Searching for Home: the Many Lives of Lucy Maud Montgomery

An Exhibit at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre — October, 2008 to January, 2009

Educational Modules — Junior Grades

Activity 1: Collecting Memories & Memorabilia

Lucy Maud Montgomery avidly recorded her daily activities, important events, and memories which she then collected in a series of personal journals and scrapbooks. This activity will explore the importance of collecting memories and memorabilia to document experiences. It also allows students to explore how this act of documentation can be used to provide sources for creative writing.

Teacher’s guide (PDF – 574kb)

Student instructions (PDF – 467kb)

Activity 2: Creative Writing & Art

Lucy Maud Montgomery and many of the heroines whom she depicted had an almost consuming desire to create an ideal home for family and self. Using Montgomery's vivid descriptions of home as examples, students will create a visual portrayal of their ideal home and describe this home in written form.

Teacher’s guide (PDF – 424kb)

Student instructions (PDF – 465kb)

Excerpts from novels -Description of place (PDF – 465kb)

Activity 3: Poetry & Identity

The majority of Lucy Maud Montgomery's stories were written and published during the formative years of Canada's nationhood. The backdrops for her novels are familiar and iconic, even their moods reflect the socio-cultural attitudes of the times. Students will conduct their own research to collect symbols, images, words, and objects from Lucy Maud Montgomery's life in order to create a comprehensive visual interpretation of her identity.

Teacher’s guide (PDF – 757kb)

Student instructions (PDF – 634kb)

Supplemental Resources

Brief biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery's life (PDF – 421kb)

Glossary of terms (PDF – 453kb)