Origin Stories
What is an origin story?
"What is" A story that explains where a group of people or the world came from
What covered much of Canada during the Ice Age?
"What is" Ice sheets / glaciers.
Name one major body of water in Canada.
"What is" Hudson Bay, Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, etc.
What type of shelter did the Plains Cree often use?
"What is" Tipis.
What is governance?
"What is" How people make decisions and organize leadership.
What is oral tradition?
"What is" Knowledge passed down through spoken stories.
In the Ojibway Turtle Island story, which animal successfully brings up the earth from the water?
"What is" the muskrat.
What is the name of the land bridge early peoples may have crossed?
"What is" Beringia.
Name one major physical region of Canada.
"What is" Canadian Shield, Interior Plains, Arctic, Cordillera, etc.
What is one food commonly eaten by Ojibway, Cree, or Dene peoples?
"What is" Berries, fish, bison, wild rice, caribou, etc.
Name one type of leadership used by First Peoples communities.
"What is" Clan mothers, hereditary chiefs, councils, spokespersons.
Name one natural resource important to First Peoples.
"What is" Wood, water, bison, fish, plants, stone.
Name one teaching or value that comes from a Cree or Ojibway creation story.
"What is" respect for animals, balance with nature, cooperation.
How did glaciers change the land?
"What is" They carved valleys, shaped lakes, flattened or scraped land.
Which First Peoples traditionally lived in the Plains region?
"What is" Blackfoot, Cree, Assiniboine.
What role did Elders have in First Peoples communities?
"What is" They shared knowledge, teachings, stories, and guided decisions.
What is one example of First Peoples trading with each other?
"What is" Copper, obsidian, hides, food, tools.
What is one connection between identity and land?
"What is" Food sources, symbols, teachings, cultural practices tied to territory.
Oral stories often describe the land forming through the actions of beings or animals. What does this show about First Peoples’ worldview?
"What is" that land, animals, and people are interconnected and sacred.
Why did large animals like mammoths matter for early peoples?
"What is" They provided food, tools, hides; they influenced migration and survival.
What is a vegetation zone?
"What is" An area defined by the type of plants that grow there (forest, tundra, grassland).
Compare one difference between two First Peoples groups’ daily life (food, clothing, or shelter).
"What is" Woodland groups used birchbark canoes; Plains groups used horses; Inuit used snowhouses, etc.
How was leadership different in matriarchal societies?
"What is" Women (like clan mothers) made key decisions about leaders and community matters.
Why is storytelling respected as a way of teaching history?
"What is" It preserves culture, values, and lessons across generations.
Compare one aspect of an Indigenous origin story with the scientific migration theory.
"What is" Origin stories explain relationships and identity; migration theory explains how humans arrived via Beringia (or similar comparisons).
Explain how the end of the Ice Age may have affected where people settled in North America.
"What is" Melting ice created new rivers, forests, and land routes, allowing people to spread into diverse environments.
Explain how physical geography influenced where a specific First Peoples group lived.
"What is" Plains nations followed bison on grasslands; Woodland nations used forests for shelter and birchbark; Arctic Inuit relied on sea mammals.
Describe how seasonal rounds helped First Peoples survive.
"What is" They moved throughout the year to follow food sources and use resources sustainably.
Explain one way First Peoples resolved conflicts or maintained peace.
"What is" Councils, peace treaties, ceremonial gatherings, negotiations.
How do modern Indigenous communities continue traditions while also living in contemporary society?
"What is" Through language revitalization, cultural events, land-based education, combining old and new practices.