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Suggested
classroom activities:
Grades
K-3 | Grades 4-6 | Grades
7-8 | Grade
9
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Grade 10
Grades 11-12
Homeless
Puzzle (PDF) - you
will need to have the latest version of the FREE Acrobat
Reader on your computer to view the puzzle.
Teacher tip: Contact us with projects you feel should be published on our
website at ssha@toronto.ca
For Grade K-3 students:
What does "home" mean to you? Draw, paint
or make a collage that expresses your feelings about "home".
Write a "sense" poem about home. What does it smell like? What do you
hear when you are at home? What are your favourite things to touch? Are
there foods you like to eat at home? What do they taste like? What would
you miss most if you didn't have a home?
For Grades 4-6 students:
Explore what it would mean to be homeless. Where would you go to eat? Where would you sleep? Do you think people would treat you differently? How would you feel?
For Grades 7-8 students::
Reasons for homelessness
Investigate the different reasons people become homeless. What services do they
need? What is available in Toronto? (Discuss whether or not it was difficult
to find services).
Measuring the problem
What are some of the statistics used to measure homelessness, poverty, and the
availability of affordable housing? Have these statistics changed in the last
five years? What does this tell you?
For Grade 9 students:
Website comparison
Look at some websites from other cities with information about homelessness. What is each city doing to help homeless people? Is it the same or different?
Recommended sites:
City of Toronto
New York City
Chicago
Creative/Media Exercise (Group or individual)
Create an ad campaign to encourage more people to help solve homelessness.
History Exercise
Create a "poverty and homelessness" timeline marking key events in history. You
can pick both national and local events (i.e. Great Depression and the opening
date of a local community agency). As a class, discuss what has changed over
time and what responses have emerged to address these issues.
For Grade 10 students:
Election Exercise
Toronto elects a new City government on November 13. Make a list of candidates
running for City Councillor in your ward. Divide class into groups and assign
them to a particular candidate to find out what their stand is on homelessness
and affordable housing. Groups will present the results to the class and everyone
can cast a "vote" for the best approach.
Tip: You can find candidates' names by typing in your address at http://app.toronto.ca/vote2006/index.jsp
Essay on solutions
Here are three possible solutions to homelessness:
- Make sure there are enough homes that people can afford;
- Pay people enough money so that they can pay their rent, buy food and pay their bills;
- Make sure people have the information they need so they can keep their homes and get special services.
Write a two-page essay on one of the following:
Pick the solution you think is the most important and say why.
Research other solutions and discuss why they might also be important.
Some of the places to find relevant information:
Affordable housing:
City of Toronto Affordable Housing Office
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the national housing agency
Income:
Toronto City Alliance, Task Force report "Modernizing
Income Security for Working-Age Adults (MISWAA)"
Special Services for Renters:
City of Toronto Shelter, Support & Housing Administration Division:
http://www.toronto.ca/housing/rentbank.htm
http://www.toronto.ca/housing/guide2006.htm
Neighbourhood Information Post
Budget Exercise (can be done in groups)
You are a single mom with your two kids, age 2 and 4, staying at a family shelter.
You have a food allowance of $4.00 a day per person. Create a week's worth of
menus that meet Canada's Food Guide and stays within your budget. (Use the prices
posted in your local grocery store, or a supermarket flyer for reference.) Do
not assume that you can buy in bulk in order to get savings: as a shelter resident,
you do not have the space to store more than a few days of food at a time.
For Grade 11 & 12 students:
Literary exercises:
View Ryan, 2004 by Chris Landreth available through the National Film Board:
is Ryan an archetypal tragic figure? Discuss.
or
Analyse King Lear as a character experiencing homelessness. What are the causes of his homelessness? What factors compound it? What interventions might have helped him?
Media Exercise
Pick any 5 sites on homelessness from our recommended list or add your own and
analyse for content and effectiveness. An easy-to-use chart along with instructions
for evaluating web sites is available at the Springfield
Township High School Virtual Library.
Compare and contrast the portrayal of Tent City in the video "Shelter from the
Storm" by Michael Connolly with "Down to This: Squalor and Splendour in a Big
City Shantytown", by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall.
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