Grade 3 · Social Studies · Unit 1 of 9
Life Then & Now
How people lived in Canada around 1780–1850
What your child practises
How people lived about 200 years ago (homes, light, water, travel, food, chores and school), how it differed among First Nations, Métis, Inuit and settler communities, and what is part of identity in Canada today: two official languages, multiculturalism and religious freedom.
Ontario Curriculum expectation: A1.1–A1.4, A3.6 · everyday life in communities in Canada from 1780 to 1850 compared with today, and parts of Canadian identity today
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Many settlers made their clothing from…
🧶- wool and linen cloth spun and woven at home
- nylon
- polyester fleece
- rubber
Show answer
wool and linen cloth spun and woven at home
Hint: Cloth was made by hand in many homes.
Question 2
Why is it wrong to say that all Indigenous people lived the same way?
🪶- First Nations, Métis and Inuit have many nations with their own languages and cultures
- because they lived in only one place
- because they all moved to cities
- because they had no languages
Show answer
First Nations, Métis and Inuit have many nations with their own languages and cultures
Hint: Each nation and community is different.
Question 3
Many settler families in Upper Canada built their first homes from…
🛖- plastic panels
- logs from the forest nearby
- concrete blocks
- glass and steel
Show answer
logs from the forest nearby
Hint: Settlers cleared trees and used the logs to build log cabins.
Question 4
Different First Nations lived in different ways around 1800. Why?
🗺️- none of them used the land
- they all spoke the same language
- they all lived in exactly the same way
- they lived on different lands and had different cultures
Show answer
they lived on different lands and had different cultures
Hint: There are many First Nations, each with its own languages, traditions and homelands.
Question 5
Around 1800, what jobs did most women and girls on a farm help with?
👩🌾- working in factories with electricity
- working in offices
- driving trucks
- cooking, gardening, spinning and making clothes
Show answer
cooking, gardening, spinning and making clothes
Hint: Many women also worked in the fields, but these chores were very common.
Question 6
Around 1800, most people in Canada lived…
🌾- in tall apartment towers
- in cities of over a million people
- on farms and in small settlements
- on boats only
Show answer
on farms and in small settlements
Hint: There were very few large cities.