Best Fieldtrip Ever...The Museum of Anthropology

 I had the opportunity to go with my son's class to The Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, BC.  Although I have been teaching for over 20 years, I have never taken a class to this museum.  I am not sure why I haven't gone before because it is truly one of the most beautiful and educational museums I have been to.

We started off with the Totem Pole Walk behind the museum, learning about the importance of the Cedar tree.

We learned about the importance of the family totem poles and the Memorial poles.   

The museum was designed by the late Arthur Erickson, a famous Canadian and local architect. The building itself is stunning.

The second part of the fieldtrip was inside the building; we learned about the different First Nation communities - 17 in British Columbia alone, divided linguistically.  We learned about the Haida and the Musqueum mostly, with the museum being situated on Musqueum land.

The students learned about the life cyle of a totem pole, from felling, to carving, to the rising of the pole, and how the poles become part of the ecosystem once they fall and are taken over by new life.  Totem poles last about 80 years.  

Our tour began at about 9:45, and finished about 12:30.  We ate our lunches in the Haida longhouse, and left the museum at about 1:30pm.  We gave ourselves an hour to get back to the school, taking into account the Vancouver traffic.

I have such a great appreciation of the First Nations peoples in British Columbia, and I want to learn more about the rich oral and visual tradition of each of the communities spread across our province. 

Here is a famous Bill Reid sculpture...

Another fantastic opportunity for students is to visit the UBC Biodiversity Museum...I will get to this museum in a future post.

The Museum of Anthropology is located at the University of British Columbia, and it is a worthwhile day trip for any school group.