American Colonization Experience - A Virtual Field Trip
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Essential Question:

Before we begin this field trip, we want to ask an essential question. How did the challenges that faced each colonial group of settlers influence the direction that a colony took? As you work through this trip, keep this question in mind and let it guide how you answer the questions. These are things that might help you answer this essential question.

Things to look for:

  • What forces brought the majority of settlers to a colony?
  • How did the colonists govern themselves?
  • How did the colonists deal with the geographical surroundings?
  • How did they make a living?
  • What resources did they bring to their settlements?
  • What did they do to further education among the colonists?
  • How did they interact with the Native Americans in the region?

 

In this Virtual Field Trip, you will be visiting sites in three of the original colonies: Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Each of these colonies has its own culture because each was settled for different reasons, by different groups of settlers, and had different resources available to it. Pay close attention to the clues about what life was like in each colony because after each colony, you will be asked to complete a trip souvenir. At the end of this field trip, you will create a final souvenir PowerPoint slide show comparing life in the colonies.

  

First Stop - Colonial Virginia:

  1. Visit these two sites to get background information about the settlement of Virginia.
     http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/usstates/virginiahistory1.htm
     http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13virginia.htm
    Did Virginia value education? How do you know?
    How did the colonists govern themselves?
    What resources did they bring to Virginia?
    What did they do for work?
    How did Virginia get her name?
  2. Map of colonial Virginia (1663)
    http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1633m4.jpg
    Looking at this map of Virginia, what sources of food might you find?
    What kind of farming opportunities might there be?
    How do you think the settlers will relate to the native Americans?
    Would it be better to settle close to the shore or further inland?
  3. Visit Virtual Jamestown to answer these questions.
    http://www.virtualjamestown.org/interactive.html
    Who settled Jamestown?
    Why was the Muster of 1624/5 important?
    Go the Patterns of Settlement and click on the years. What kinds of changes do you note?
  4. Read this first-hand account of the employment opportunities for men who were remaining in Virginia.
    http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/jamestown-browse?id=J1016
    What kinds of ways do you anticipate they can make their living?
    Does the author sound encouraged about what life could be like in Virginia with these resources?
  5. Read the following description of an important event in the settlement of Jamestown.
    http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vcdh/jamestown/phatmass.html
    Why do you think the white settlers were surprised by the massacre in 1622?
    How did the settlers react to the massacre?

 Trip Souvenir for Virginia: Fill in the first part of the Colony Comparison Rubric for Virginia

Now let's travel to Pennsylvania.

  1. Visit these two sites to get a good background about the settlement of Pennsylvania.
     http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/usstates/pennsylvaniahistory1.htm
    http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13pennsylvania.htm
    Did Pennsylvania value education? How do you know?
    How did the colonists govern themselves?
    What resources did they bring to Pennsylvania?
    What did they do for work?
    How did Pennsylvania get her name?
  2. Who were the first inhabitants of the land that became known as Pennsylvania?
     http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/pahist/colony.asp?secid=31
    What were the names of the tribes that were living in the Pennsylvania area?
    How did they make their living?
    Would you say that they had a very advanced civilization?
  3. Let's find out about William Penn and the colonization of Pennsylvania?
     http://www.docheritage.state.pa.us/documents/charter.asp
    Was William Penn a wealthy man?
    Why was he interested in coming to America?
    What religion was William Penn? How did his religion affect his life?
    Why did the King of England give William Penn the charter for the land that would later be called Pennsylvania?
    What did the Penn Charter that William Penn signed for King Charles II of England say that Penn would do? (give 3 things)
  4. Look at the Chambers' Map and read about William Penn's relationship with the native Americans in Pennsylvania.
    http://www.docheritage.state.pa.us/documents/chambersmap.asp
    How did William Penn feel about the native Americans?
    Tell 3 ways that you know this?
    How did his religion influence how he treated native Americans?
    Who selected the site where Philadelphia is located?
  5. Let's learn about other settlers in Pennsylvania?
     http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/pahist/quaker.asp?secid=31
    Besides the British settlers, what other nations sent settlers to Pennsylvania?
    What skills did the Germans bring to America? Where did they settle?
    What did the Scotch-Irish do that was important?
    Were African-Americans important in Pennsylvania and what was their role?

 

 Trip Souvenir for Pennsylvania: Fill in the first part of the Colony Comparison Rubric for Pennsylvania

 Third Stop: Massachusetts

  1. Visit these two sites to get a good background about the settlement of Massachusetts.
    http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13massachusetts.htm
     http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/usstates/massachusettshistory1.htm
    Were the British probably the first European settlers to reach Massachusetts?
    Who else had visited this land?
    Did Massachusetts value education? How do you know?
    How did the colonists govern themselves?
    What resources did they bring to Massachusetts?
    What did they do for work?
    How did Massachusetts get her name?

  2. Native Americans lived in the area we now know as Massachusetts thousands of years before European settlers arrived.
     http://www.state.ma.us/sec/cis/cismaf/mf2.htm
    What were the names of at least 3 tribes?
    How did they make their living?
    Before the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620, European settlers brought something very disastrous to the native Americans. What was it?

  3. The early settlement was in Plymouth.
    http://www.plimoth.org/learn/history/colonists/colonists.asp
    Why did the British come to Massachusetts?
    Why was the Mayflower Compact important?

  4. We always think of Massachusetts and the first Thanksgiving? Find out about it.
     http://pilgrims.net/plymouth/thanksgiving.htm
    Who attended this feast?
    How long did it last?
    What kinds of food were eaten?
    Did it bring the native Americans and Pilgrims closer together?

  5. Visit the house that the Choate family built in Ipswich, Massachusetts. What do you think these clues tell us about their life?
     http://americanhistory.si.edu/house/families/choates.asp
    What was Mr. Choate's position in the community?
    Click on the artifacts. What clues do they give us about life in Massachusetts at that time.
    Do you think their life was typical of the settlers in Massachusetts?

 

 Trip Souvenir for Massachusetts: Fill in the first part of the Colony Comparison Rubric for Massachusetts

Final Trip Souvenir:

Now that you have finished your tour of these three colonies, you and your partners will develop a PowerPoint Presentation encouraging people to come to the colony you think had the best quality of life. You should have at least 10 slides:

  1. An introductory slide with a catchy title, a picture and the names of the people on your team.

  2. A slide describing the native Americans who were living in the region at the time. Who they were, how they lived, what trades they had.

  3. A slide describing WHY the Europeans wanted to come to America.

  4. A slide describing the first settlements.

  5. One slide describing daily life in the settlement for Europeans

  6. One slide describing the economy of the area

  7. One slide describing the geography of the area

  8. One slide describing one of the important settlers and his contribution

  9. One persuasive slide telling why you think it was the kind of place you would want to live.

  10. This slide will have the websites you used. (note, you only have to copy the URLs).