Everything You Need to Know About Canadian Social Studies Homework: A Desk Reference for Students and Parents.

Anne Hutchings is a public-school teacher and librarian in Ajax,
Ontario.

Everything You Need to Know About Canadian Social Studies Homework is the latest in the Everything You Need to Know About Homework series from Scholastic Canada. This volume contains a wealth of information designed to help students in grades 4, 5, and 6 complete their social studies homework assignments.

A brief introduction telling how to use the book and a political map of Canada is followed by Part 1, which deals with Canadian history from Pangaea right up to the present. The most extensive of the three sections, it covers topics such as continental drift, glaciation, Native Peoples, European contact, New France, the fur trade, Confederation, building of the railway, the World, Korean, and Cold wars, and the Bill of Rights and Constitution Act of 1982. Students will find the chronological chart summarizing the who, when, and where of North American exploration particularly useful.

Part 2 focuses on Canada’s provinces and territories. Arranged alphabetically, a double-page spread is devoted to each and gives the area, population, capital, date it joined Confederation, geography and physical features, resources and industries, etc. A small spotting map shows its location within Canada and a larger map identifies its major cities, lakes, and rivers. A “Facts About” sidebar contains particularly noteworthy information about the province or territory, e.g. Oil was discovered in Alberta in 1947; the first European settlement in Canada was built at Port Royal in Nova Scotia in 1605.

The workings of our federal government and our judicial system are explained in Part 3 along with a brief discussion of the issue of cultural preservation, including English, French, and Aboriginal. Our prime ministers and the dates when they served are listed in a handy chart.

Everything You Need to Know is jam-packed with colourful maps, charts, photographs, and diagrams. The print is large and easy to read with coloured titles, effectively dividing the text into manageable sections. The colour-coded bands identifying each part along with the table of contents and index make it easy to locate specific information. Related information is boxed or appears in sidebars.

It would be impossible to provide in-depth coverage of such a wide range of topics in the space of 116 pages. However, this volume constitutes a good starting point for junior students assigned social studies projects. Parents, too, will find the brief overview of Canadian history and geography useful as a reference. Recommended.