WHERE AMERICA BEGAN
Lesson Plans
CONTENTS
Lesson Plans for Teachers
Jamestown Packet:
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Jamestown Time Line
Jamestown Vocabulary List
Using the DVD Chart
Jamestown Primary Source Activity
Williamsburg Packet:
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Williamsburg Time Line
Williamsburg Vocabulary List
Using the DVD Chart
Williamsburg Primary Source Activity
Yorktown Packet:
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Yorktown Time Line
Yorktown Vocabulary List
Using the DVD Chart
Yorktown Primary Source Activity
LESSON PLANS FOR TEACHERS
Grade Level: Recommended for students in grades 5 through 8.
Behavioral Objectives:
The Historic Triangle has been called the place where America began. How did Jamestown,
Williamsburg and Yorktown contribute to the founding of the United States of America?
Jamestown:
1. Students will demonstrate their understanding of how Jamestown contributed to the founding
of the United States by recognizing:
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The reasons for English settlement.
The importance of tobacco in the success of the colony.
How the need for labor to plant tobacco led to the institution of slavery in the colony.
The significance of the creation of the General Assembly.
Williamsburg:
1. Students will demonstrate their understanding of how Williamsburg contributed to the
founding of the United States by recognizing:
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The establishment of Williamsburg as the political and educational capital of the colony.
Williamsburg as a nurturing environment for patriot leaders such as Patrick Henry,
Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.
The events that occurred in Williamsburg which helped bring on the American
Revolution.
Yorktown:
1. Students will demonstrate their understanding of how Yorktown contributed to the founding of
the United States by recognizing:
 The development of Yorktown as an important colonial seaport.
 Yorktown as the site of the military engagement that helped lead to an American victory
in the Revolutionary War.
 The contributions of the French to the success of the siege of Yorktown.
2. Students will evaluate the information they have gained by watching the Where America
Began DVD and answer the following questions:
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Which sites shown on the DVD Where America Began do you think best demonstrate the
importance of Jamestown in the founding of the United States?
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Which sites shown on the DVD Where America Began do you think best demonstrate the
importance of Williamsburg as a nurturing place for Virginia leaders of the American
Revolution?
Which sites shown on the DVD Where America Began do you think best demonstrate the
importance of Yorktown as the site of the military engagement that helped lead to an
American victory in the Revolutionary War?
Why did you pick those particular sites?
National Standards of Learning:
National Center for History in the Schools:
Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)
Standard 1: Why the Americas attracted Europeans, why they brought enslaved Africans to their
colonies and how Europeans struggled for control of North America and the Caribbean.
Standard 2: How political, religious and social institutions emerged in the English colonies.
Standard 3: How the values and institutions of European economic life took root in the colonies and
how slavery reshaped European and African life in the Americas.
Standards of Performance:
Students will be expected to gather information on what to see while visiting the Historic Triangle
(Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown) by viewing a DVD; to organize that information; to apply
their understanding of the sites to what is important about the area; to identify the pros and cons of
the various sites; to evaluate this information in order to answer the questions in the second
Behavioral Objective.
Anticipatory Set (Introduction):
The Historic Triangle of Virginia is a popular destination for school groups, but it is sometimes
difficult for group leaders to decide which of the many historic sites in the area they should visit.
Turn your class into educational travel agents and have them recommend the best sites for school
groups to visit and explain why those sites were chosen. Of course, it would be nice to visit them all,
but most school groups have time restraints and so must chose only a few places to visit.
Preparation:
Equipment and materials needed: copy of the “Where America Began” DVD, equipment to show the
DVD and a computer.
Procedure:
Before beginning the lesson, inform the students that they are educational travel agents and they have
a client who wants to take a group of 5th graders to the Historic Triangle of Virginia on a field trip.
The group will have only X number of days (number to be determined by the teacher) in the area and
want to see X number of sites (number to be determined by teacher) at Jamestown, Williamsburg and
Yorktown (number of locations to be determined by teacher). The students acting as educational
travel agents need to plan a trip for the group and come up with a list of sites to visit at each location
and a brief explanation of why those particular sites are important. Tell students that in order to help
them with their choices they are going to watch a DVD entitled: Where America Began.
Jamestown:
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Review the Jamestown Time Line (Jamestown packet) with students.
Review the words on the Vocabulary List (Jamestown packet).
Pass out Chart for DVD found in the Jamestown packet. The charts are designed to help
students focus on the information in the Where America Began DVD and they are to be filled
out while watching the DVD. Give one to each student or team of students and go over
contents. The information recorded on the charts will help students with their assessment
projects.
Watch Where America Began (Jamestown section) and have students fill in the charts.
Teachers can assign the primary source document activity found in the Jamestown packet or
proceed to the Williamsburg and/or Yorktown sections or, if studying only Jamestown, go
directly to the assessment activity.
Williamsburg: (Follow same procedure using the materials in the Williamsburg packet)
Yorktown: (Follow same procedure using the materials in the Yorktown packet)
Assessment Tools: Students can be assessed on their understanding of the importance of the
Historic Triangle in the formation of our country by undertaking one of the following projects:
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Create a webpage for travel to the Historic Triangle listing the best sites to visit at each of the
three locations: Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown and explaining why these
sites are significant to the beginning of our country.
Create a travel “blog” of a visit to the Historic Triangle with comments from other travelers
to the area. Be sure to include the best sites to visit at each location and why these sites were
important to the formation of our country.
Create a travel itinerary for a school group going to the Historic Triangle. List the sites they
will visit and why that particular site is important to the founding of our country.
Note: Students can be as detailed in doing these projects as teachers would like. Additional
information on the sites in the Historic Triangle can be found at the following websites:
Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center (Commonwealth of Virginia sites)
www.historyisfun.org
Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield (National Park Service sites)
www.nps.gov/COLO
Jamestown Rediscovery (Archaeology site)
www.apva.org/jr.html
Colonial Williamsburg
www.history.org
Closure:
Students should be given an opportunity to share their answers to the questions in the second
Behavioral Objective and discuss the merits of the different sites that were chosen.
Question for discussion: Sir Walter Raleigh wrote this about his dream for Virginia: “I shall yet
live to see it an English nation.” Raleigh died in 1618 so he did live to see a permanent English
colony established in Virginia. How might Raleigh have felt about American independence and
the end of his dream?