Welcome: Traveling the 13 Colonies

Description: You will imagine yourself living in an early American colony.

Learn about the different colonies, get into groups of 4-5, and pick one
you would like to live in. Then you will research about the early colonies
and build your very own with your group.
Grade Level: 4-5
Curriculum: Art/ Social Studies
Keywords: 13 colonies, poster, map, build, 3D diorama, job
Author(s): Courtney Pendleton, Gary Graves, Lindsey Gosen

The purpose of this project is to learn how to

gather information, how to work and learn together,
and to spark creativity as individuals as well as a
group. You will then share your information and
village with the class.

Were going to take a journey through the 13 colonies and your group
will decide which of the 13 colonies you want to settle in based on the
information you found along your journey. Once you have completed
your journey, you will create a poster with a map of the colony and
build a 3-D diorama of your village.

Step by step instructions on what to do:

1. Decide on a colony with your group where you
want to live.
2. As a group come up with a occupation (job)
where you would want to work
3. Research your colony using books, notes,
internet or any other source (NO Wikipedia).
4. Gather all the information about that colony
that you can use for your project.
5. Using the information you collected, create a
poster with a map of your colony and
directions on how to get there from
neighboring colonies.
6. Build a 3-D diorama of your village

3-D Diorama
1. Build your house/or farm
2. Build your work place/if not a farmer
3. Name your village
4. Native Americans in your area
5. Types of Animals you will encounter

Poster/Map
1. Name of Colony
2. Natural resources
3. Famous people living there
4. First village or Capital founded there
5. Pictures of surrounding landscape
6. Weather/Seasons you will experience
7. The map should be centered in the
poster with added material
surrounding it describing why you
chose to settle there.

Here are some websites that may help you get started
http://www.revolutionary-war.net/13-colonies.html
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/colonialamerica/a/colamoverview_2.htm
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13colonies1.htm
http://www.landofthebrave.info/american-colonies.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Diorama

Rubric
CATEGORY

Graphics are all in focus

and the content easily
viewed and identified
from 6 ft. away.

Most graphics
are in focus and
the content
easily viewed
and identified
from 6 ft away

Content
Accuracy

At least 7 accurate facts

are displayed on the
poster and in the
diorama

5-6 accurate
facts are
displayed on the
poster

3-4 accurate facts

are displayed on the
poster.

Less than 3
accurate facts are
displayed on the
poster.

Graphics
Relevance

All graphics are related

to the topic and make it
easier to understand. All
borrowed graphics have
a source citation

All graphics are

related to the
topic and most
make it easier to
understand. All
borrowed
graphics have a
source citation

All graphics relate to

the topic. Most
borrowed graphics
have a source
citation.

Graphics do not
relate to the
topic OR several
borrowed
graphics do not
have a source
citation.

Required
Elements

The poster and diorama

includes all required
elements as well as
additional information.

All required
elements are
included on the
poster

All but 1 of the

required elements
are included on the
poster.

Several required
elements were
missing

Graphics
Clarity

Most graphics are in Many graphics

focus and the content are not clear or
is easily viewed and
are too small.
identified from 4 ft.
away.

This project is designed to help

students better understand how people
in the early American colonies lived,
what their duties were, and what was
expected of them. Students will
research, gather information, construct
a village, and then present them to the
class. These will be graded by a rubric
that is available on the evaluation tab
of this site.

The pictures we used come from: Google Images

The rubric we created comes from: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
We got our idea for this Web quest from:
http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=162283
The helpful cites are:
http://www.revolutionary-war.net/13-colonies.html
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/colonialamerica/a/colamoverview_2.htm
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13colonies1.htm
http://www.landofthebrave.info/american-colonies.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Diorama