Assignment #5: It's Really Cold

OK, so it's REALLY cold. And I mean REALLY REALLY cold. So cold that you go outside and your tears freeze. In fact, there is a frostbite warning. Supposedly, any exposed skin can get frostbitten in 10 minutes.

The cold got me thinking as I was leaving school yesterday. Mr. Mitchell and I were complaining about how long it was taking our cars to heat up so that we could drive home. Suddenly, I thought of those first Canadian settlers who came here from Europe. What on earth would have made them STAY here after they experienced one winter? I understand that they might have thought they found a nice place if they arrived in the summer, but even one bitter cold day and they must have thought they made a mistake. Granted, the first settlers came here close to 500 years ago, and the climate has changed some, but it still must have been REALLY cold for them.

Imagine that you had no heated buildings to go into. Imagine you didn't have warm and cozy boots, hats, jackets and mittens. You would want to start a fire to keep you warm, or at least to keep you alive. Imagine you had to dig in the snow and ice to find wood to start a fire. Imagine that the wood was so frozen it wouldn't light.

I walked from my garage to the door of my house yesterday - maybe 15 steps and my hands were numb from the cold. All I had to do was unlock my door and it took me 20 minutes to thaw out.

Your assignment is to do some research on early Canadians and make some inferences about how they survived and thrived in the long, cold Canadian winters. Reflect on what life was like where they came from that this was a BETTER life. It's a good thing they did tough it out, because they set this land up for us to be comfortable (most of the time) even on the coldest of days.

Here is some information to check out to help you with this assignment:

-The Kids' Site on Canadian Settlement talks about daily life for French and other settlers (including the Acadians and the Inuits

-The Canada Page talks a little about early settlers across the country

-Immigrating to Canada discusses some of the reasons people immigrated to Canada and left their homes

-The Canadian Encyclopedia talks a little about early Canadian homes

-The Pioneer Homestead has some general information about setting up a pioneer homestead

In order to make your entry more personal, talk to your family about when they first came to Canada. What were the things that pushed them from their home? What were the things that pulled them here? why did they decide to stay after they'd seen what weather they'd have to endure?

This assignment has several parts:

-Start a new post

-Research how early Canadians survived (use some of the links from above AND do some research on your own)

-Discuss some of the challenges early Canadians had to face due to the cold of winter (think about the things people need in order to survive and consider whether it was more difficult to get these things in winter)

-Write about how early Canadians learned to deal with the extreme cold

-Find out and write about how and why your family came to Canada

-Find out and write about how your family learned to deal with the extreme cold

-In your entry, include links to sites where you found your information, and quote at least two of the pieces of information you learned

***Update: (1:30 p.m. Jan 29th) - Check out Ryleigh's blog for an excellent example for this assignment!***