Colonial America
Grade Level: 3rd-6th Grade
Length: 6 weeks
Reason of Study:
Much of what we are as a country, including our religious backgrounds, stem from the colonial period of our country. It is important to see how we as a country grew from our beginnings and to determine how God's hand was with or not with that growth. It is important to use this knowledge to determine how we will continue to live in the future.
Unit's Objectives:
- After a study of the journey to Colonial America, the student will be able to list hardships of the journey and experience re-enactments of the same.
- After a study of the Colonial culture, students will identify colonial tools, make foods and crafts of the time frame, participate in mock Colonial schools, mark out and meet the challenge of a Colonial home, and participate in games of the time.
- After a study of Colonial work and society, student will identify the growth of small farms into villages, match Colonial occupations to their products and tools, create a Colonial type sign, discuss laws and participate in a mock trial, as well as participate in a time in the stocks.
- During this study, students will discover and dramatize the first settlements of Jamestown and Plymouth. Famous Colonials will be added to timeline.
- After a study of the Colonial regions, students will understand the differences between these regions and their development.
- During the study of Colonial America, students will seek the Christian character of responsibility and how, if any, did the Colonists show this Christian character.
Concepts:
Colonial culture
The Journey to America
The New England Regions, Middle Regions, and Southern Regions of colonies
Plymouth settlement
Jamestown settlement
Responsibility
Vocabulary
Separatist
saints
strangers
Pilgrims
Mayflower
voyage
seasick
sailor
worship
journey
hardtack
beer
galley
main hold
main mast
rudder
crow's nest
captain's cabin
main quarters
crew's quarters
clapboard
palisade
trenchers
noggins
scurvy
trundle bed
cradle
wooden board
pegs
chest
bench
featherbed
stocks
tolerant
purify
stocks
Christian Character/Bible:
Christian Character: Responsibility
Scriptures: Prov. 12:11, Prov. 12:24, Prov. 12:27, Prov. 13:4, Prov. 19:15, Prov. 20:4, Prov. 6:10-11, and Prov. 24:30-34
Resources:
Teacher Resource Books:
- Hulcy, Jessica and Thaxton, Carole, Konos Curriculum Volume II,
- Heritage Studies for Christian Schools Teacher's Edition3, Bob Jones University Press
- Turner, Thomas N., Essentials of Classroom Teaching Elementary Social Studies,1994, Allyn and Bacon Pub.
- Strohl, Mary and Schneck, Susan, Colonial America Cooperative Learning Activities, 1991, Scholastic, Inc.
- Rybak, Bob, Life as a Colonist, 1994, Frank Schaffer Publications, Inc.
- Copeland, Peter F., Everyday Dress of the American Colonial Period Coloring Book, 1975, Dover Publications, Inc.
- Audet, Theresa Ives and Gibson, Karen, "Picturing the Past: Learning About Colonial Times", The Mailbox: Primary, Oct/Nov 1995, The Education Center, Inc.
- Sterling, Mary Ellen, Thematic Unit: Colonial America, 1995, Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
Student Reference Books:
- Heritage Studies for Christian Schools 3 ©
Bob Jones University Press
- The History of Our United States, 1981,
A Beka Book
- Marshall, Peter and Manuel, David, The Light and the Glory For Children, 1992, Baker Book House
Living Books:
- Brenner, Barbara, If You Were There in 1776, 1994, Simon and Schuster Pub.
- O'Dell, Scott, My Name is Not Angelica, 1989, Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers
- Speare, Elizabeth George, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, 1958, Dell Publishing
- Cohen, Barbara, Molly's Pilgrim, 1983, Scholastic, Inc.
- Brenner, Barbara, If You Were There in 1776, 1994, Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Reece, Colleen L., The American Adventure Series: The Mayflower Adventure, 1997, Barbour and Company, Inc.
- Reece, Colleen L., The American Adventure Series: Plymouth Pioneers, 1997, Barbour and Company, Inc.
- George, Jean Craighead, The First Thanksgiving, 1993, Philomel Books
- Sewall, Marcia, The Pilgrims of Plimoth, 1986, Aladdin Paperbacks
- Waters, Kate, Sarah Morton's Day, 1989, Scholastic, Inc.
- Dalgliesh, Alice, The Thanksgiving Story, 1954, Charles Scribner's Sons
- Fritz, Jean, Who's That Stepping on Plymouth Rock?, 1975, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc.
- Welcome to Felicity's World: 1774 Growing up in Colonial America,
1999, The American Girls Collection
- McGovern, Ann, If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, 1969, Scholastic, Inc.
- McGovern, Ann, If You Lived in Colonial Times, 1964, Scholastic, Inc.
- Other American Girl books on Felicity
Audovisual Materials:
- Cooper, Fred with musical accompaniment by Gregg Harris, Ballads of American History,1996, Noble Publishing Associates
Computer Resources and Games:
Internet Sources:
Field Trip(s):
- Jamestown and Williamsburg
- Plimoth Plantation or a virtual trip of Plimoth-Web
Activities:
Throughout the Unit:
- Dress up in costume
- Read a variety of books on the unit theme
Week 1: The Journey
- Read letters and diary entries of Colonial's journey
- Read historical section about Colonial America
- Fill out picture of a ship's sails on "Why They Came"
- Pack an old trunk for journey. List items on trunk paper form that is in trunk
- Sleep on floor, stay coped up and eat gruel, hardtack, and stale non-alcoholic beer for one day of journey. Dress part
- Write story of difficult journey. Use story starters such as "I am so homesick. I don't know many people on this ship except for my family," "The ship is so crowded. We have to sleep three to a bunk." "We have not changed clothes or bathed for days. There is not enough fresh water," We have to eat dried food. There is no place for all of us to cook," or any other similar idea.
- List hardships of journey
- Color and fill picture of a ship with its cargo
- Do a shipwreck simulation
- Do an establishing a colony simulation
- Read a Colonial letter of arrival
- Do an arrival simulation in which children draw cards of the area they have landed in and the problems with that area. Students will then check their packed trunks. The students will then make a list of items to buy or barter for that they will need in the simulation that they did not pack.
- Gather pictures and make cards of resources the arriving Colonists would find upon reaching the American shores. Divide resources into animals, plant food, and land/building resources.
Week 2: Hearth and Home
- Read diary entry of a house raising
- Build diorama of a house raising
- Gather pictures or draw pictures of Colonial tools. Sort them into homestead in and out tool sort.
- Dry apples
- Make corn pudding and hoe cakes. Serve with mulled cider for lunch.
- Write colonial play. Using puppets, put on production
- Do graph paper sampler
- Make candles
- Create a cornhusk doll
- Spank clothes clean
- Play colonial children's games
- Make apple dolls
- Make hornbooks
- Make primers using homemade ink and quill pen
- Measure and stake out colonial size house
- Graph house and arrange typical colonial size furniture in house based off typical family size
- Discuss men and women's roles
- Schoolmaster simulation in which children get to play schoolmaster and Colonial student. Students can not twitch or speak out until called on by schoolmaster.
Week 3: Work and Society
- Read Colonial letters about society or work
- Discuss farm building into villages. Add pictures or drawings to a farm scene demonstrating the building up of a farm into a village.
- Color and create a colonial town fold out
- Play a matching game of Colonial occupations, tools, and products.
- Create a Colonial sign for an occupation of choice
- Discuss Colonial laws and punishments of time
- Play You Be the Judge Simulation which can be found in appendix E of the Settlers in a New Land unit at http://www.coreknowledge.org/CKproto2/resrcs/lessons/3.htm
- Build stocks out of a cardboard box
- Children take a turn in the stocks while being thrown at by rotten fruit (nerf balls)
Week 4: New England Colonies
- Discuss New England Colonies map, the colonies that made up the region, the resources available to those colonies, their leaders, and reasons for founding those colonies
- Read history on New England Colonies
- Discuss reasons Pilgrims left England
- Discover saints and strangers on the Mayflower. Add to timeline.
- Put on a Thanksgiving play
- Have an authentic Thanksgiving feast with a jigging, quoits, and tug of war competitions
- Discuss Puritans and their views
- Listen to song on New England Colonies
- Virtual trip to Plimoth-On-Web Colony and Plimoth Plantation
- Possibly put together a book on the Plimoth Colony. Look at a children's website on the Plimoth Colony for ideas.
Week 5: Middle Colonies
- Discuss Middle Colonies map, colonies that make up the region, resources available to those colonies, and reasons for founding them.
- Read history of Middle Colonies
- Create a Jamestown Newspaper
- Discuss and read about Jamestown problems
- Dramatize Jamestown colony
- Read biography on Peter Minuit
- Read biography on William Penn
- Have a Quaker day
- Listen to song on Jamestown
- Relive trip to Jamestown and Williamsburg through pictures
Week 6: Southern Colonies
- Discuss Southern Colonies map, the colonies that make up the region, resources available to the region, their leaders, and reasons for founding.
- Read history on Southern Colonies
- Outline plantation life for the master and the slave
- Build a plantation activity
Cumulating Activity:
- Find and color the shapes of all of the original colonies. Have students to label and fit together like a puzzle the way the pieces should go.
- Develop quiz cards about the colonies and have students to answer using their maps by playing Find It.
- Play a game of Post Rider. A post rider was how the colonies got their mail. He traveled throughout the colonies. Players travel to certain colonies and tell what they know and what they see in that colony.
© Tamra Monroe, 2000
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