Schools Program

Imagine life without television, computers, electronic games...a life of meals cooked on a wood burning stove, handmade clothing, laundry washed by hand...imagine simple family fun around the piano in the parlour or around the big dining room table...imagine a world in which the first telephones and motor cars were wonders to behold...


Schoolchildren are fascinated to learn how much life has changed in a mere 100 years and many of them can identify with the experiences of an immigrant family making its way in early Vancouver. Roedde House Museum Schools Program provides docent-led tours for elementary school classes from the Lower Mainland. The tours complement an in-class curriculum, Window to the Past, which is adaptable to all grades. The curriculum covers early 1900s social history, the immigrant experience, genealogy, architecture and the importance of heritage preservation. Window to the Past won a City of Vancouver Heritage Award in 1997; in 2006 it was extensively revised and updated with the assistance of a TELUS Vancouver Community Board grant, and put online in its entirety. As an on-line resource, Window to the Past can be accessed by teachers anywhere in the province, and with some adjustment the curriculum can be a useful study guide.

Teachers may obtain more information and book Museum Tours by calling 604.684.7040.

Coauthors: Katherine Lawrence, Vickie Jensen, Jan Wells
Vancouver, B.C.
Revised, 2006

Window to the Past: The Roedde House Curriculum, now online as an innovative project funded by the TELUS Vancouver Community Board.


Acknowledgements

Table of Contents


Download the entire curriculum (pdf, 3.2MB)

Download the Appendix and complete Bibliography (pdf, 2.1MB)