When I moved to 5th grade and started teaching American history, I had to scramble to find interesting and engaging lesson on the thirteen colonies. I wanted my students to be able to understand the culture of colonial life within the New England Colonies, Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies.
Here are some books, videos, and independent activities for an awesome unit on the colonial regions.
Books and Read Aloud:
If you're looking for basic straight-forward, information for your students, these books are what you're looking for. You can do a quick read aloud to build background knowledge or place them in a center with a 3-2-1 chart . The following books provide information about life in the colonies. You can click the book or the cover to see an Amazon preview.
Life in the Colonies by Emily Smith
Life in the colonies explore big idea topics like the Puritans, the Mayflower Compact, House of Burgesses, Navigation Acts, and slavery. Along with brief biographies on colonists and Indians like John Smith, William Penn, Pocahontas, Roger Williams, and John Rolfe. It also uses primary sources to engage its readers.
The New England Colonies: A Place for Puritans by Kelly Rodgers
The next series of books is great for a colonies unit because it describes the economic activities, settlement patterns, and daily life of the American colonies.
The Middle Colonies: Breadbasket of the New World by Kelly Rodgers
The Southern Colonies: First and Last of 13 by Kelly Rodgers
The next set of books are informational, fun, and a bit more silly and engaging. Your students won't learn about James Oglethorpe, William Penn, or Roger William's Rhode Island, but they will learn how colonists bathed without soap, went the bathroom without toilets, and ate crackers filled with maggots. Yup, students LOVE it!
The Dreadful, Smelly, Colonies by Elizabeth Raum
You Wouldn't Want to Be an American Colonist by Jacqueline Morley
Videos
These videos are great for building background knowledge and it gives students a visual understanding.
The History of Colonial America by Flocabulary
I like this video because it discusses the reasons the colonists settled in North America.
I like this video series by MrZoller because it focuses on the New England colonies, the founders and the reason they were founded. The video encourages kids to take notes. It has a lot of information especially if you're looking for something to go a little deeper.
Colonial Units and Printable Activities
All of these books and videos are awesome for building background knowledge and understanding, but I find myself needing some type of graphic organizer, printable worksheet, or multiple choice quiz for students to show their understanding.
I've spent a lot of time creating complete units that include overviews of the regions, historical descriptions of each colony, organizers, and a multiple-choice quizzes. From New Hampshire's fishing economy to South Carolina's cash crops, each colony had its own diverse culture. Students enjoy taking a deeper dive into the concerns the colonists faced such as religious freedom, daily life on the farm, city jobs, enslaved people, and religion.
Personally, I needed materials in which students could read and respond, and I could grade and use in the grade book.
This year, I placed these resources in a center during my Reading block for independent work.
Hopefully, these resources and ideas help get you started on your colonial unit.
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