The Thirteen Colonies

Jake Epprecht

jrepprecht_iii@hotmail.com / jepprecht@emerson.ypschools.org

Introduction:

In 1607 England's first permanent overseas settlement was founded. Jamestown was to become the first of many new colonies set up by those coming from Britain for many different reasons. Reasons ranged from religious freedom to the ability to start a new life to being forced to go to this new world to pay off debts owed to the king. Through researching the colonization of America, you will discover the areas that are alike and those that are different for each of the Southern, Middle and New England Colonies. You will find out why each region was founded. For each region you will uncover the hardships that the settlers faced while creating a new life that was accepting of everyone. You will discover the challenges they faced territorial, differences and similarities, religious factors, and slavery issues. At the end of this research, you will compile all your information and create a multi-media presentation for the class about your findings.

Task: The task is to identify and make discoveries of the 13 original colonies. You will uncover this information through research. Your final report will include:

• Identification of the 13 original colonies
• The founders of each colony
• The year it was founded
• Descriptions of why the colonies were founded
• Geographical characteristics of each colony
• The role of religious development
• Slavery: was it used, where was it used and where were they used
• A timeline of the regions

You will be responsible for presenting your findings through a multi-media presentation. (Power Point or the like)

Process: Step 1 -Identify the Problem

1. The three experts on your team will be divided into three regions. Each person must choose a region.

2. Each expert must print out their Information Sheet for their region.

o The Southern Colonies

o The Middle Colonies

o The New England Colonies

Step 2 –Gathering the Evidence for how the Colonies started and existed

1. Review some key terminology of the colonial period.

o Glossary of Colony Terms

Step 3 –Determine the Causes for the Colonies to be formed

1. List three geographical characteristics of each colony.
1. The Colonies One by One
2. a. South Colonies b. South Colonies Chart
3. a. Middle Colonies b. Middle Colonies Chart
4. New England Colonies
1. What role did religion play in the development of your region?
• Virtual Religion Index
2. Describe slavery in your region or the attitude towards slavery.
• Slavery

Step 4 –Evaluate the Policy that led to the Colonies to begin to separate from

Britain

Resources: Google

Thirteen Colonies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://americanhistory.about.com/library/charts/blcolonial13.htm

http://www.rcs.k12.va.us/csjh/colonies.htm

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/13coloniesdef.htm

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/graphics/13mapnew.htm

http://www.scarborough.k12.me.us/wis/teachers/dtewhey/webquest/colonial/13_original_colonies.htm

http://www.wintektx.com/freeman/13colonies.htm

http://www.mrnussbaum.com/13.htm

Evaluation:

Emerson Middle School

Web Quest- 13 Colonies

Criteria

Points

	1	2	3	4
Completion of the Task	Little or no work done.	Two or three of the tasks completed	Four to seven of the tasks completed	All tasks completed	____
Quality of the Presentation	Presentation sloppy and not informative	Presentation lacks vital information and is hard to understand	Presentation is lacking some information, but is good, easily understood	Presentation is thorough and shows the level of work put into it	____
Information on the 13 Colonies	No information on any colony	Information on one to six colonies	Information on seven to twelve colonies	Information on all 13 colonies	____
Group Work	No evidence that the work was completed by everyone and not just one or two students	Little evidence that work was completed by everyone and not by just one or two students	Evidence that the work was completed by more than two students	Evidence that work was completed by all students	____
				Total---->	____

Teacher Comments

Conclusion: You will have a better understanding of how the 13 original colonies were founded after completing this Web Quest. You will have learned about the three regions, religion, slavery and how to work collaboratively as a team.

Standards: History of the United States and New York-Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to

demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the

United States and New York.

World History-Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major

ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a

variety of perspectives.

Geography- Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography

of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places,

and environments over the Earth’s surface.

Civics, Citizenship, and Government-Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate

their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and

other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the

roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.