Water Wonders #5 - How We Use Waterways

These are pipes.

 

To try and understand the Coast Salish use of waterways and the importance to their lifestyle, the children looked at the how we use waterways.
Natalya said: "We can swim in it."
Aiden said: "We can fish in it."
Cameron said: "Boats go in the water."

We focused on these three categories and thought of why people use the waterways this way.
Peter said: "It is fun to swim in the water." - recreation
Mila said: "We can eat fish." - food

We need to fish for food. 

Natalya said: "Sometimes you can go in the boat to fish." - transportation

After brainstorming our ideas, they painted a great river and constructed a community around it. It was amazing to see the children play with the structure when they were finished building. Some said they didn't have taps in the house so they had to go to the river to scoop water. Alan started building pipes in his house and this sparked an interest for Aiden to build one in his too. Jayla and Mila were concerned about food source so they were busy fishing. In the end, each of them made a little speech about how  they built their houses and why it's close to the water.

Giving a speech

This project helped us understand the importance of the Fraser River to the Coast Salish communities that surround it. Salmon fishing and canoe racing that exist today bring the communities together.