of the physiographic regions in Canada.  Your poster must include two pictures of each province - one of a rural area and one of an urban area; a map of each province; a graph comparing one aspect of the geography of each of the provinces; and one paragraph for each province including information on climate, geography, wildlife, environmental issues, and resources and industry.


Example:
Urban pictures...

Winnipeg, Manitoba's capital.

Edmonton, capital city of Alberta.

Vancouver on the west coast of Canada

Rural pictures....

Manitoba canola field

Alberta Hoodoos

BC in the Kootneys

Maps....

Manitoba landforms map

Alberta Landforms Map

British Columbia Landforms Map

Graphs....

This is due at the end of class, Feb. 14th (Happy Valentines Day!)

Canadian Flag

Where do these flags come from?  Try to guess.

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What do you think each flag is?  What are the symbols on each flag?

These are all Canadian flags!

1. The first flag is St. George's Cross and was placed on Canadian soil by John Cabot who claimed Canada for England.
2. The second flag is the Fleur-de-lis which symbolized French sovereignty in Canada from 1534 when Jacques Cartier claimed the new world for France until the early 1760s.
3. The third flag is the Royal Union Flag which was the British flag and the flag of the United Empire Loyalists.
4. The fourth flag is the Union Jack - based on the Royal Union Flag, a diagonal red strip was added to represent Ireland.  This was used in Canada even after Confederation.
5. The fifth flag is the Red Ensign.  This is a red flag with the Union Jack in the corner.  It was the flag of British Merchant Marine with parts of the provinces' coat of arms added on.
6. The sixth flag is, of course, our Canadian flag today.  The red and white have long been used to represent France and England and were approved in 1921 by King George V.  In 1957, after playing with different coloured backgrounds and leaves, the red leaf on a white background with the two red bars at the side was agreed to.  The National Flag of Canada was approved by Parliament in 1964 and was proclaimed by Queen Elizabeth II to take effect on February 15th, 1965.  

 Look at each of the six flags.  Do these flags represent our country well?  How could they be improved?

Thinking about the Five Characteristics of Canadian Identity and the physiographic regions of Canada,  you are going to make a new flag for Canada.  What characteristics do you want to represent?  How are you going to symbolize them?  Write one paragraph telling what specifically your flag symbolizes.

This flag is due at the end of the block.

Geography=History=Economics=Politics=Environment

Why is it that we have a class called Social Studies?  Why don't we just study geography or history or economics or politics or the environment?  Well, it is difficult to study them individually because they are all intertwined.  Why should we study these topics?  It's important for us to understand the world around us.  Can you locate Canada on the world map?  Can you locate the US?  How about England or France or Iraq or China?  Why do you think some people cannot locate their own country on a world map?  While, certainly some of Miss South Carolina's answers came from nervousness, I would hate to see any of my students in a position where they cannot talk intelligently about the world they live in.

Let's see how much you know about the country and world we live in.  On the two maps on your hand out, fill in as many countries, provinces, and cities as you know.  You have 10 minutes to do this.

Watch the following video to find the answers to the questions below:

Social Studies 10

Why Geography?

1.     How many people are on earth?

2.     How much of the earth is covered by seas?

3.     How much of the earth is covered by desert?

4.     Earth is mostly ____________________________________ about 4000 miles deep.

5.     How thick is the earth’s crust?

6.     If the earth were an apple, how thick or thin would the crust be?

7.     85% of the atmosphere is only ________________________ miles thick.

8.     How old is the earth? 

9.     If you scale Earth’s existence to a day when did humankind arrive here?

10. List the 5 ways geography studies changes to people and the environment.

11. How quickly is global information increasing?

12. How many text messages are sent each day?

13. How many words are there in the English Language today?

14. How does this compare with Shakespeare’s time?

15. How much information does a week of The (New York) Times newspaper have compared to what would be available in the 18^th century? 

16. What is the hierarchy of wisdom, knowledge, information and understanding?

17. What does GEO – GRAPHY  mean?

18. Geography allows you to think through what media? 

What is place? 

Geographers use 5 principles to help them understand the idea of place:

Places have a location.

Places have physical and cultural characteristics.

Places change over time.

Places interact with other places.

Places are in regions.

If I were to describe my home using these principles, I would say:

My home is in Duncan.

My home is on a hill with apple and walnut trees, and we practice aspects of Canadian, Italian, Japanese, and Welsh/Irish culture in our home.

My house has changed colour since I have lived there and now there is a road between the back of our yard and the farm behind us.  Also, we hear sheep now, rather than cows.

At our house, we will often cut part of the neighbour's grass on the north side and he will cut ours because we have no fence there.  We do the same for the farm on the other side of our house.

My home is in Duncan, on Vancouver Island.

Now, describe your home using these principles.

Canadian Stories

Look at some of the things on your posters - things that help to define us as Canadians.  Some of the following things may be on your posters and some may not:

• hockey
• lacrosse
• skiing & snowboarding
• snow
• canoes
• salmon
• codfish  
• moose
• grizzly
• farmsteads
• longhouses
• mountains
• prairies
• aurora borealis
• cedar trees

Some Canadian writers, artists, musicians etc. use these things to create works of art that define who we are.  Take hockey as an example.

This is a painting by Canadian Richard Brodeur called Late Afternoon at the Rink.  Or perhaps you have heard what some people call our second national anthem...

One of the most famous short stories in Canada is The Sweater.

Here are two other stories that are very Canadian.

The first story is by Robert Service about the Canadian North.  The illustrations were by Ted Harrison who is a naturalized Canadian that lived most of his life in the Yukon.

This film is inspired by the Mi'kmaq legend The Stone Canoe. Little Thunder reluctantly leaves his family and sets out on a cross-country canoe trip to become a man.

Think about some of the stories you may have heard from your parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, or family friends.  Choose one that shows an aspect of being Canadian.  You will write a short children's book (5-10 pages) about that story.  As with all children's books, yours should be illustrated.  I will not mark the quality of your illustrations (stick figures or magazine pictures are okay) but the pictures must represent the "Canadianess" of your story.  I will mark for grammar and spelling.  Your book will be due on Friday, September 14th.

Canadian, Please.

 

This video is a celebration of Canada.  What are the positive things that the video makers are saying about Canada? 

 

In this video, Russell Peters tells the story of how his father is trying to become "Canadian".  He buys a barbeque, hamburgers and hot dogs and invites the neighbours over for a party.  Why would he think that this would make him more Canadian?  What does he believe is a Canadian?  Is this accurate?

Can you tell which of these people are Canadian?  Some are and some aren't. 

Write down what you think their nationality might be.  Remember, if there are multiple people in the pictures there may be multiple nationalities.

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EIGHTEEN

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Which ones did you think were Canadian?  In fact, it is impossible to tell which ones were Canadian because there is no common "Canadian look".  Canadians come from Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Pacific, South America, other North American countries, Central America, the Caribbean....  We speak SENCOTEN, English, French, Italian, Mandarin, Korean, Swahili, Cree, German, Japanese, Punjabi and many other languages.  

Think about these questions as you watch this video clip:

1. So, what makes a "real" Canadian anyways?
2. Does it have to do with where you were born? Where you live? What you eat?  What language you speak?  Or what you look like?

     

There are five key characteristics to Canadian Identity:

Particular Emphasis on the Tri-Cultural Nature of Canada

• Aboriginal (First Nations, Inuit, Metis) culture is (of course) the original culture of Canada
• French culture developed through early colonization
• English culture developed after the English took control of Canada after the War of 1812

Canada Became a Country Without Having a Revolution

• Canada is one of the few countries in the world that gained independence from a colonial power without a revolt or revolution.
• As a result we have developed a country and culture that values peace and collaboration.

"Peace, Order, and Good Government"

• Related to point #2, Canada is founded on the ideas of "peace, order and good government".  
• Part of this has developed because we adopted the British parliamentary system and (except in Quebec) the British legal system.

Multiculturalism

• Very important to Canadians is the concept of the Cultural Mosaic as opposed to the Melting Pot of the United States.
• The Cultural Mosaic means that each person and their culture is like a tile in the mosaic that makes up the picture of Canada.  Each person's culture is valued and supported.
• The Cultural Mosaic can be seen in the writing of Canadians like Rohinton Mistry, Michael Ondaatje, Chief Dan George and Arthur Clarke.

Geophysical Factors

• Canadians have been strongly influenced by our land.  
• It is a vast, cold, rugged land in which survival can be difficult, even today.
• The importance of the land has molded our history and our arts and literature including works like Roughing it in the Bush by Susanna Moody, and writing by Margaret Atwood.  Artists like the Group of Seven and Emily Carr also reflect our landscape.

All of these characteristics reflect an ideal Canada.  When all is "right with the world", what are the positive outcomes of these characteristics?  When things are not going so well, what are the negative outcomes of these characteristics?