Grade 8 Social Studies
15 units matched to the Ontario Curriculum.
Overall expectations
- History A1 Application – Peoples in the New Nation: Assess the impact of some key social, economic, and political factors, including social, economic, and/or political inequalities, on various groups and communities, including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities, and on the creation and expansion of the Dominion of Canada, between 1850 and 1890
- History A2 Inquiry – Perspectives in the New Nation: Use the historical inquiry process to investigate perspectives of different groups and communities, including First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit communities, on some significant events, developments, and/or issues that affected Canada and/or people in Canada between 1850 and 1890
- History A3 Understanding Historical Context – Events and Their Consequences: Describe various significant people, events, and developments in Canada between 1850 and 1890, including the Indian Act, treaties between Indigenous nations and the Crown, and the residential school system, and explain their impact
- History B1 Application – Canada – Past and Present: Analyse key similarities and differences between Canada in 1890–1914 and in the present day, with reference to the experiences of, major challenges facing, and actions taken by various individuals, groups, and/or communities, including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit individuals and/or communities
- History B2 Inquiry – Perspectives on a Changing Society: Use the historical inquiry process to investigate perspectives of different groups and communities, including First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit communities, on some significant events, developments, and/or issues that affected Canada and/or people in Canada between 1890 and 1914
- History B3 Understanding Historical Context – Events and Their Consequences: Describe various significant people, issues, events, and developments in Canada between 1890 and 1914, including the residential school system, and explain their impact
- Geography A1 Application – Interrelationships between Settlement and the Environment: Analyse some significant interrelationships between Earth’s physical features and processes and human settlement patterns, and some ways in which the physical environment and issues of sustainability may affect settlement in the future
- Geography A2 Inquiry – Human Settlements and Sustainability: Use the geographic inquiry process to investigate issues related to the interrelationship between human settlement and sustainability from a geographic perspective
- Geography A3 Understanding Geographic Context – Settlement Patterns and Trends: Demonstrate an understanding of significant patterns and trends related to human settlement and of ways in which human settlement affects the environment
- Geography B1 Application – Global Inequalities in Quality of Life: Analyse some interrelationships among factors that contribute to global inequalities, with a focus on inequalities in quality of life, and assess various responses to these inequalities
- Geography B2 Inquiry – Development and Quality of Life Issues: Use the geographic inquiry process to investigate issues related to global development and quality of life from a geographic perspective
- Geography B3 Understanding Geographic Context – Global Economic Development and Quality of Life: Demonstrate an understanding of significant patterns in and factors affecting economic development and quality of life in different regions of the world
Units
Unit 1
Think Like a Historian
The historical inquiry process: asking good questions, telling primary from secondary sources, judging credibility and bias, comparing perspectives, using maps and timelines, and building conclusions from evidence.
Expectation: History A2.1–A2.7, B2.1–B2.7 · forming inquiry questions, gathering and judging sources, comparing perspectives, using maps and evidence, and communicating findings
Unit 2
Making a Country
The conferences and the British North America Act, the reasons the colonies joined (railways, trade, defence and political deadlock), who could vote, why some people opposed Confederation, and how Manitoba, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island joined.
Expectation: History A1.1, A1.3, A2.4, A3.1, A3.5, A3.8 · factors in the creation of the Dominion of Canada and its expansion, who was and was not at the table, and key people and political changes
Unit 3
Railway & the West
Why Canada built the Canadian Pacific Railway, what the National Policy was, who built the railway, how the Prairies were opened to settlement and what that meant for Indigenous peoples, and early labour action such as the Toronto printers' strike of 1872.
Expectation: History A1.1, A1.3, A3.1, A3.6, A3.7, A3.8 · the National Policy, the construction of the CPR, settlement of the West, early labour action and the Industrial Revolution in Canada
Unit 4
Treaties & the Indian Act
What treaties are and why First Nations and the Crown often understood them differently, the Robinson and Numbered Treaties, what the Indian Act did, and how First Nations leaders acted to protect their people. This unit needs review with First Nations partners before launch.
Expectation: History A1.2, A1.4, A2.3, A3.3, A3.7 · legal status and rights of First Nations, the Robinson and Numbered Treaties, the Indian Act, differing perspectives and the actions of First Nations leaders
Unit 5
The Métis & the Resistances
Who the Métis are, why the Red River Métis formed a Provisional Government, what the Manitoba Act promised, why the Métis and some Cree leaders acted in 1885 and what happened to them, and why the words historians choose matter. This unit needs review with Métis partners before launch.
Expectation: History A1.2, A1.4, A2.3, A3.1, A3.3, A3.7, A3.8 · the Red River Resistance, the Manitoba Act, the North-West Resistance, and the actions of Métis and Cree leaders
Unit 6
Residential Schools & Truth
A careful, age-appropriate introduction to the residential school system: why the government and churches set it up, how it harmed children, families and communities, the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and ways Canadians can respond. The questions do not describe abuse in detail. Please talk with your child about this unit, and note that it needs review with survivors and First Nations, Métis and Inuit partners before launch.
Expectation: History A3.4, B1.2, B3.1, B3.6 · the origins of the residential school system, its impact on First Nations, Métis and Inuit families and communities, and resistance
Unit 7
Black Communities in Canada
The Underground Railroad and the end of slavery in British North America, the communities, newspapers and leaders that Black Canadians built in Canada West and beyond, the racism they still faced, and later migration to the Prairies.
Expectation: History A1.4, A3.2, A3.5, B1.4, B3.2 · key events that shaped the experiences of Black people in Canada, the Underground Railroad and Black settlements, and actions Black individuals and communities took to improve their lives
Unit 8
Newcomers, Rights & Restrictions
Why Canada wanted settlers for the Prairies, how some groups were kept out or taxed (the Chinese head tax, the Komagata Maru), who could and could not vote, the women's suffrage movement, and how communities responded and later received apologies.
Expectation: History A1.3, A3.5, B1.3, B1.4, B3.3, B3.4, B3.5 · immigration and exclusion, the Chinese head tax, who had political rights, women's suffrage, and actions people took to improve their lives, 1850–1914
Unit 9
Canada, 1890–1914
The Laurier era, the Klondike Gold Rush and its effects on the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in, the Boer War and the Naval Service Act, the new Prairie provinces, treaty making in northern Ontario, important people of the time, and the start of the First World War.
Expectation: History B1.1, B3.3, B3.4, B3.5, B3.6, B3.7 · key events, political changes and people in Canada between 1890 and 1914, including the Klondike, the Boer War, new provinces, and growing tensions in Europe
Unit 10
Work, Cities & Reform
How factories, mining and new technology changed work and cities, what working life was like for many families, how unions, reformers and suffragists pushed for change, and how life in 1900 compares with today.
Expectation: History B1.1, B1.3, B1.4, B3.3, B3.5 · industrialization and urbanization, working conditions, unions, reformers and actions taken to improve lives between 1890 and 1914
Unit 11
Where People Live
Linear, clustered and scattered settlement patterns, how to calculate population density, how climate, landforms and water shape where people live, and trends such as urbanization and sprawl.
Expectation: Geography A1.1, A3.1, A3.2, A3.4, A3.7 · global settlement patterns, population density, how the physical environment influences settlement, and trends such as urbanization
Unit 12
Sustainable Communities
How settlements affect the environment, why land-use conflicts happen (including treaty rights and land claims), how natural hazards and rising seas affect cities, and what features a sustainable community of the future might have.
Expectation: Geography A1.2, A1.3, A2.5, A3.3, A3.5, A3.6 · environmental effects of settlement, land-use issues, risks such as rising sea levels, and practices that make communities more sustainable
Unit 13
Maps, Graphs & Data
Reading map scales and legends, choropleth maps, scatter graphs and correlation (and why correlation does not prove cause), and what population pyramids say about a country's age and growth. The data in the questions are made up for practice.
Expectation: Geography A2.3, A2.4, A3.7, B2.3, B2.4, B3.3, B3.4 · analysing and constructing maps, choropleth maps, scatter graphs, correlation and population pyramids
Unit 14
Quality of Life Around the World
Measures such as life expectancy, literacy rate, infant mortality and access to clean water, how these connect to each other, how to compare countries, and the work of groups such as Doctors Without Borders, Right To Play and Water For People. All country data in the questions are made up.
Expectation: Geography B1.1, B1.3, B1.4, B3.1, B3.2, B3.5 · indicators of quality of life, comparing countries, how factors are connected, and organizations and programs that work to improve lives
Unit 15
Economies & Development
Traditional, command, market and mixed economies, the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors, and the factors that help or hold back a country's development, such as resources, trade, colonial legacy, debt, stability and corruption.
Expectation: Geography B1.2, B3.6, B3.7, B3.8, B3.9 · economic systems, economic sectors, factors that affect economic development and the spatial distribution of wealth
Ready to try Gradelings?
Curriculum-matched practice for Kindergarten to Grade 9 in British Columbia and Ontario, with kind hints, learning games and no ads. Free for 30 days, no card needed.