Weston students strap on snowshoes

To enhance their learning about Indigenous peoples, French voyageurs and the fur trade, Weston School students metaphorically walked a mile in their shoes. 

On Feb. 24, Weston students in Grades 3 to 6 participated in snowshoe relay races and a snowshoe scavenger hunt in the schoolyard, while wearing felt beards and Métis sashes tied around their waists. 

“We’re learning about North American Indigenous peoples, European explorers, voyageurs, the fur trade and the development of the Métis Nation, so they’re experiencing what it would be like to be a voyageur first-hand, using an Indigenous innovation,” said Jaylin Massey, a Grades 4 and 5 teacher at Weston. 

“We spent time talking about Métis tools and innovations like the Red River cart and the York boat. We also did some Métis beadwork and we’ve been experiencing Festival du Voyageur virtually through the festival’s YouTube channel, so the students have been watching jigging and fiddling.”

“We’ve been learning about the fur trade, Louis Riel and a bunch of things the Métis made. I really like their sashes. I like the patterns,” said Diana, a Grade 5 student.

Weston received a Children’s Heritage Fund grant to purchase 20 sets of snowshoes for the school. The snowshoes are modern and made of aluminum, unlike the wood, teardrop-shaped snowshoes of the past.   

“The old ones look like tennis rackets,” Diana said.

While waiting their turn to strap on snowshoes, Heather van Ginkel’s Grade 4 class wrote about what their individual roles would be if they lived 200 years ago.

“We’ve been learning lots of stuff about how they lived a long time ago,” said Jessie, a Grade 4 student.