Colonial Settlers

We've just finished up our colonial unit-something that I've been revamping each year I've done it!

I wanted to share how we did it this year-which will change for next year!

This unit also saw the introduction of doodle notes in my class-where we write down a note, and then draw a picture to represent that note or something to help us remember it. The kids loved it!

We just finished our Explorer unit. Now that Europe knows about all the land that's over here, people want to start coming over.

So we talked about the reasons why people would leave their lives to settle in a new, untamed wilderness.

After we talked about the different reasons for coming to America, we discussed the first settlements.

We used some information that I had sourced on the web for our foldable.

Then, we watched different videos for each colony.

For Roanoke, we watched the In Search Of... (from the 70s, with Leonard Nimoy (Live Long and Prosper! ;)
For Jamestown, we watched a video I got from our school library.

 And for Plimouth, we did the Scholastic webcasts.

We also played the Jamestown settlers game-more than once! 
My kids always love this game-they often ask for the address so they can play again at home!

After we settle, we talk about the different roles that men and women have.

This year is the one on the left-last year was the one on the right

 Then we start discussing colonial dress-and how it differed for your social class. We use this website to help us fill in an organizer I found a few years ago.

Then, we move into the different colonies-coloring in a map.

This year I added PowerPoints to make the colonial regions more interesting.

I started out by planning what I wanted to cover for each one.

They all have the same categories, but the information in them is unique to each colonial region.

Then I spent some of my vacation time creating PowerPoints for the class.

Making some colonial PowerPoints for Social Studies this week-we're working on the 13 colonies! #socialstudies #iteachfourth #iteach456 #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #igteacher #history

A photo posted by Smiles & Sunshine (@smilesandsunshineteacher) on Apr 25, 2015 at 2:02pm PDT

While the PowerPoint was up, students had to write doodle notes. I was also talking during this time, so the PowerPoints held the key points.

They did such an awesome job! Next year, I hope to add in stations of activities that the colonial settlers did. This year got a little screwed up with all of our snow days and SBA testing.

Next up, we fight! There should be no taxation without representation! ;)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn