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Colonial Customs
Students experience Colonial life and explore the customs of the 17th century. In this colonial America lesson plan, students play dress up, barter items, author pledges, and review 17th century etiquette.
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Bartering in Jamestown
Students explore bartering. In this bartering lesson, students study everyday life in the Jamestown colony. Students discover how bartering was used as a way to acquire necessary supplies.
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A Practical Experiment In Colonization
Role-play and simulation exercises are fantastic ways to help learners understand the reality behind many social and historical events. Pretending they are colonists, upper graders choose a location, create a history, establish laws, and...
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Colonial Trades and Apprenticeships
Students examine and analyze culturally significant objects from colonial Boston. They construct a story around the life and work of Nathaniel Hurd from a list of keywords excerpted from a passage about Nathaniel Hurd. In addition, they...
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Living Yesterday's History Today
Students explore the colonial period to describe and contrast the life and experiences of people who lived at that time with the lives of individual's in the current era. the lives of researched characters are dramatically enacted and...
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Colonial Living: A Look at the Arts, Crafts, History, and Literature of Early Americans
Sixth graders examine the different aspects of life in Colonial America. At home, they make traditional colonial recipes to share with the class. In groups, they read a book about the purpose and act of quilting and create their own...
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Life as a colonial silversmith
Students study the life experiences of people who lived in colonial Boston prior to the American Revolution. They define key terms including Loyalist and Patriot. They write a journal entry as Nathaniel Hurd, a silversmith.
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Emailing Colonial Pen Pals
Fifth graders write emails to a friend imagining they are traveling to colonial America. In this emailing penpals lesson, 5th graders discuss appropriate language and topics in email communication, use correct format and write...
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Colonial America
Students discover the history of Colonial America by creating a class presentation. For this U.S. History lesson, students utilize the Internet to research one of 20 topics in which they will create a PowerPoint or other type of...
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When Travelers Meet
Students research life in Colonial America then write and stage a play about life in Colonial times. creating a variety of characters who might have lived at that time. They, in groups, generate seperate lists of characters who would...
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American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s: Distant Cousins
Students explore daily life and its influences in the late 1700s for two families in different colonies- Delaware and Massachusetts by becoming historical detectives. After gathering information from artifacts to make inferences about...
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Exploring Life in Jamestown Settlement
Third graders locate Jamestown settlement on a historical timeline and research colonial life. They name a restaurant, identify who their potential customers might be and prepare a typical colonial menu.
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Historical Fashions - Interdisciplinary Experience, Art & Social Studies
Seventh graders research styles, construction, fabrics, colors, and cost of Colonial era clothing. They create a life-sized model of themselves wearing Colonial period clothing and write a report about the clothes they designed.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Understanding the Salem Witch Trials
Students describe some of the important elements of life in Puritan New England. They create a timeline of the events of the Salem Witch Trials. They work in groups to explore the concept of multiple interpretations of history.
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Indentured Servants
Students read the article, "Misery." and take notes about reasons immigrants came to America, their physical treatment on the journey, living conditions when they arrived in America, and benefits at the conclusion of servitude. Students...
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Pilgrims in Style
Students explore the Pilgrims and their clothing. They discuss current trends in fashion and complete a Venn diagram comparing the Pilgrim attire to present day clothing and research websites regarding the Pilgrims. After researching,...
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Colonial Quilt Quest
Students identify key events and people from Colonial America.
Students identify key factors of daily life in Colonial America.
Students gather and use information for research purposes.
Students create candles in groups following the...
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Performance Standards/Competencies
Students research how children dressed during Colonial times. Students design and create life-sized likenesses of themselves, dressing the paper dolls in colonial dress.
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Early Settlements
Students embark on a journey through colonial times. In this early settlement lesson, students come to understand what life was like for the settlers in the early colonies. Students research and create projects illustrating their...
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Johnny Tremain/Boston Tea Party
Fifth graders understand chronological order of events. In this Boston Tea Party lesson, 5th graders compare the events surrounding the Boston Tea Party to current times. Students learn vocabulary and customs of the revolutionary times....
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The Name Game
Students identify acts of philanthropy in different works of literature. They idenify and illustrate examples in colonial America. They also read "Miss Rumphius" on how they can make the world a more beautiful place.
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Dressing in Early American Times
Fifth graders, by doing research and seeing actual and simulated artifacts, gain knowledge of and make comparisons about clothing in the Colonial and early Republican eras with attire of present time.
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Cooking Cranberry Pudding
Students explore colonial cooking. In this cross curriculum George Washington and colonial America history lesson, students follow a recipe for cranberry pudding, a possible favorite of George and Martha Washington. Students...
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Benjamin Franklin: Colonial Printer and Journalist
Fifth graders explore how important print media is to everyone's daily life. Students use present daily newspapers and they are to reproduce weather forecasts.