Lesson Plan: A Royal Stamp

Lesson Plan

Before Exploring

Brainstorm what the class already knows about Queen Elizabeth II, including her role in Canada, her life, her family, and her responsibilities.

Outline the Opportunity

Direct students to the topic Canada's New Queen on the CBC Digital Archives website. In small groups, students will review the clips in the topic, and the clip titled  "Queen surfs CBC Archives website." Remind students of the historical significance of the royal visits and explain that a 4-cent Canadian stamp was created to commemorate the royal visit in 1951.

Using the download sheet A Royal Stamp, groups will design a stamp to commemorate one of the royal visits they viewed on the CBC Archives website. Groups should discuss the placement of words and pictures and the price. They should use colours, shapes, lines, and images to convey the importance of the royal visit. Each group will prepare a model stamp to display in the classroom.

Revisit and Reflect

Have groups present their designs and explain which visit they are commemorating and the reasons for their design choices. Provide class sharing time to compare and contrast each stamp and how they represent a royal visit.

Extension

Students can examine various stamp collections to determine how stamps are designed to commemorate particular events or people.

Materials

Drawing materials