This document provides an overview of the weekly lesson plans for a social studies unit on sustainability. In week 1, students will discuss how land sustains communities and consider Calgary landfill space. They will learn about how the Blackfoot people's relationship with the land has changed over time. In week 2, students will hear from an oil industry expert and consider how oil products sustain life. They will discuss the impact of individual and collective choices on sustainability. In week 3, an Elder will discuss sustainability through a cultural lens and the impact of choices and actions. Students will get feedback on their learning. In week 4, students will consider positive and negative impacts on sustainability and ways to reduce negative impacts. They will share actions they can take to

1. SOCIAL STUDIES
Week 1 How do behaviours influence sustainability?
SLO: appreciate how land sustains communities and quality of life (ER, LPP)
Monday ~
The class will start with students sitting in a circle while the teacher has a chart set up
with the central question, ‘how does the land and its resources sustain us?’. The students
will be introduced to the various resources and will be invited to think about how they
pertain to our lives. The students will be given time to individually think about the central
question before pairing with the person beside them to talk about their ideas. While the
students are brainstorming with their partner, the teacher will be observing and taking
notes. As a class, everyone will come together to brainstorm and add ideas to the chart.
The class will also be introduced to how much space Calgary landfills take up to tie into
the beginning Science lessons this week.
Wednesday ~
On the field trip to Blackfoot crossing, the students will be introduced to the Blackfoot
people’s way of life and how the land has sustained them. Additionally, they will learn
how their relationship with the land has changed and evolved over the past several
hundred years. During the field trip the students will be introduced to the idea of cultural
sustainability. By the end of the field trip the students will have an emerging
understanding of how human impact on the land has had an impact on the sustainability
of the Blackfoot as a people. Throughout the field trip the students will be writing in their
journals information they have learned throughout the day such as; the resources
important to the Blackfoot people, how the land sustains them, what events had an impact
on their relationship with the land. At the end of the day, the students will hand in their
journals to be formatively assessed.
Friday ~
This lesson starts out by having students get their journals and opening to the page(s)
where they wrote their notes from Blackfoot crossing. Students will take the beginning
part of class to do a think, pair, share, using their notes from the previous lesson to add
their ideas onto the chart started in lesson 1. Once the teacher has written down student
ideas, the students will create a one-paragraph reflection in their journal on the ways in
which in the land sustains the Blackfoot people. At the end of the class the students will
hand in their journal to be summatively assessed.
week 2 How do individual and collective choices impact sustainability?/ How do
behaviours influence sustainability?
SLO: appreciate how land sustains communities and quality of life (ER, LPP)
Monday ~

2. In today’s lesson, an expert from the oil industry will be coming into the class to speak to
the students about their knowledge of the land and how they use it to extract oil. The
students will learn briefly how oil is extracted before learning about the many products
that oil is used to create (e.g. plastics, gasoline for cars, etc.) and how those products
sustain life in Alberta. Throughout this expert presentation, the students will use their
journals to take notes that they will use to refer to the next lesson.
Wednesday ~
This lesson starts out by having students get their journals and opening to the page(s)
where they wrote their notes from the expert in the oil industry. Students will take the
beginning part of class to think, pair, share, using their notes from the expert presentation
to add their ideas onto the chart started in lesson 1. Once the teacher has written down
student ideas, the students will create a one-paragraph reflection in their journal on the
ways in which oil- and specifically the products oil is used to make- sustain life in
Alberta. At the end of the class the students will hand in their journal to be summatively
assessed.
Friday ~
In today’s lesson, the students will rotate through three different stations in the
classroom- each of which focus on a different guiding question. Each station will have
two subsections to allow for smaller student groupings. Students will be placed in small
groups and rotate through all three questions where they can further discuss each question
and develop their conceptual understanding. While students are discussing the question in
their groups, the teacher will be circulating the classroom to observe and take notes.
Students will fill out the corresponding worksheet for each question which will be handed
in and summatively assessed. The three guiding questions for this class are as follows:
How do our behaviours have an impact on sustainability?
How does the land sustain us?
What are the ways the land sustains different groups of people?
Week 3 How do individual and collective choices impact sustainability?
SLO: demonstrate care and concern for the environment through their choices and
actions (LPP)
Monday ~
An Elder from the Blackfoot community will be invited into the classroom to discuss
with students the concept of sustainability and what it means to be sustainable through a
cultural lens in the Blackfoot nation. Students will discover how Blackfoot people have
begun language revitalization throughout the city and in their community, and what that

3. means to the sustainability of them as a people. The Elder will revisit some of the themes
the students were introduced to at Blackfoot crossing while bringing in the importance of
instilling ways of knowing to the new generations of Blackfoot people, as well as the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and its attempt to restore sustainability,
not only within the Blackfoot community, but Indigenous communities country-wide.
Students are encouraged to be fully present during the Elder’s visit and will be given time
before the end of class to jot down notes in their journals.
Wednesday ~
This lesson starts out by having students get their journals and opening to the page(s)
where they wrote their notes from the Elder’s visit to the classroom. Students will take
the beginning part of class to think, pair, share, using their notes from the Elder’s visit to
add their ideas onto the chart started in lesson 1. Once the teacher has written down
student ideas, the students will create a one-paragraph reflection in their journal on the
ways in which individual and collective choice/ action have had an impact on
sustainability- and whether it was a positive or negative impact. At the end of the class
the students will hand in their journal to be summatively assessed.
Friday ~
The Elder who was previously welcomed into the classroom will be invited back once
again. Students will be given time in small groups to discuss with the Elder their learning
over the past three weeks and get feedback from both the Elder and the teacher on the
information they have collected thus far to use in their culminating task. While one group
at a time is talking with either the Elder or the teacher, the other student groups are
reflecting on the ways in which they have learned about sustainability through a
humanities lens.
Week 4 Why are adaptations necessary to achieve sustainability?
SLO: demonstrate care and concern for the environment through their choices and
actions (LPP)
Monday ~
This lesson is setting in motion the next learning phase by getting students to think about
the actions that both society and individuals choose that have an impact on sustainability.
The students will be given a worksheet that contains a chart, one side for the actions that
have a positive impact on sustainability and the other side for the actions that have a
negative impact on sustainability. Students will be able to work individually or in small
groups of up to 4. The chart will be handed in at the end of class to be summatively
assessed.

4. Wednesday ~
Prior to today’s lesson, the teacher will have gone through the student’s charts created
last class and compiled a complete list of student responses that correspond to the
negative side of the chart and posted them on the whiteboard (or smartboard). Students
will get into small groups and be assigned a section of the list to discuss and analyze.
Students will be brainstorming in their group ways in which the actions that have a
negative impact can be reduced or eliminated (e.g. gasoline for gas and the subsequent
emissions, reduced by walking/biking/transit). Students from each group will jigsaw with
members of other groups to share their outcomes. The teacher will be circulating the
classroom during the initial group discussions and the group jigsaw to observe and make
notes. There will be a corresponding worksheet that students will fill out during their
group discussion and hand in at the end of class to be summatively assessed.
Friday ~
Today’s class begins with a sharing circle and the teacher laying out the expectations and
guidelines (i.e. one person talks at a time, no one else is talking, this is a safe space, etc.).
The teacher will start by doing a quick overview of what the class has learned the past
three weeks and then officially begin the sharing circle with the guiding question that
students will respond to during their turn. The guiding question is “What is one action
that you can change, either individually or as a group to increase the positive impact on
sustainability?”. The teacher will start and then hand off the talking item to the student
beside them, going one after another until the talking item has returned to the student.
Week 5 How does sustainability require advocacy to create awareness and change?
SLO: demonstrate care and concern for the environment through their choices and
actions (LPP)
Monday ~
Students will take this class to work on putting together their final culminating activity.
The teacher will post the chart that the students started on day 1 and added to throughout
the study on the board work so that it is visible to everyone. Students will need to have
their journals and worksheets that they have completed throughout this study ready at
their workspace. Students will be able to work individually or in small groups to create
their final activity. The students will also have the chance to share their culminating
activity with other classmates and receive peer feedback. The teacher will be circulating
the room to offer support and feedback where needed.
Wednesday ~
Students will continue working on their culminating activity. The central chart started in
day 1 will be visible to the class, and the worksheets and journal entries the students have
completed need to be with them at their workspace. The students will revise and self-edit
their work. The teacher will be circulating the room to offer support and feedback where
needed.

5. Friday ~
The students will be going to the city of Calgary council meeting to present their action
plan. The action plan will be summatively assessed by the teacher, with feedback from
the council members