Alberta and the prairies
Grade 2 looked at Canada. Grade 3 looks at Alberta — how its borders were drawn, who has lived here and what they contributed, who decides what, and what comes out of the ground.
What Alberta asks for by the end of Grade 3
The subject: Social studies
- Alberta's physical regions and political boundaries.
- First Nations and Métis contributions to Alberta.
- Francophone settlement in Alberta and its contributions.
- An introduction to discrimination and racism in Alberta.
- Provincial and municipal governments.
- Alberta's official symbols.
- Alberta's natural resources.
- Charitable giving and volunteering.
This is from the new K–3 social studies curriculum, which came into classrooms in September 2025 — so it is the newest material on the site, and the one most likely to be unfamiliar to a parent who went to school in Alberta.
The words, first
These are the terms a teacher will use at a parent interview, defined before anything below uses them.
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Physical region | A large area sharing landforms, climate and plants. Alberta has the Rocky Mountains, the foothills, the prairie, the parkland and the boreal forest. |
| Political boundary | A border agreed by people rather than made by the land. Three of Alberta's four are straight lines on a map. |
| Métis | A distinct Indigenous people with their own history, culture and language, Michif. Not simply people of mixed ancestry, and named separately in Canada's Constitution. |
| Treaty | A nation-to-nation agreement with the Crown. Alberta is covered by Treaties 6, 7 and 8. |
| Francophone | French-speaking. Alberta has francophone communities with their own schools and institutions, some founded before the province existed. |
| Discrimination | Treating people worse because of who they are. Grade 3 meets the idea; later grades examine particular cases. |
| Provincial government | Runs schools, health care, highways and natural resources in Alberta. Led by the premier. |
| Municipal government | Runs a city, town or county: roads, water, libraries, rubbish. Led by a mayor or reeve with a council. |
| Natural resource | Something useful from the land or water: oil, natural gas, coal, timber, farmland, fresh water. |
| Charitable giving / volunteering | Giving money, or giving time. Alberta's outcome treats both as contributions, which is worth saying out loud to a child with no money. |
- South, east and north are straight lines, agreed on a map.
- The south-west follows the Continental Divide through the Rockies, which is why that edge is jagged.
- Edmonton is the capital; Calgary is the larger city.
What to do at home
- Look at a map of Alberta together — Find the straight borders and the jagged one. Ask why one of them is different — the answer is the Rocky Mountains.
- Find out whose land you are on — Alberta is covered by Treaties 6, 7 and 8, and is a homeland of the Métis. Many schools name this daily and most parents could not.
- Point out who fixes what — The city fills the pothole; the province runs the school; Canada runs the border. Three governments is genuinely confusing and worth untangling early.
- Notice the resources — A pumpjack, a grain elevator, a sawmill, a wind turbine. Alberta's economy is visible from the highway.
- Find a French place name — Lac La Biche, Grande Prairie, Bonnyville, St. Albert. Francophone settlement is written across the map.
- Volunteer once, together — An hour at a food bank or a community clean-up. Giving time is the half of the outcome a child can actually do.
Sheets you can print for this
- The shape of Alberta — three borders and a mountain range
- Alberta's symbols — match and draw
- Who decides? — three governments
- What comes out of Alberta — natural resources
- Giving time — charity and volunteering
The expectations above are paraphrased from Alberta Education's New K–6 curriculum fact sheets, which publish a snapshot of each grade rather than the complete program of studies. Alberta's full programs are at alberta.ca/curriculum.