New Westminster

The School Art Program has created family art kits for students learning at home.  Each kit includes access to a series of online video art lessons, a pdf package of student handouts and lesson plans, and specialty art materials mailed to your home to complete the lessons.  Our first kit is now available, and we will be adding more throughout the year, so check our website often!  Further information and our online order form can be accessed on our current workshops page.

Join OWL (Orphaned Wildlife) Rehabilitation Society in this unique virtual experience to learn about the amazing species of raptors that call BC home, the features and adaptations that make them unique, how they respond to their environment, and about the dangers they face and how you can help. You also get the chance to meet some of OWL’s Raptor Ambassadors up close on camera! Each program will be focused to each grade level that is participating.

Have a specific topic in mind? We are more than happy to work with you to make the program you are looking for. Some popular requests include focusing on a specific species, such as owls or just hawks, life cycles, or food chains.

For more information or to book, please visit: https://www.owlrehab.org/education/virtual/

Can’t come to the Fraser River Discovery Centre? No problem! We can come to you! Two FRDC staff will bring all the materials necessary to run some of our most popular River School Programs right in your own classroom!

All materials will be fully sanitized between use, and the staff will wear masks. If there are additional safety protocols we need to follow, please contact us. Please note, small group work is part of each program, with frequent sanitation of touched objects.

Cost: $7 per student, plus $0.90 per kilometer between FRDC and your school.

Programs:

• Our Bones are Made of Salmon (Grades 4-7)
  • Indigenous people have relied on salmon since the fish became abundant in the Fraser River about 5000-6000 years ago. This program explores the connection between Indigenous people and salmon on the Fraser River. Students get hands-on experience with fishing technology, learn about wind-drying salmon, and discover that salmon is in the hearts of Indigenous people living along the Fraser River today.
• Living Dinosaurs (Grades K-7)
  • Sturgeon are amazing fish that have been around since the time of the dinosaurs. Human influences over the past 150 years have threatened their existence. In this program, students will learn about the sturgeon lifecycle, survival needs, and what we can do to protect this remarkable species.
• Trading Trail (Grades 2-5)
  • The Fraser River is one of the world’s great rivers not only in its contribution to the environmental, cultural, and historical wealth of British Columbia, but because of its current pivotal role in the economy of BC. We are going to explore how people have used and shared the resources of the Fraser River, focusing on the tumultuous time when First Nations and Fur traders shared the river.
• Welcomed by the Water (K-3)
  • Prior to European colonization, Indigenous peoples got what they needed from the land and water around them. Indigenous peoples have relied on salmon since the fish became abundant in the Fraser River about 5000-6000 years ago. They used native plants for food, medicine, building materials and more. This program explores the connection between Indigenous peoples, salmon, and the broader Fraser River Basin. Students experience the movement of salmon, storytelling and oral histories, and the many uses of native plants through an Indigenous perspective.
  • PLEASE NOTE: This program requires a large open space, like a covered play area or gymnasium.

For more information, visit our website or email us. 

Online booking form here. 

Bring the joy of discovery into your classroom with one of our brand new Education Kits! It’s all the hands-on learning you expect from the Fraser River Discovery Centre, conveniently packed into one easily transportable package. Our Kits include all the materials you’ll need, as well as detailed lesson plans, for inquiry-based learning about life right here in the Fraser River Basin. The Kits are fully sanitized between uses.

We currently have one on offer, but check-back soon, as more are in development!

138 Reasons We all know that salmon are important for people, both culturally and economically, but did you know that there are 138 other species that rely on salmon for their survival? Learn all about them through hands-on or eyes-on materials, interactive lessons, as well as a scientific experiment!

• Kit includes:
  • Detailed lesson plans
  • Salmon life-cycle refresher (video or narrated storybook available, based on age)
  • Salmon-arch building sets
  • Replica skulls of some of the 138 species
  • Water quality testing kits, including a Fraser River water sample

For more information, visit our website or email us. 

Online booking form here. 

Want something different in an outreach kit? Please fill in our educator survey to tell us what you need from an outreach kit, or email us your comments to programs@fraserriverdiscovery.org. 

Wednesdays | October 5, 2022-June 21, 2023

This program is offered in person and virtually. 

Imagine, balance, construct, and combine materials to create an exciting mini-city. Through a sculpture approach, students learn about architecture and design to support and build their structures. This workshop applies a horizontal learning approach to engage multiple subjects, encouraging students to get creative.

Curriculum Tie-ins; Art Education, Social Studies, Geography, Math

Format: Online kit available at https://monova.ca/native-newcomer-relations-case-studies-in-contact-colonialism-resistance/

Secondary level students will critically analyze both archival and contemporary newspaper articles relating to aboriginal rights and land title in British Columbia. This program presents the story of native activism in the mid-twentieth century through the lens of one individual (Maisie Hurley, 1887-1962), founder of the Native Voice newspaper.

This program has been organized with the Squamish Nation Education Department and made possible in part through a grant from the Museums Assistance Program, Department of Canadian Heritage.