Materials

• Computer with Internet access
• Research materials and lessons from the following sites. NOTE: These sites have information and suggested lesson plans to help students develop an understanding of life during the Colonial Period.
  -- “America’s First Look into the Camera: Daguerreotype Portraits and Views 1839–1864.” The Library of Congress. <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/daghtml/daghome.html>. This site contains prints and photographs from American history pertaining to this organizing topic.
  -- Archiving Early America. <http://www.earlyamerica.com/>. This site contains primary source material for eighteenth-century America.
  -- “Colonial Days Web Adventure.” Family Education Network. <http://www.teachervision.com/tv/curriculum/weeklywebadventures/colonial_days>. The site includes sample lessons on colonial America. It is designed for lower level students but may have useful information for teachers of Virginia and United States History.
  -- “Founding the American Colonies.” The Time Page. <http://www.timepage.org/spl/13colony.html>. This site contains maps and other information on the founding of the 13 original colonies.
  -- George Washington’s Mount Vernon. <http://www.mountvernon.org/>. This Web site offers information on George Washington and his home, Mount Vernon.
  -- “Presidential Inaugurations.” The Library of Congress. <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pihome.html>. This site contains information on presidential inaugurations.
  -- “Yale-New Haven Teacher’s Institute. American Life: A Comparison of Colonial Life to Today’s Life.” <http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1990/5/90.05.04.x.html>. This site gives a comparison of family life in colonial America to family life today. Site is intended for first grade teachers, but may have useful information for teachers of Virginia and United States History.

Instructional Activities

1. Briefly review previous session’s activities, as needed.
   
   
2. Ask students the following questions:
   • What do you do for “fun” after school?
   • What contributes to your interpretation of “fun” activities? “Appropriate” activities?
   • Does your family’s history or culture have anything to do with the activities that you enjoy today? If so, explain.
   • How might your parent’s occupation have something to do with the activities in which you participate?
   • How does the region in which you live contribute to the activities in which you may be involved?
   
   
3. Explain that “social characteristics” include:
   • ways in which members of societies interact
   • the social hierarchy within a society and what determines the placement of individuals in the hierarchy (e.g., occupation, religion, ancestry, wealth)
   • the degree of permanence of ones social position in a society.
   Allow students to share examples of various societies they have observed through either personal experience or research. Provide examples to prompt discussion. For example, explain the strict caste system of India, the social structure of a native American tribe, or a the social structure of a monarchy.
   
   
4. Display the following prompts on the board or overhead:
   
   The colonies of the New World had distinctive social characteristics, determined in part by the origin of the colonists, their religion, their occupation, and their ancestors.
   The “Great Awakening,” a religious movement in Europe and the colonies in the mid-1700s, led to the beginning of Protestant religious groups, such as Methodists and Baptist. This movement, in part, laid the social foundations for the American Revolution.
   
   Have the students examine these Web sites for further information on the “Great Awakening”:
   • <http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/grawaken.htm>
   • <http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/four.html>.
   Instruct students to be prepared to complete the Social Characteristics column on their colonist information chart.
   
   
5. Display the following prompt on the board or overhead:
   
   New England colonial society was based on the colonists’ Puritan religion. The colonists were intolerant of those that did not support the Puritan belief in a connection between religion and government.
   
   Ask students to identify the beliefs of the Puritans. NOTE: Refer to <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12581a.htm> for information on the Puritans.
   
   
6. Display the following prompt on the board or overhead:
   
   Rhode Island was founded by dissenters fleeing persecution in Massachusetts.
   
   Lead a discussion of the irony of the Puritans causing others to flee Massachusetts because of religious persecution after they themselves fled Europe because of religious persecution.
   
   
7. Display the following prompt on the board or overhead:
   
   Followers of several religions settled in the middle colonies, including Quakers in Pennsylvania and Catholics in Maryland. These colonies had comparatively flexible social structures. A middle class of skilled artisans, entrepreneurs, and small farmers developed here.
   
   Have the students visit <http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/midcol.htm> for information on these religions in order to facilitate a class discussion on the differences between the two.
   
   
8. Display the following prompts on the board or overhead:
   
   Family status and land ownership shaped the social structure of Virginia and other southern colonies. Large landowners controlled much of the colonial government in the eastern lowlands of the southern colonies.
   The Church of England was the dominant religion in the eastern lowlands of the southern colonies.
   Society in the mountains and valleys regions of the southern colonies was characterized by small-scale subsistence farming, hunting, and trading. Many from this region were of Scotch-Irish and English descent.
   
   Instruct the students to reflect this information on charts and maps.
   
   
9. Assign a teacher-selected reading, worksheet, or other reinforcement activity, using available resources.