COLONIAL TIMES
The Colonization of America
Colonial Times
5th Grade Social
Studies
The 13 English
Colonies
Amanda Earle
Kelley Hager
Table of Contents

History


People in Societies


Slides 24-28
Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities


Slides 19-23
Government


Slides 14-18
Economics


Slides 9-13
Geography


Slides 4-8
Slides 29-33
Social Studies Skills and Methods

Slides 34-38
HISTORY

Activity #1


Students will begin a K-W-L Chart as we begin the unit on the
original 13 English Colonies

Write what they know about the 13 colonies

Write what they would like to know about the 13 colonies

Write what they have learned as we work through the
unit
Website:
http://www.somers.k12.ny.us/intranet/skills/gathering
/kwl.gif
HISTORY

Activity #2

Students will choose one of the 13 colonies, research
from the text and the internet, and present an oral
report to the class.


The report should include facts about why the colony
started, who were the key people, where the colony is
located, what made the colony successful
Website:
http://www.timepage.org/spl/13colony.html
HISTORY

Activity #3


Students will make a map showing where all the
colonies are located

The map key should identify who settled the
colonies
Website:
http://www.standards.ed.state.vt.us/lt/hp/whp.nsf/Files/dw
right/$File/13+colonies+labels.gif
HISTORY

Activity #4

Create a time line of the settlement of the thirteen
original colonies using the text and website
Website:
http://www.scarborough.k12.me.us/wis/teachers/dtewhey/
webquest/colonial/13_original_colonies.htm

HISTORY


Activity #5
Students will play a Jeopardy game to review the
unit on colonies
 http://www.hardin.k12.ky.us/res_techn/downl
oad/soc.st.4-1.ppt
PEOPLE IN SOCIETIES

Activity #1


Students will choose a partner, then choose one of the 13
English Colonies. Students will pretend to be a colonist and
write a letter back to England describing life as a colonist.
The partner, living in England, will write back asking any
additional questions he or she may have about colonial life.
All correspondence should be based on information from the
text and internet sources. Include information about
religion, government, home life, work.
Website:
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/13coloniesde
f.htm
PEOPLE IN SOCIETIES

Activity #2


After learning about Roger Williams from the colony of
Rhode Island, have a class debate with one side arguing
to expel Williams from the colony and the other side
arguing to allow him to stay.
Website:
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgibin/page.cgi/jb/colonial/williams_1
PEOPLE IN SOCIETIES

Activity #3


Triangular Trade Route

Students will draw a map of the triangular trade
route that connected England, the English colonies
in North America, and the west coast of Africa.
Students will tell what was traded on each route.
Website:
http://www.watertown.k12.ma.us/cunniff/americanhistorycen
tral/06lifeinbcolonies/Cities.html
PEOPLE IN SOCIETIES

Activity #4
 Journal Entry
 After reading from the text about slavery
in the Southern Colonies, students will
pretend to be a slave, a plantation owner,
or an overseer and write about, in their
journal, their day on the plantation.
 Website:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr5_txt.html
PEOPLE IN SOCIETIES

Activity #5
 Students will take an online quiz about people
in colonial history
 Website:
http://americanhistory.about.com/library/qui
zzes/blcolwhowants.htm
GEOGRAPHY

Activity #1

Students will make a map of the 13
Colonies including a key to identify
the following:

New England Colonies in orange

Middle Atlantic Colonies in blue

Southern Colonies in green

Crops, natural resources and products found in each
colony

Major cities in the colonies

Website:
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/graphics/13mapn
ew.htm
GEOGRAPHY

Activity #2


Students will use website to locate latitude and
longitude coordinates and determine the absolute
location of Jamestown, VA; Providence, RI;
Portsmouth, NH; Philadelphia, PA; Boston, MA;
Williamsburg, VA; New York City, NY; Savannah, GA
Website:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/activity/latlong
2/map.GIF
GEOGRAPHY

Activity #3

Students will use website and text to explore the
different landforms and climates of the New England,
Middle Atlantic, and Southern colonies to better
understand how the landforms and climate affected
settlement and the economy of the regions. Students
will then make a graphic organizer of their choice to
categorize characteristics of the regions.

Website:
http://www.brtprojects.org/cyberschool/history/ch04
/regions.html
GEOGRAPHY

Activity #4

Students will choose a colony and make a poster to
present to the class. Poster will include:






Location of the colony on a map
Who settled the colony
Resources found in the colony
Landforms
Climate
Website:
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/13colon
iesdef.htm
GEOGRAPHY

Activity #5

Trivial Pursuit Review


Students will play a game of Trivial Pursuit answering
geography questions related to the 13 colonies as a
review of the information covered in the unit. Students
will make up the questions to be used in the game.
Information for the questions can be found in the text
and from websites.
Website:
http://www.brtprojects.org/cyberschool/history/ch04/regio
ns.html
ECONOMICS

Activity #1

Students will complete the English in the
Americas cause and effect sort.

In this activity, students match up the cause and
effects of the English coming to the Americas for
farming and economic prosperity. An example of a
cause an effect would be :



Cause – English colonies at Roanoke Island arrived too
late in the year to plant crops.
Effect- John White returned to England to gather
food and supplies . (Scarcity of goods)
Website:
http://www.coastalguide.com/packet/lostcolonycroatan.shtml
ECONOMICS

New England
Activity #2

Students will fill out
this graphic organizer


The students will
write the items
based on the
economy of the New
England Colonies.
Website:
http://www.harlingen.is
d.tenet.edu/coakhist/col
oniz.html
Fishing and
Whaling
Whale Oil
Shipbuilding
Trading
Tea
Lumber
Spices
Slaves
Manufactured
Goods
Fish
ECONOMICS

Activity #3

Students will write a journal response to a key question
regarding the economic factors that made the colonies
successful when dealing with the term “production”.



Journal question: Europeans settled in the Americas in
stages. First, they sent explorers; then, traders,
soldiers, fishers, and missionaries came; and finally,
colonists settled the land. What economic factors aided
in the success of the colonies?
Responses should include: the ability to produce their own
food, good relations with the Native Americans, and
ability to buy or barter for the things they needed.
Website:
http://www.brtprojects.org/cyberschool/history/ch04/econo
my.html
ECONOMICS

Activity #4

When discussing the Jamestown Colony,
students will learn about a “cash crop” and
how for this particular colony, their cash crop
was tobacco.


Students will perform research on John Rolfe and
write about his role in tobacco production and how
it made Jamestown economically stable.
Website: http://www.apva.org/ngex/rolfe.html
ECONOMICS

Activity #5

Students will read the story Stranded at
Plimoth Plantation 1626 by Gary Bowen.



When the students read this story, they are to
write down examples of how the Pilgrims conserved
items and reused goods.
Students will also answer the question: How did
people at Plimoth Plantation get goods that they
needed?
Website:
http://amazon.com/gp/reader/0064407195?ie=U
TF8&keywords=Goody%20Billington&ie=UTF8&
v=search-inside
GOVERNMENT

Activity #1

Students will complete the activity called “New Ideas, New Colonies:






In this activity students will examine the New England Colonies
(Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Connecticut)
Students will receive a map of these colonies in which they will label
Students will be broken up into three groups and will be assigned a
colony that they will research their colonies’ :

Founder

Form of government
For example: Rhode Island (founder: Roger Williams, form of
government: Consent)
After they have this information they will be placed in a group of
three one student from each colony and they will teach each other
about their colony (Jigsaw Learning)
Website:
http://www.kidinfo.com/American_History/Colonization_NE_Colonie
s.html
GOVERNMENT

Activity #2

Students will engage in a class discussion and then
answer questions in their journals




Discuss with students how the meetinghouse was the
beginning of democracy in America. Emphasize that laws
were not made unless people voted on them.
In their journals, have the students compare this to how
laws are made today.
Ask students to think about their elected officials. What
kinds of jobs do they do? How are those jobs similar to
the jobs of Puritan officials?
Website:
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13co
lonieschurch.htm
GOVERNMENT

Activity #3

Students will perform an online research project on
Roger Williams


Inform students that over the course of nearly 50 years,
Roger Williams held various positions in Rhode Island’s
government.
Students will be given access to computers and internet
and will be asked to answer a list of questions on Roger
Williams



Example question: What were the accomplishments of Roger
Williams?
Response may be : He was Rhode Island’s first governor
Website: http://www.rogerwilliams.org/biography.htm
GOVERNMENT

Activity #4

Students will receive a version of the Mayflower
Compact written in present-day language.


Students will read the Mayflower Compact as a class in
choral reading
Students will then answer questions in their social studies
notebooks about the document


Example question: How did the writers of the Mayflower
Compact say laws would be decided?

Response : They would be decided by majority rule.
Website:
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/2.htm
GOVERNMENT

Activity #5

Students will examine the government of the Virginia
colonies


Explain to the class that along with the House of
Burgesses, another branch of government in the Virginia
Colony was the governor and his council.
In groups, students will answer t he following question:



Why do you think Virginia had both appointed and elected
officials?
Response should be: The king’s appointees represented the
king’s interests in the colonies; the elected officials
represented the colonists’ interests.
Website:
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/colonial/virgin
ia/virginia.html
CITIZENSHIP

Activity #1

Students will become a news reporter and will
write a news story.




Ask the students to imagine that they are
newspaper reporters who have accompanied the
colonists on the Sparrowhawk.
Have the students write a news story about the
colonists for their newspaper back in England.
The news story should explain what life is like in
the colonies and how the colonists participate in
their society and government.
Website: http://ocmayflower.org/pilgrim.htm
CITIZENSHIP

Activity #2

Students will complete the “Solve a Problem” activity.




Students are given a problem and have to solve it following seven steps
Prompt: One problem in colonial times was that of getting settlers to stay for
long periods of time. Imagine that you are a leader who wants to settle a colony.
Use the steps to help you solve the problem.
For example:

Step 1 : Identify the problem (People are not permanently settling in the
colonies)

Step 2 : Gather information about the problem (Poor farming, not enough
supplies)

Step 3 : Think of and list possible options (Relocate)

Step 4 : Consider advantages and disadvantages of possible options (Better
farming but occupied by Native Americans)

Step 5 : Choose best solution

Step 6: Try solution (How applied to the problem)

Step 7 : Think about how well the solution helps to solve the problem (How
it would work and how it would not work)
Website:
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13colonies2.htm
CITIZENSHIP

Activity #3

Students will further examine the Meetinghouse and the
roles of the community in this building.

Explain to students that people had assigned seats in the
meetinghouse and were fined if they did not sit in them. The
richest and most important people sat in the front of the
meetinghouse.



Have students get into groups of four and answer and discuss the
question:

Why do you think this was so?

Responses should include: That it was a sign of status within
the community.
Tell students that people often fell asleep during the all-day
sermons. It was one person’s job to wake up people by tickling
them with a feather.
Website:
http://www.oldcolonyhistoricalsociety.org/OC%20History%20at%
20the%20OCHS%202002.htm
CITIZENSHIP

Activity #4

Students will discover about Anne Hutchinson and her
role in the Puritan society in Massachusetts Bay.

Put this quote on the board: “a woman not fit for our
society”.




Inform the students that at the time, Puritan women did not
hold positions of authority within a community.
Have the students write in their journals about how this put
Anne Hutchinson at a disadvantage at her trial.
Have the students research Anne Hutchinson and find out
where she went after her departure from the
Massachusetts Bay colony and what her life was like there.
Website: http://www.annehutchinson.com/
CITIZENSHIP

Activity #5

Students will design and perform skits about the tension of
the Powhatan Confederacy and the Jamestown Colonists.

Explain to the students that the relationship between
the colony and the Powhatan Confederacy was tense.
Colonists may have hoped the marriage of Pocahontas,
the chief’s daughter, to John Rolfe, a colonist, would ease
the tensions between the groups. However, the marriage
did not stop the fighting.



Students will design and perform a skit based on the
relationships between the Native Americans and the
colonists.
They will be evaluated by their peers based on a rubric that
the class comes up with as a whole and it will be written on
the board for reference.
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocahontas
Social Studies Skills and
Methods

Activity #1
 Primary Sources
 Students will go to website and review the
charters of the 13 colonies
 Website:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/st
atech.htm
Social Studies Skills and
Methods

Activity #2
 Primary vs. Secondary Sources
 Students will investigate the differences
between primary and secondary sources
and will then search online for primary and
secondary sources relating to the 13
colonies and list them for reference.
 Website:
http://library.csun.edu/mwoodley/primary.ht
ml
Social Studies Skills and
Methods

Activity #3
 Students will complete a worksheet relating
to primary and secondary documents.
Worksheet will include matching, true/false
and fill-in-the-blank questions.
 Website:
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/infosrv
/lue/primary.html
Social Studies Skills and
Methods

Activity #4

Students will read a version of the Fundamental
Orders.


Discuss with students that Fundamental Orders was the
first written form of government in North America.
Have students get in groups and read the orders
carefully. They need to identify the:




Authors
Purpose or goal of the papers
Come together as a class and discuss the students’
findings.
Website:
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/gopher/text/historical/fundament
al-orders-1639
Social Studies Skills and
Methods

Activity #5

Students will read a list of facts
about William Penn and Benjamin
Franklin.

Students will make a “T”
chart and place the facts
under the person they feel
they belong to.

Students may use their Social
Studies books or other
resources.
Come together as a class and
discuss how students
organized their facts in the
chart.

Students will make a “T” chart
and place the facts under the
person they feel they belong
to.
Website:


http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0
1496611(193906)54%3A6%3C466%
3AFAWPNC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y
William Penn
Benjamin Franklin