WARM-UP

Artwork Notice & Wonder or Caption This

• Use the slides that feature artwork showing economic resources relevant to each of the 3 regions of the 13 colonies (fishing, lumbering, shipbuilding, fertile soil, farming, trade, tobacco, indigo, cotton, rice) and the Notice & Wonder or Caption This chart to facilitate the warm-up.
  • Option A: Notice & Wonder – Select the pieces of art from the slides you’d like students to analyze. Students record what they notice and wonder about each image in their chart on their handout. Discuss what students observe and wonder about in pairs or as a class.
  • Option B: Caption This – Select the pieces of art from the slides you’d like students to analyze. Students write a caption for the artwork on their handout (page 2) and share with a partner or as a class.

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BUILD BACKGROUND

Introduce the lesson objective. Explain that students will apply their understanding of 1) the geography of the 13 colonies and 2) each colonial region’s economic focus to create their own map.

Step 1: Establish an understanding of 3 colonial geographic regions and the economic resources in each.

• • Students watch the video “The History of America’s 13 Colonies” (3:28) twice:
    • First watch: view only, no note-taking
    • Second watch: Use the Colonial Regions & Economic Resources Graphic Organizer to name the colonies located in each region and list the main economic resources in each of the 3 regions.

• • For additional context and information, use the same “view twice” routine with the video “13 American Colonies” (4:16).
    • First watch: view only
    • Second watch: add to the Colonial Regions & Economic Resources Graphic Organizer.

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MAP SKILLS

Review the Cardinal (North, East, South, and West) and Intermediate Directions (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest).

• • Guide students in engaging with the directions:
    • Option A: Students stand and point in the direction when called aloud.
    • Option B: Students travel to the labeled part of the room with a given direction.
    • Option C: Students point to the regions on the colonies map.

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MAP CREATION

Provide students with copies of the Map Scoring Guide. Review criteria:

• • The 13 colonies are all present
  • Colonies are accurately placed, map is neat
  • Colonies and economic focus are accurately labeled
  • Students use illustrations (either via free drawing or using the cut-outs to display the economic focus and climate of each

Explain that students will use the regional colony outlines to accurately and neatly build their map. Decide if you want students to trace these outlines, use them as a reference to free draw, or use them as cutouts to tape or glue together or to a larger piece of base paper.

• • • Northern Colony cutouts
    • Middle Colony cutouts
    • Southern Colony cutouts part 1 & part 2

Model this process

Ask students to brainstorm in pairs or in their notebooks possible ways of representing the economic activities and climates of the regions. Use guiding questions like:

• • Looking back at our graphic organizers, what is one major economic activity of the northern colonies? Shipbuilding.
  • How could we represent that in an illustration? We could draw a large ship.
  • What do we need to do in order to accurately draw a large ship from this time period? We could use the internet to research what these ships looked like.

As an option, we’ve also provided cutouts of economic resources that can be used as tracers, to cut out and adhere to the map, etc.

• • Economic Resources Page 1
  • Economic Resources Page 2
  • Economic Resources Page 3
  • Economic Resources Page 4

Students assemble their maps

• • As a midway point check-in, teachers may opt to use this Check-In Form

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EXTENSION 

Students present their projects to the class or another class.

After creating the map, students choose a region and a fictional person from the time period (farmer, plantation owner, shipbuilder) and compose a 5-8 sentence paragraph from their point of view.

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ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students to name the three colonial regions and the colonies in each. Then, ask students to recall the economic focus areas for each of the three regions.

• • If your class completed the Mapmaking lesson prior to this lesson, have them take out their maps and graphic organizers containing this information to guide the discussion.

Share today’s objective: Explain to students that in this lesson, we will elaborate on our understanding of the main economic resources and systems in the three colonial regions. We will express our understanding, or “show what we know,” in a 2 – 3 stanza free verse poem.

• • Decide if students will create their poems independently or in small groups, and include this in the explanation.

Ask students to turn and talk to discuss: What is free verse poetry? Ask students to share their ideas aloud, guiding them to a collective understanding:

• • Poetry that doesn’t use any strict meter or rhyme scheme. Free verse can have lines of any length, from a single word to much longer. It may contain rhyme or repetition, but it is not required to. The opposite of free verse is formal verse or poetry that uses both a strict meter and rhyme scheme.
  • Share this anchor chart (via projector or student copies) that also includes an example.
    • If students are using the Wit & Wisdom curriculum for ELA, ask them to recall free verse poetry from module 1 and examples from The Crossover.

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PREPARE TO WRITE

Remind students that when creating poetry, we want to evoke both imagery and feeling. Often this is done through figurative language.

• • Use this Figurative Language Handout to review the types.

In groups, give students time to brainstorm examples of each type of figurative language to check for understanding. Then, invite students to create specific examples using their collected information on the economic resources of the three colonial regions.

Share the model poem with students. Ask them where they see direct evidence of the information they’ve gathered.

• • Review the concept of a stanza; have students annotate the model poem, noting the three stanzas.

Use think-aloud to model writing stanza 1 and explain how to transfer collected information into a poem format. Provide a set number of minimum lines per stanza if you prefer. Remind students that lines can, but do not have to rhyme. With your students, compose stanza 2.

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WRITE FREE VERSE POEMS

Students work independently or in their cooperative groups to compose their Free Verse poems.

• • Student supports can include:
    • Provide sentence frames.
    • Provide an outline/graphic organizer for students to compose their poems.

Circulate the classroom to conduct check-ins and provide feedback and support to each group.

Assess

• • Here is an optional Free Verse Rubric that can be used/adapted as a scoring guide
    • Optional: Students can present their poems to the class.

Optional Arts Extension: Convert Free Verse Poems into Songs

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TEACH BODY PERCUSSION

WATCH: Body Percussion Facilitation Tips

Explain to students that they can convert their free verse poems into songs by adding rhythm and a beat. This can be done simply by using body percussion.

Introduce students to body percussion basics:

• • Invite students to form a circle
  • Explain that body percussion is when we use claps, stomps, pats, or snaps to make a rhythm or a beat.
  • Use an “echo” game to model body percussion. For example, perform a clapping pattern and ask students to repeat it back to you. Make it more complicated by adding snaps, pats, and stomps. Allow students to take turns being the leader and having the rest of the class follow.

Explain that now, students will put their poem to music by using these body percussion skills. You can explain this process to your class, and/or show them our instructional video that breaks down the steps and includes the example poem from this lesson put to a beat.

• • An easy way to begin is by reading the poem aloud and listening for any cadence patterns. If you need to, you can change a word or phrase to strengthen the rhythmic flow. You can also repeat lines to heighten moments of intensity in your song.
  • Work through your entire poem, practicing chunks along the way until you are happy with how your song sounds.
    • Note: We are calling it a song, but you do not have to be singing the words. It can be more like a spoken word piece with a catchy beat.

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CONVERT POEMS TO SONGS

Students work independently or in small groups to turn their poems into songs.

Students can share their songs with a peer or another group, or have a complete class performance!

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ASSESS

After each performance:

• • Ask the class to share glows (either aloud or on sticky notes), providing positive feedback on the poem and performance.
  • Ask the class to share two or more factual details about the colonies that the performing group accurately included in their song or poem. This can also be shared as an aloud discussion or as an exit ticket.

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