Social Studies 5th Grade Unit 2 (For the 2nd Benchmark) – Colonization and Settlement/American
Revolution (1st Half)
Approximate Lesson Times: 30 – 35 minutes
Approximate Lesson Implementation: About 10 to 12 Weeks
NE Colonies Week 1 Day 1
Objective: To be
introduced to the three
sections of the first British
colonies in America
beginning with the New
England Colonies.
Procedure: Teacher will
begin the unit by playing
the “The New England
Colonies Rap” (Audio CD
Track 11). Teacher will
write the vocabulary
words (page 91 Early
America Teacher’s Guide)
then review the meaning.
Students will create a
hypothetical answering
message that the puritans
or pilgrims would’ve used
using at least 3 of those
words. Students will
share.
Assignment: Vocabulary
message which the
students will create.
Week 1 Day 2
Objective: To explore the
geography of the New
England Colonies.
Procedure: Using the
Student Atlases, the
students will look at pages
24 and 25. Teacher will
guide as the class reads
these pages. Students will
discuss captions A, B, C,
and D first with groups
then with class. Students
will begin filling out “The
Thirteen Colonies”
worksheet (page 90 in
Teacher’s Our Country
Atlas Binders) just on the
New England Colonies.
Assignment: Students will
finish filling out “The
Thirteen Colonies”
worksheet.
Week 1 Day 3
Objective: Students will
compare and contrast the
Puritans and Pilgrims who
settled in the New England
Colonies.
Procedure: Teacher will
review vocabulary words
then class will break off
into groups to begin
reading the small cards of
“The New England
Colonies” based on their
reading levels. When
group is finished reading
their cards, the students
will complete a graphic
organizer (pages 95-97 in
Early America Teacher’s
Guide).
Assignment: Students are
to their graphic organizer.
Week 1 Day 4
Objective: To write a firstperson paragraph from
either a Pilgrim or a
Puritan perspective to
explain life in the New
England Colonies.
Procedure: Teacher will
pass out copies of page 98
in Early America Teacher’s
guide. Teacher will then
assign each group two of
the squares for
completion. Students will
then share their firstperson entries with
partners. *If time the
students can share with
whole class. Students will
then review landscape,
people, resources and
religions of New England
Colony with teacher.
Assignment: Students will
answer Comprehension
question on back of cards.
Study for upcoming quiz.
Week 1 Day 5
Objective: To access
knowledge of geography,
people, religion, and
resources of the New
England Colony.
Procedure: Students are
to take a short quiz (page
99 in Early America
Teacher’s guide). Students
are to explain shortanswer question with as
much detail as possible.
Assign: none
Week 2 Day 1
Objective: Students will
understand ideas that
influenced religious and
political aspects of colonial
America.
Procedure: As an
anticipatory set, the
teacher will play the “The
Middle Colonies Rap”
(Track 13). Teacher will
place vocabulary words for
this section (page 103) on
the board. Teacher will
leave space below each
word and ask for
volunteers to illustrate
each word on the board.
Class will discuss the true
meaning of each word.
Students will then be told
that they will be
deciphering between fact
and opinion in this section.
Discuss fact vs. opinion.
Assignment: Students are
to write down three facts
and three opinions about
anything. Students will
then share and explain
why certain things are fact
and opinion.
Middle Colonies
Week 2 Day 2
Objective: To explore the
geography of the Middle
Colonies.
Procedure: Using the
Student Atlases, the
students will look at pages
26 and 27. Teacher will
guide as the class reads
these pages. Students will
discuss captions A, B, C,
and D first with groups
then with class. Students
will begin filling out “The
Thirteen Colonies”
worksheet (page 90 in
Teacher’s Our Country
Atlas Binders) just on the
Middle Colonies.
Assignment: Students will
finish filling out “The
Thirteen Colonies”
worksheet on the Middle
Colonies.
Week 2 Day 3
Objective: Students will
who their comprehension
of the text by listing facts
and then stating opinions
related to those facts.
Procedure: Teacher will
review vocabulary words
then class will break off
into groups to begin
reading the small cards of
“The Middle Colonies”
based on their reading
levels. When group is
finished reading their
cards, the students will
complete a graphic
organizer (pages 107 - 109
in Early America Teacher’s
Guide).
Assignment: Students are
to their graphic organizer.
Week 2 Day 4
Objective: Students will
write their opinions about
the text that they read.
Procedure: After
reviewing all people,
resources, and landscape
of Middle Colonies teacher
will pass out copies of
page 110 (Early America
Teacher’s Guide).
Students will be asked to
complete two activities on
this page that will be
chosen by the teacher
depending on reading
level. Students will then
share their pieces with
partners then with class.
Assignment: Students will
answer comprehension
questions on back of card
and study for upcoming
quiz.
Week 2 Day 5
Objective: To access
knowledge of geography,
people, religion, and
resources of the Middle
Colonies.
Procedure: Students are
to take a short quiz (page
111 in Early America
Teacher’s guide). Students
are to explain shortanswer question with as
much detail as possible.
Assign: none
Week 3 Day 1
Objective: Students will
understand ideas that
influenced religious and
political aspects of colonial
America in particular the
Southern colonies.
Procedure: As an
anticipatory set the
teacher will play “The
Southern Colonies rap.”
(Track 15). Teacher will
write down vocabulary
words for this section
(page 115 in Teacher’s
Guide) and go over its
meaning. Teacher will go
over and give examples of
Right There, Think and
Search, and On your own
questions (page 116 in
Teacher’s Guide).
Students will use a KWL
chart to begin formulating
questions they would like
answered from this
section.
Assignment: KWL chart.
Southern Colonies
Week 3 Day 2
Objective: To explore the
geography of the Southern
Colonies.
Procedure: Using the
Student Atlases, the
students will look at pages
28 and 29. Teacher will
guide as the class reads
these pages. Students will
discuss captions A, B, C,
and D first with groups
then with class. Students
will begin filling out “The
Thirteen Colonies”
worksheet (page 90 in
Teacher’s Our Country
Atlas Binders) just on the
Southern Colonies.
Assignment: Students will
finish filling out “The
Thirteen Colonies”
worksheet on the
Southern Colonies.
Week 3 Day 3
Objective: To create and
answer questions from the
text to help them infer
meaning from the text.
Procedure: Teacher will
review vocabulary words
then class will break off
into groups to begin
reading the small cards of
“The Southern Colonies”
based on their reading
levels. When group is
finished reading their
cards, the students will
complete a graphic
organizer (pages 119 - 121
in Early America Teacher’s
Guide). During the
reading, the students will
complete their KWL
charts.
Assignment: Students are
to their graphic organizer
and completed KWL chart.
Week 3 Day 4
Objective: To create five
interview questions they
would ask those living in
the southern colonies.
They will then develop
answers for those
questions based on the
pictures and text.
Procedure: Each student
will develop five questions
that they would like to
have answered from
someone living from that
time in the Southern
colonies. Students will
then pretend to be citizens
from that time and place.
The students will then
implement their questions
by asking a partner.
Partner will answer
questions. Students will
record answers. Class will
share.
Assignment: Completed
interview sheet.
Week 3 Day 5
Objective: To access
knowledge of geography,
people, religion, and
resources of the Southern
Colonies.
Procedure: Students are
to take a short quiz (page
123 in Early America
Teacher’s guide). Students
are to explain shortanswer question with as
much detail as possible.
Assign: none
Slavery Week 4 Day 1
Objective: Students will
understand elements of
African Slavery during the
colonial period in North
America.
Procedure: Students will
be introduced to slavery
by watching a short video
(either History Of US series
or Safari Montage) that
gives a broad overview of
slavery in America.
Teacher will then
introduce the vocabulary
of this section (page 125 in
Teacher’s guide) and go
over its meaning.
Students will discuss what
they saw in the video.
Assignment: Students will
list 5 things they learned
from the video while
viewing the film.
Week 4 Day 2
Objective: Students will
take notes and write
summaries to show the
important events in the
text.
Procedure: Students will
begin reading “Slavery in
the New World” cards
with their reading groups.
Once completed, the
students will answer the
comprehension on the
back of the card. Teacher
will lead the class in a
discussion about what was
read.
Assignment: Answering
the comprehension
question on back of the
cards.
Week 4 Day 3
Objective: Students will
create poems from slaves’
perspectives explaining
what they had to endure.
Procedure: Students will
look at and discuss pages
30 and 31 in student atlas
to view the routes in
which the slaves had to
take to get to America.
The students will then
create a poem from a
slave’s perspective. The
students will be asked to
use all five sensory
perspectives.
Assignment: Writing the
poem from a slave’s
perspective.
Week 4 Day 4
Objective: Students will
present poems that
they’ve written from
slaves’ perspective.
Procedure: Students will
write a short paragraph to
go along with the poems
they wrote the previous
day answering, “What
emotions do you think the
slave from whose
perspective your poem
will be read from had to
endure and why?” Each
student will then take
turns presenting their
slavery poem to the class.
Assignment: Paragraph to
go along with the poem.
Week 4 Day 5
Objective: To compare
and contrast the
differences between
indentured servitude and
slavery.
Procedure: Teacher will go
over the idea of slavery
and introduce the idea of
indentured service.
Teacher will create a Venn
diagram comparing and
contrasting the two ideas
on the board. Then the
students will break off into
partners and answer pages
97 – 100 (Teacher’s Atlas
binder) using the
children’s atlas and small
cards that they read this
week.
Assignment: Completion
of packet.
Causes of the Revolution
Week 5 Day 1
Objective: Students will
understand the
perspectives and roles
played in the
Revolutionary era by
various groups and
individuals.
Procedure: Students will
be show the “Visual
Illusions” activity sheet on
the CD ROM in back of
Primary Source Readers
Early America Teacher’s
Guide. Students will be
asked which one or two
faces they see and teacher
will call on students to
answer. Students will turn
and share what they see
with partners. Students
will be told that they
everyone has a different
perspective and that that
will be at the root of the
American Revolution.
Assignment: Students will
create a KWL chart on
what they already know
about what caused the
American Revolution and
what questions they had.
Week 5 Day 2
Objective: Students will
understand the
perspectives and roles
played in the
Revolutionary era by
various groups and
individuals.
Procedures: Students will
be given Primary Source
Reader “Causes of the
Revolution” (Abigail
Adams for lower level
readers). Students will
first preview the book
then reading. Students
are to read from pages 3 –
11. As the students read
they are to continue to fill
out their KWL chart.
Assignment: Continued
KWL chart. Teacher will
choose two of the skills on
page 102 (Teacher’s Guide
Primary Source Readers)
for the students to
complete.
Week 5 Day 3
Objective: Students will
use author’s point of view
to better understand
reading.
Procedure: Teacher will
review what the students
read the previous day and
talk about the Stamp Act
and why that would be so
upsetting to the colonists.
Students will read from
pages 12 – 24. Students
will complete the KWL
charts and complete page
100 (Teacher’s Guide
Primary Source Readers).
Assignment: Boston Tea
Party worksheet and
completed KWL chart.
Week 5 Day 4
Objective: To begin
working on a timeline of
events for the American
Revolution.
Procedure: Using the
student reproducible on
pages 67 to 70 in
Teacher’s Atlas Binder, the
students will work in pairs
to begin adding events
from the causes of the
American Revolution. The
timeline will be a continual
piece which the students
will add to as the year
goes on. *As a possible inclass project if time
permits, the students will
be placed in groups and
assigned a specific cause
of the American
Revolution. The groups
are to research the
specifics of their topic and
create a newscast in which
they will present to the
class at the conclusion of
this section.
Assignment: Cause of the
Revolution in the timeline.
Week 5 Day 5
Objective: To analyze the
different perspectives of
the American Revolution.
Procedure: The students
will be divided into four
groups. Two groups will
be loyalist and two groups
will be patriots. Each of
the groups will be asked to
create arguments for why
their side is correct. The
students may the “Causes
of the Revolution” primary
source readers and their
textbooks to gather ideas
and information. Once
arguments have been
written a representative
from each group will go up
to debate a member of an
opposing group. Teacher
will lead the debate and
the students will
objectively judge who won
the debate.
Assignment: None
Causes of the Revolution Continued
Week 6 Day 1
Objective: Students will
understand the events
that contributed to the
outbreak of the American
Revolution and the earliest
outbreak of the American
Revolution.
Procedure: Teacher will go
over the Vocabulary on
page 137 in Early America
(level cards) teacher’s
guide and its meaning.
Teacher will also explain
what “bias” means.
Students will look at the
picture on the bottom of
page 12 in “Causes of the
Revolution” and try to
answer how that picture is
biased. Students will
share their responses.
Students will complete
Assignment: “Bury the
Tax!” worksheet on page
103 in Teacher’s guide for
Primary Source Readers.
On the back, the students
will explain how that
picture might be biased.
Week 6 Day 2
Objective: Students will
analyze the text by
identifying the causes and
effects of the American
Revolution.
Procedure: Students will
be given their level cards
on the “Cause of the
American Revolution.”
Students are to read their
card and complete Causeand-effect graphic
organizer (pages 141-143
in Teacher’s guide).
Students will discuss their
completed graphic
organizers with partners
to add more detail.
Assignment: Completed
Graphic organizer.
Week 6 Day 3
Objective: Students will
understand the events
that contributed to the
outbreak of the American
Revolution and the earliest
outbreak of the American
Revolution.
Procedure: Students will
play Interactive
Whiteboard Activity (CD
ROM in Level Texts box on
Early America) on Causes
of the American
Revolution where the
students are to drag
events and place them in
chronological order.
Students will then
complete a study guide on
the Causes of the
American Revolution Quiz.
Teacher will go over the
study guide with the
students.
Assignment: A completed
study guide.
Week 6 Day 4
Objective: To recall
concepts from the Causes
of the Revolution section.
Procedure: Students will
take a short quiz on the
Causes of the Revolution
either page 145 in leveled
text teacher’s guide or
page 104 primary source
readers teacher’s guide.
Assignment: none
Week 6 Day 5
Objective: To reinforce the
concepts that caused the
American Revolution.
Procedure: Students will
watch “Freedom: A History
of US” DVD Disc 1 Episode
1. After the students
watch the DVD, the
students will create a
protest poster protesting
the one of the British taxes
or acts. Students will
present their posters for
the class and explain why
they chose that topic.
Assignment: Completed
protest poster.
The Declaration of Independence
Week 7 Day 1
Objective: Students will
discover how the colonies
wanted to plan, organize,
and make decisions
independently of Great
Britain.
Procedure: Students will
play Giant tic-tac-toe
game on page 118 of
Teacher’s guide primary
source readers. Teacher
will then introduce this
section of the Declaration
of Independence by
explaining to the students
what each word in the
game means and to try
spot those words this
week during our studies.
Assignment: Students will
write the meaning of each
of the vocabulary words in
their notebook using each
word in sentence that
makes sense.
Week 7 Day 2
Objective: Students will
discover how the colonies
wanted to plan, organize,
and make decisions
independently of Great
Britain.
Procedure: Students will
be given their primary
source reader “The
Declaration of
Independence” (Thomas
Jefferson for the lower
level readers). Students
will first preview the book
then split up into groups
then read from pages 1 to
11. Teacher will review
with the students who
Thomas Jefferson was and
lead the class in a
discussion about why
declaring independence
was necessary. Teacher
will also focus in on the
role of the Continental
Congress, who they were
and what they did.
Assignment: Students will
complete page 124 in
Teacher’s Guide primary
source readers.
Week 7 Day 3
Objective: Students will
discover how the colonies
wanted to plan, organize,
and make decisions
independently of Great
Britain.
Procedure: Teacher will
review what the students
previously read in their
primary source books.
Students will then read
from pages 12 to 24 in
their assigned books.
Students are to then
complete two of the skills
on page 126 in the
teacher’s guide primary
source readers. Class will
discuss the significance of
the Declaration of
Independence.
Assignment: Page 126 in
teacher’s guide.
Week 7 Day 4
Objective: To analyze and
formulate an opinion
about the Declaration of
Independence from the
relevant time period.
Procedure: Students will
write a review of the
Declaration of
Independence as if they
were a Newspaper writer
of that time. Students can
be assigned different
towns and different
demographics of readers.
Students will answer: what
was the reaction after the
first public reading, would
everyone be happy with it,
what is your own personal
opinion about the
Declaration. If time, the
students can draw a
picture to accompany their
review with a caption.
Assignment: Completed
Review.
Week 7 Day 5
Objective: To analyze and
formulate an opinion
about the Declaration of
Independence from the
relevant time period. To
hear others’ opinion.
Procedure: Students will
share their reviews with
the class. After the
students will share their
reviews, teacher will ask
students if their opinions
have changed or not and
call students for
responses.
Assignment: Page 127 in
teacher’s guide primary
sources.
The Declaration of Independence
Continued
Week 8 Day 1
Objective: Students will
understand the major
ideas in the Declaration of
Independence, their
sources, and how they
became unifying ideas of
American democracy.
Procedure: Teacher will
review vocabulary on page
149 in teacher’s guide
leveled text. Teacher will
display image from “The
Declaration of
Independence” on CD in
leveled text box. Teacher
will ask “What are the
men saying?” Students
create word bubbles on
their slates then share
them with their groups.
Students will be asked to
share the word bubbles
with the whole class.
Teacher will then play
track 21 The Declaration of
Independence rap and
discuss its meaning.
Assignment: None
Week 8 Day 2
Week 8 Day 3
Week 8 Day 4
Week 8 Day 5
Objective: Students will
understand the major
ideas in the Declaration of
Independence, their
sources, and how they
became unifying ideas of
American democracy.
Procedure: Students will
be given their leveled text
cards and begin reading
with their groups. When
finished, the students will
complete the Declaration
of Independence Graphic
Organizer on pages 153 –
155 in teacher’s guide
leveled text. Teacher will
review what the students
read.
Assignment: Completed
graphic organizer and
comprehension question
on back of cards.
Objective: Students will
show their comprehension
of the text by identifying
the important information
from the text.
Procedure: Students will
play Interactive
Whiteboard Activity on
Declaration of
Independence in which
they will choose to commit
treason on Britain or not
and see what the outcome
will be. Students will also
complete a study guide for
upcoming quiz.
Assignment: Completed
study guide.
Objective: To recall
concepts from the
Declaration of
Independence section.
Procedure: Students will
take a short quiz on the
Declaration of
Independence either page
157 in leveled text
teacher’s guide or page
128 primary source
readers teacher’s guide.
Assignment: none
Objective: Students will
apply their knowledge of
the Declaration of
Independence to their
lives.
Procedure: Teacher will
explain that there may be
many things the students
would like to be
independent from.
Students will discuss with
a partner then create their
own Declaration of
Independence that is
relevant to their lives
today. Students will share
with the class once
completed.
Assignment: Completed
personal Declaration of
Independence.
American Revolution (1st half)
Week 9 Day 1
Objective: Students will
review the causes of the
Revolution and use
context clues to solve
vocabulary.
Procedure: Class will
review all of the causes of
the Revolution and what it
may be leading to with a
focus on the Boston
Massacre and the Boston
Tea Party. Teacher will
present vocabulary on
page 159 in teacher’s
guide leveled texts.
Teacher will present the
word in context and ask
the students to decipher
its meaning using context
clues. Students will write
down the definitions on a
slate and present to the
class and will be asked
how they chose that
definition.
Assignment: Students will
write down what they
think the colonists would
need to prepare for
inevitable war with Britain
in their notebooks.
Week 9 Day 2
Objective: Students will
identify the major figures
of the American
Revolution.
Procedure: Teacher will
place pictures of some of
major figures of the
Revolution (George
Washington, John Adams,
Samuel Adams, Paul
Revere, Thomas Jefferson,
Ben Franklin, and Patrick
Henry) on the board.
Teacher will choose one of
the figures and describe
the person and what their
role was during the
Revolutionary period.
Teacher will break class off
into tiny groups. Each
group will be given an
historical figure and a net
book. The groups will
research the figure and
create a presentation on
that person. They will
describe who that person
is and what their role was
during this period.
Assignment: Researching
an historic figure from the
Revolutionary period.
Week 9 Day 3
Objective: Students will
present their research on
a major figure of the
American Revolution and
formulate an opinion
about the significance of
that person in context to
that time period.
Procedure: Students will
put the finishing touches
on their presentation then
present their person to
the whole class. Students
may do this in a variety of
ways and should not
exceed 5 minutes. Once
each presentation is
finished, the groups will be
asked questions and be
asked to formulate an
opinion about that person.
Assignment: Students will
be asked to write an
opinion about their
researched historical
figure in their notebooks.
Week 9 Day 4
Objective: Students will
preview leveled primary
source reader and make
predictions based on text
features.
Procedure: Students will
be given their leveled
primary source readers
“The American
Revolution” (George
Washington for lower level
readers). Before the
reading, the students will
preview the first four
chapters of the book only
and will be asked to
change the title of the
chapter into a question in
their notebooks with
spaces underneath to
answer later. For
example, “The People of
the Revolution” could be
turned into “Who were
some of the important
people of the Revolution?”
Students will predict an
answer to these questions
in their notebooks.
Assignment: Completed
predictions about the first
four chapters.
Week 9 Day 5
Objective: Students will
describe the major events
that lead to “The Shot
Heard Around the World.”
Procedure: Teacher will
model how to read the
text by reading page 3 and
using the PowerPoint slide
show in CD ROM (file
name: revlutn.ppt).
Students will begin
reading their primary
source readers. Students
will only read up to page 9
in “The American
Revolution” or “George
Washington.”
Assignment: Once
finished, the students will
be asked to answer page
149 in teacher’s guide
primary source reader.
2nd Benchmark
Week 10 Day 1
Objective: To access prior
knowledge of the early
colonies of America, the
causes of the American
Revolution, the
Continental Congress, and
the major events leading
up to the Revolution.
Procedure: Students will
be given a study guide* for
the Unit 2 benchmark
assessment. Students are
to complete the
benchmark with a partner
using all necessary
resources (i.e. small books,
student atlas, and leveled
text cards).
Assign: Completed study
guide.
Week 10 Day 2
Objective: To access prior
knowledge of the early
colonies of America, the
causes of the American
Revolution, the
Continental Congress, and
the major events leading
up to the Revolution.
Procedure: Teacher will go
over all of the answers to
the study guide and
answer any questions the
students might have about
this time period. Teacher
will review all of the
contents through a
timeline of events
beginning with the period
of the Puritans and
Pilgrims.
Assign: Study for the
benchmark assessment.
Week 10 Day 3
Objective: To access prior
knowledge of the early
colonies of America, the
causes of the American
Revolution, the
Continental Congress, and
the major events leading
up to the Revolution.
Procedure: Students will
take the Unit 2 Benchmark
Assessment on
Colonization/American
Revolution.
Assignment: none
Week 10 Day 4
Objective: To complete a
timeline of events for this
time period.
Procedure: Using the
timeline that was given to
the students earlier, the
students will fill in the
events from this PreRevolutionary time period.
Once finished, the
students will share their
timelines with a partner
and they can fill in any
events that they may have
missed.
Assignment: A completed
timeline of this time
period on a previously
given to them.
Week 10 Day 5
Objective: To present their
newscast.
Procedure: As a
culminating activity, the
students will be given a
topic from the preRevolutionary time period
with groups. They were to
research the topic, write a
summary, and newscast.
The students will present
their newscast as if they
were actually reporting
from this time period.**
Assignment: Completed
Newscast
*I am currently working on a study guide for the 2nd benchmark and will have that to you when completed.
**I do have a project guide and outline for the newscast if anyone is interested.