Indigenous People in Canada | Turtle Island Drama Circle

This set of drama circle cards is about the impact of colonization for First Nations or Indigenous People in Canada faced during colonization. As part of the truth and reconciliation process, this resource talks about the series of events since the arrival of Europeans including reserves, treaties, missionaries, and Residential Schools.

This resource is part of our Social Studies Drama Circle Bundle.

Drama circles are similar to readers' theatre activities where students read small sections of text. They encourage listening and reading fluency. Best of all, they require only moments to prepare, but students are engaged and learning for an hour or more.

This engaging activity includes:

• directions on how to run a drama circle.
• a teacher quick guide.
• a set of 40 cards (in colour and ink-saving versions).
• a set of discussion questions to do after the activity.
• a variety of reading difficulties and amounts of text on the cards so you can differentiate easily for your students.
• a few blank cards if you need to change the language on a card.

This activity is not intended to be the end of a set of lessons about Indigenous People and their history, but instead the beginning of a conversation about how things have happened in the past and how knowing this information can help guide us all toward healing and building relationships in the future.

Please see the preview for the reading difficulty of the cards.

This resource has been reviewed for content by members of the Indigenous communities in Alberta and British Columbia.

This activity aligns with:

• the Alberta Program of Studies for most Division 2 and 3 classes

This activity supports:

• any lesson about Indigenous People or the arrival of Europeans in North America.
• any lesson about the impacts of colonization in Canada.

It has been classroom tested with students in grades four and five with success, but it does deal with mature themes and topics related to Residential Schools, so be sure you know your students well to prepare them for the seriousness of the conversation.

Are you looking for other Canadian Social Studies products?

• Canada's Geographical Regions
• Indigenous People in the Past: A Collaborative Research Project
• Design an Indigenous Shelter Project-Based Learning

Are you looking for other drama circles with Canadian history topics?

• The War of 1812
• Homestead Life
• United Empire Loyalists
• Famous Canadians
• Remembrance Day
• The Seven Teachings (Indigenous People)
• The Famous Five
• KomagataMaru

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What our ninjas have said about this resource:

***What a wonderful activity to introduce the whole concept of Indigenous Peoples as the first peoples and what happened when the Europeans arrived. Quick and easy to prep and led to many great conversations. (Thank you Fabulous Mrs Fitch!)

***LOVED this! so helpful to my grade 5's :) (Thank you Breanna T!)

***This resource is absolutely amazing. I saw another colleague had it and needed to get it for myself! (Thank you Brittany H!)

Thank you for your consideration! Happy learning from the Brain Ninjas!