John Smith
_Grade Level: 4
Time Needed: Two 40 minute blocks
Unit Essential Question: In early Jamestown, how did choices affect people’s lives?
Lesson Essential Questions: How did the choices of the Virginia Company affect the fate of the early colonists? (continued) -and- How did the choices of John Smith affect the survival of colonists in Jamestown?
Virginia Standards:
Social Studies
VS.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical and geographical analysis and responsible citizenship, including the ability to
b) determine cause-and-effect relationships;
d) draw conclusions and make generalizations;
g) interpret ideas and events from different historical perspectives;
VS.3 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the first permanent English settlement in America by
a) explaining the reasons for English colonization;
f) describing the hardships faced by settlers at Jamestown and the changes that took place to ensure survival;
English
4.1 The student will use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings.
b) Contribute to group discussions.
d) Use evidence to support opinions.
e) Use grammatically correct language and specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
4.7 The student will write effective narratives, poems, and explanations.
a) Focus on one aspect of a topic.
b) Develop a plan for writing.
c) Organize writing to convey a central idea.
d) Write several related paragraphs on the same topic.
e) Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation.
f) Write rhymed, unrhymed, and patterned poetry.
g) Use available technology.
4.8 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and
sentence structure.
a) Use subject-verb agreement.
b) Include prepositional phrases.
c) Eliminate double negatives.
d) Use noun-pronoun agreement.
e) Use commas in series, dates, and addresses.
f) Incorporate adjectives and adverbs.
g) Use the articles a, an, and the correctly.
h) Use correct spelling for frequently used words, including common homophones.
Math
4.14 The student will collect, organize, display, and interpret data from a variety of graphs.
NCSS Standards:
VI. Power, Authority, & Governance
Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance, so that the learner can:
f. identify and describe factors that contribute to cooperation and cause disputes within and among groups and nations;
h. recognize and give examples of the tensions between the wants and needs of individuals and groups, and concepts such as fairness, equity, and justice.
Materials Needed:
Goals/Objectives:
Activities/Instruction
1. Review the cause/effect chart started the day before and briefly discuss the hypotheses about the effects of the choice the Virginia Company made to only send a certain number of laborers/workers to the new settlement.
2. Have children take out their bar graphs and data sheets for new analysis. Have students work in heterogeneous groups of 4 to try to sort the jobs into categories of like occupations. After they’ve discussed for about 5 minutes, come together as a class and list some of the options on the board. Ask the students if they can figure out a way to sort all of the occupations into just two categories (suggest the categories of laborers/businessmen). Have them sort the occupations into these two groups.
After grouping the occupations, have the students add up how many individuals are in those two groups. If gentlemen and council are grouped in one category (businessmen) and all others (including “unknown”) are grouped in “laborers,” there should be 45 laborers and 57 businessmen. If children notice there are only 102 people (not 104) people listed, explain that the records are not 100% accurate as information has been lost over time.
FYI: According to the list of first settlers, about 56% were businessmen approximately 44% were laborers. To simplify the simulation, it is suggested the teacher use a ratio of 3 businessmen for every 2 laborers. As ratios and percentages are not yet taught to children at this age, the teacher should not worry about giving the children these statistics- these are for the teacher to use.
3. Assign students numbers, counting off 1-5. Each 1, 2, and 3 student will be a businessman. Each 4 and 5 will be a laborer. Give each child a special color-coded construction paper and have them to make hats so they others will know if they are a laborer or businessman. Tell the students that they are now going to travel back in time and work at the Jamestown settlement. A large wardrobe box or time travel curtain can be set up for change and excitement; students can skip from the current year through the time machine or curtain to 1607.
4. As children arrive in 1607, the teacher welcomes them and asks them to sit on the floor- the laborers on one side and the businessmen on the other. The teacher explains that each group of people is going to have a different task. The “businessmen” have been assigned the difficult task of sitting and watching the “laborers” work. Explain that the gentlemen and council members felt they were “above” manual labor and did not help with tasks like building or growing food.
The laborers are going to be in charge of growing the food and hunting. Each laborer will be given several printouts of pictures of foods the settlers ate and will have to carefully cut out the images (this represents farming, catching, and hunting the food-the clip art can be used later for other lessons on bartering or for posters, etc.). Children should be warned that if they go too fast and are very sloppy with their cutting (not due to technique but to rushing-teacher will monitor), the crops they "grew" that were messy will represent failed crops and won't count toward the food total.
Each 5 items of food that are cut represent food for 1 person. (NOTE: This simulation does not represent accurate ratios of food grown per person by each laborer- it is simply to show that when the gentlemen weren’t working, the settlers were starving because there weren’t enough hands to help. After this first simulation, a second simulation will be done in which the gentlemen will be forced to work for their food by John Smith and the children will see how this law improved the food situation in the colony).
5. At the teacher’s go, the laborers get to work on cutting out the images. The teacher gives the students two-three minutes to cut as many pieces as they can as the gentlemen sit and watch. At the end of the specified time, the teacher has each child count how many pieces of food he or she was able to “grow, catch, or hunt.” The numbers are recorded on the board and then the total is divided by 5 to see how many people were fed.
6. After the simulation, class has a discussion about what they noticed about the simulation and what it taught them about the balance of work and how it affected the settlers. The teacher asks them to revisit the choice they discussed the day before-how did the Virginia Company’s choice to send more gentleman than laborers people affect the settlers? Students should discuss how little food was grown and people had to go hungry.
The teacher then explains that due to the lack of labor as well as other factors they'll learn about later, many settlers died of starvation. Questions to ask: What does this tell you about the first choice we wrote on the chart- what could we write as an effect of the decision to send too few workers? Were any of our hypotheses correct (show second poster made cross out or check off hypotheses)? What is another choice we could add to the chart, think about the choices the gentlemen and councilmen made (they chose to sit back and let others do the work-effect was that many died from starvation). What does this make you think about the leadership in the colony? What should the leaders have done?
7. Teacher introduces next topic of the unit- John Smith. Teacher puts up a picture of John Smith on the projector screen (there is a good picture at this site: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-americanhistory/captainjamessmith.jpg). Teacher explains that John Smith was one of the original leaders sent over. When he took over as the leader of the colony, he decided to do something about the people who were starving. He started a new law that stated if you didn’t work, you didn’t get to eat. This forced all of the gentlemen and council men to pitch in and help around the settlement.
Add this choice to the cause/effect poster, stating something like “John Smith chose to start a new law to force all people to work if they wanted to eat.”
8. Now, assuming the role of John Smith (fake beard optional), the teacher will have the businessmen redo the simulation, this time forcing them to cut the food from the papers. Time them at the same interval as the laborers so their food production can be added to the laborers food production (you can either let the laborers sit and watch this time and then add the food the gentlemen cut to the laborers' total and pretend they all worked at the same time or have all of the students work during this simulation).
9. At the end of the timed simulation, have the participants count up their food (and add it to the laborers food total from the first simulation) and then divide the total number of items by 5 to see how many more people were fed. Ask the students what they noticed about this second simulation and the effect John Smith’s new law may have had on the new colony. Ask them what the simulation showed them (how when more people helped, they were more likely to survive and that John Smith’s choice had a positive effect on the colony because fewer settlers died from starvation-write this information on the cause/effect chart).
Explain that the simulation does not show an accurate account of how much food was grown by each laborer or how many people were fed but let them know that it does show that when everyone pitched in, more people were able to eat and the situation at the settlement improved.
10. Next, have the students use the attached “Perspective Letter” to write a letter about John Smith’s forced work law from the perspective of either a businessman or a laborer-their choice. This can either be done in class or as homework and will be turned in for assessment purposes.
11. Close the lesson by reviewing of the outcomes of choices covered so far in the (starvation, lack of workers, increase in food production) and tell them that unfortunately these were not the only issues to come up during the early days of the settlement. Show a picture of Jamestown (aerial view, like this one here) and explain that tomorrow the students will act as detectives to learn about another choice related to the picture that caused many issues and deaths in the early days of the settlement.
Assessment:
Students will write a letter from the perspective of either a businessman or laborer and discuss how they would have felt about John Smith’s law. Students will be assessed on their understanding of the lesson-students who understand the point (that the law was positive because it helped save people) but also are able to consider it from the perspective of the type of settler (businessmen were likely mad about having to work though probably saw the benefits, laborers were likely happy about the rule as it took pressure off of them and more people survived as there was more food).
Time Needed: Two 40 minute blocks
Unit Essential Question: In early Jamestown, how did choices affect people’s lives?
Lesson Essential Questions: How did the choices of the Virginia Company affect the fate of the early colonists? (continued) -and- How did the choices of John Smith affect the survival of colonists in Jamestown?
Virginia Standards:
Social Studies
VS.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical and geographical analysis and responsible citizenship, including the ability to
b) determine cause-and-effect relationships;
d) draw conclusions and make generalizations;
g) interpret ideas and events from different historical perspectives;
VS.3 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the first permanent English settlement in America by
a) explaining the reasons for English colonization;
f) describing the hardships faced by settlers at Jamestown and the changes that took place to ensure survival;
English
4.1 The student will use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings.
b) Contribute to group discussions.
d) Use evidence to support opinions.
e) Use grammatically correct language and specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
4.7 The student will write effective narratives, poems, and explanations.
a) Focus on one aspect of a topic.
b) Develop a plan for writing.
c) Organize writing to convey a central idea.
d) Write several related paragraphs on the same topic.
e) Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation.
f) Write rhymed, unrhymed, and patterned poetry.
g) Use available technology.
4.8 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and
sentence structure.
a) Use subject-verb agreement.
b) Include prepositional phrases.
c) Eliminate double negatives.
d) Use noun-pronoun agreement.
e) Use commas in series, dates, and addresses.
f) Incorporate adjectives and adverbs.
g) Use the articles a, an, and the correctly.
h) Use correct spelling for frequently used words, including common homophones.
Math
4.14 The student will collect, organize, display, and interpret data from a variety of graphs.
NCSS Standards:
VI. Power, Authority, & Governance
Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance, so that the learner can:
f. identify and describe factors that contribute to cooperation and cause disputes within and among groups and nations;
h. recognize and give examples of the tensions between the wants and needs of individuals and groups, and concepts such as fairness, equity, and justice.
Materials Needed:
- Cause/effect and hypotheses charts from previous lesson
- Bar graphs and analysis papers from previous lesson
- Large sheets of construction paper in two colors, enough for 3/5 of class to have a sheet of one color, and 2/5 to have a sheet of the other color
- "Time Machine" appliance or wardrobe box or curtain (optional)
- several copies per child of the "Foods the settlers ate" worksheet
- scissors, a pair for each child
- timer
- Dry erase or Smart Board and markers
- Projector
- Access to internet to show picture of John Smith
- Fake beard (optional)
Goals/Objectives:
-
Students will analyze a chart and sort the occupations on the chart into categories to further understand what types of people settled in Jamestown
- Students will role-play and participate in a simulation to learn why the settlers didn't have enough food when the gentlemen didn't work and also to understand the benefits of John Smith's no work, no food law
- Students will take the perspective of a laborer or businessman in Jamestown and write a letter that discusses John Smith's leadership
Activities/Instruction
1. Review the cause/effect chart started the day before and briefly discuss the hypotheses about the effects of the choice the Virginia Company made to only send a certain number of laborers/workers to the new settlement.
2. Have children take out their bar graphs and data sheets for new analysis. Have students work in heterogeneous groups of 4 to try to sort the jobs into categories of like occupations. After they’ve discussed for about 5 minutes, come together as a class and list some of the options on the board. Ask the students if they can figure out a way to sort all of the occupations into just two categories (suggest the categories of laborers/businessmen). Have them sort the occupations into these two groups.
After grouping the occupations, have the students add up how many individuals are in those two groups. If gentlemen and council are grouped in one category (businessmen) and all others (including “unknown”) are grouped in “laborers,” there should be 45 laborers and 57 businessmen. If children notice there are only 102 people (not 104) people listed, explain that the records are not 100% accurate as information has been lost over time.
FYI: According to the list of first settlers, about 56% were businessmen approximately 44% were laborers. To simplify the simulation, it is suggested the teacher use a ratio of 3 businessmen for every 2 laborers. As ratios and percentages are not yet taught to children at this age, the teacher should not worry about giving the children these statistics- these are for the teacher to use.
3. Assign students numbers, counting off 1-5. Each 1, 2, and 3 student will be a businessman. Each 4 and 5 will be a laborer. Give each child a special color-coded construction paper and have them to make hats so they others will know if they are a laborer or businessman. Tell the students that they are now going to travel back in time and work at the Jamestown settlement. A large wardrobe box or time travel curtain can be set up for change and excitement; students can skip from the current year through the time machine or curtain to 1607.
4. As children arrive in 1607, the teacher welcomes them and asks them to sit on the floor- the laborers on one side and the businessmen on the other. The teacher explains that each group of people is going to have a different task. The “businessmen” have been assigned the difficult task of sitting and watching the “laborers” work. Explain that the gentlemen and council members felt they were “above” manual labor and did not help with tasks like building or growing food.
The laborers are going to be in charge of growing the food and hunting. Each laborer will be given several printouts of pictures of foods the settlers ate and will have to carefully cut out the images (this represents farming, catching, and hunting the food-the clip art can be used later for other lessons on bartering or for posters, etc.). Children should be warned that if they go too fast and are very sloppy with their cutting (not due to technique but to rushing-teacher will monitor), the crops they "grew" that were messy will represent failed crops and won't count toward the food total.
Each 5 items of food that are cut represent food for 1 person. (NOTE: This simulation does not represent accurate ratios of food grown per person by each laborer- it is simply to show that when the gentlemen weren’t working, the settlers were starving because there weren’t enough hands to help. After this first simulation, a second simulation will be done in which the gentlemen will be forced to work for their food by John Smith and the children will see how this law improved the food situation in the colony).
5. At the teacher’s go, the laborers get to work on cutting out the images. The teacher gives the students two-three minutes to cut as many pieces as they can as the gentlemen sit and watch. At the end of the specified time, the teacher has each child count how many pieces of food he or she was able to “grow, catch, or hunt.” The numbers are recorded on the board and then the total is divided by 5 to see how many people were fed.
6. After the simulation, class has a discussion about what they noticed about the simulation and what it taught them about the balance of work and how it affected the settlers. The teacher asks them to revisit the choice they discussed the day before-how did the Virginia Company’s choice to send more gentleman than laborers people affect the settlers? Students should discuss how little food was grown and people had to go hungry.
The teacher then explains that due to the lack of labor as well as other factors they'll learn about later, many settlers died of starvation. Questions to ask: What does this tell you about the first choice we wrote on the chart- what could we write as an effect of the decision to send too few workers? Were any of our hypotheses correct (show second poster made cross out or check off hypotheses)? What is another choice we could add to the chart, think about the choices the gentlemen and councilmen made (they chose to sit back and let others do the work-effect was that many died from starvation). What does this make you think about the leadership in the colony? What should the leaders have done?
7. Teacher introduces next topic of the unit- John Smith. Teacher puts up a picture of John Smith on the projector screen (there is a good picture at this site: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-americanhistory/captainjamessmith.jpg). Teacher explains that John Smith was one of the original leaders sent over. When he took over as the leader of the colony, he decided to do something about the people who were starving. He started a new law that stated if you didn’t work, you didn’t get to eat. This forced all of the gentlemen and council men to pitch in and help around the settlement.
Add this choice to the cause/effect poster, stating something like “John Smith chose to start a new law to force all people to work if they wanted to eat.”
8. Now, assuming the role of John Smith (fake beard optional), the teacher will have the businessmen redo the simulation, this time forcing them to cut the food from the papers. Time them at the same interval as the laborers so their food production can be added to the laborers food production (you can either let the laborers sit and watch this time and then add the food the gentlemen cut to the laborers' total and pretend they all worked at the same time or have all of the students work during this simulation).
9. At the end of the timed simulation, have the participants count up their food (and add it to the laborers food total from the first simulation) and then divide the total number of items by 5 to see how many more people were fed. Ask the students what they noticed about this second simulation and the effect John Smith’s new law may have had on the new colony. Ask them what the simulation showed them (how when more people helped, they were more likely to survive and that John Smith’s choice had a positive effect on the colony because fewer settlers died from starvation-write this information on the cause/effect chart).
Explain that the simulation does not show an accurate account of how much food was grown by each laborer or how many people were fed but let them know that it does show that when everyone pitched in, more people were able to eat and the situation at the settlement improved.
10. Next, have the students use the attached “Perspective Letter” to write a letter about John Smith’s forced work law from the perspective of either a businessman or a laborer-their choice. This can either be done in class or as homework and will be turned in for assessment purposes.
11. Close the lesson by reviewing of the outcomes of choices covered so far in the (starvation, lack of workers, increase in food production) and tell them that unfortunately these were not the only issues to come up during the early days of the settlement. Show a picture of Jamestown (aerial view, like this one here) and explain that tomorrow the students will act as detectives to learn about another choice related to the picture that caused many issues and deaths in the early days of the settlement.
Assessment:
Students will write a letter from the perspective of either a businessman or laborer and discuss how they would have felt about John Smith’s law. Students will be assessed on their understanding of the lesson-students who understand the point (that the law was positive because it helped save people) but also are able to consider it from the perspective of the type of settler (businessmen were likely mad about having to work though probably saw the benefits, laborers were likely happy about the rule as it took pressure off of them and more people survived as there was more food).
foods_the_settlers_ate.pdf | |
File Size: | 336 kb |
File Type: |
perspective_letter.pdf | |
File Size: | 102 kb |
File Type: |