Rebecca Friedman

Education 410 – 480

Professor Ostendorf

13 American Colonies Unit Plan

Vision for the Unit:

This unit will allow students to learn about the 13 American Colonies, including where

they are located on a map, who founded each colony, and begin to learn about the different

economies that each colony had as well as how religion impacted colonists’ daily lives. Due to

having limited time for social studies, this unit will focus on identifying the location of each of

the colonies on the map and identifying the three regions. However, we will begin to teach the

founders of the colonies without assessing their knowledge at this point. The Massachusetts

Curriculum Framework expects that by the end of fifth grade, students can identify on a map

where the 13 American Colonies are located as well as be able to provide information about each

colony. Therefore, as a result of this unit, I am expecting students to be able to name all 13

colonies, identify each colony on a map, as well as know which colonies belong to the New

Colonies, Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies. Students will have practice working with a

variety of maps, as well as have a turn to represent one of the 13 colonies, which will be assigned

based on reading levels, to learn how to read an informational text, pull out important

information, and share information with the class. This unit sets the foundation for the rest of the

work that students will be doing to take a deeper dive into the 13 American Colonies.
Rationale for the Unit:

My fifth graders need to be able to identify the 13 American Colonies on a map and

indicate which colonies make up the New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies as they are

expected to be able to identify each of the colonies as well as demonstrate understanding of the

different economies each colony had, the religion practiced, and compare the daily lives of the

different regions of the colonies. Also, in order for students to understand reasons for the

American Revolution and other major historical events in American history, it is important for

students to have a solid understanding of how America started before it was called America.

Massachusetts Curriculum Framework:

 Social Studies

o MA History and Social Studies Curriculum Framework, 2018, 5.T1, grade 5, # 2,

page 72.

o MA History and Social Studies Curriculum Framework, 2018, 5.T1, grade 5, # 4,

page 72.

 English Language Arts

o MA English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, 2017, RL,

grade 5, # 3, page 71.

o MA English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, 2017, W, grade

5, # 2d, page 72.

 Social Studies

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to identify and label the 13

American Colonies on a map.

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to identify the colonies that make

up the New England Colonies, Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies.

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to identify the founders of each of

the 13 American Colonies.

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to begin to describe the religions

practiced and tolerated in each of the colonies.

 English Language Arts

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to use information text to compare.

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to use precise language to explain a

topic or thoughts.

 Social Emotional Learning

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to take turns when speaking.

Prior Knowledge:

Since social studies has been a subject that is pushed off to make more time for other

subjects that are tested on the MCAS, I expect my students to know nothing about the 13

American Colonies. Also, I have been informed that Hampden-Wilbraham School District has

allowed teachers to skip over social studies or teach what they would like to. Therefore, every
lesson builds off each other and can be adjusted based on how much information my students are

coming in with. I am hoping that they have heard about the 13 American Colonies before, but we

will be explicitly going over information I need them to understand.

Expected Time for the Unit:

I am expecting this unit to take two weeks as we only have time to teach social studies

three times a week and each class is 45 minutes long. Depending on if we have a day off or

students need more time to discuss a topic it may need to take three weeks or a week and a half.

Daily Lesson Objectives:

 Day One

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to define and provide an example of

a colony.

 Days Two & Three

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to identify and name the founders of

the 13 American Colonies.

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to state the different religions

practiced in each of the colonies.

 Days Four & Five

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to identify the 13 American colonies

on a map.

 Day Six

o As a result of this lesson students will be able to name and identify the 13

American Colonies.
Materials:

 Day One

o https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UBzZLe3XES4RpHMaXxpZ341yGhDk

Mcjj?usp=sharing

 Days Two & Three

o https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UmMn6mXLwKViA3awk5c2g_yaTY_N

eCVb?usp=sharing

 Days Four & Five

o https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1W6FGUWMcmy72oBqGNAIX8Xku_Nw

5NRyw?usp=sharing

 Day Six

o https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sHXp5cbxjP1CKeW6kv0FZIFGjNCLdh

RS?usp=sharing

Lesson Openings:

 Day One

o Begin the lesson by stating the teaching point/objective so the class

understands what they will be learning today. Prior to showing the video that

defines what a colony is, ask the students what they think a colony is to get an

understanding of what background knowledge the class is coming in with. The

students through the activities they will be doing for the lesson.

 Days Two & Three

o Begin the lesson by stating the teaching point/objective so the class

understands what they will be learning today. Then go to the third slide and

review the New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies. I recommend

having the students come up to the board and use white board markers to color

in the different regions. After the map has been color coded and you answer

any questions that students may have, inform the students that they will work

with a partner to represent one of the 13 American Colonies.

 Day Four

o Begin the lesson by stating the teaching point/objective so the class

understands what they will be learning today. Then inform the class that they

will be getting a checkpoint to evaluate where they are with the material we

have gone over. Prior to giving the checkpoint, as a class go through the slides

that allow the class to review the colonies by the region, they are located in.

 Day Five

o Based on the results from the checkpoint you have the option to use the extra

map from day one or reuse the map from the checkpoint before giving

students their end of unit assessment. There is not a specific presentation

made for this lesson as it depends on what information the class has mastered

and what information they need more practice with.

o Begin the lesson by stating the teaching point/objective so the class

understands what they will be learning today. Prior to giving the end of unit

assessment to the class. Review the placement of each of the colonies and ask

the class if they have any last-minute questions. After all questions are asked,

hand out the assessment and allow the class to work on it for the entire social

studies block.

Lesson Activities:

 Day One

o All materials needed such as the presentation and worksheets are linked in the

folder.

o Start by discussing what a colony is prior to playing the video. Also, pass out

the worksheet and inform students that they will be filling in the blanks and

we will be working through the worksheet for today’s lesson. Once materials

are passed out and there aren’t any questions play the video that discusses

what a colony is.

o On each slide there is a note that explains what is taking place on each slide.

Review the instructions prior to teaching so you can pace the material out best

for your students.

o The worksheet should be done independently, however, the answers are

discussed as a class. After completing the worksheet, pick one of the maps to
 have students color code the three regions of the colonies. I recommend

making the New England Colonies red, the Middle Colonies purple, and the

Southern Colonies green so it matches the poster of the colonies in the back of

the classroom.

o Since this is the start of the unit it is at the teacher’s discretion to pick if they

want to do a whole class discussion of have the students turn and talk with a

partner to answer the questions on the slides.

 Days Two & Three

o Days two and three are the same activity, however due to the intense amount

of information I recommend splitting it up into two days. The first day the

teacher will model using the pack of information from the day two folder how

to find who the founder of Massachusetts was, which region the colony is in,

as well as the founder’s vision for the colony. This packet was created by me

to ensure that it used student friendly language depending on who was

assigned each colony. After modeling the activity pair students up and assign

them colony to represent. Inform students they need to decide who is

answering each question about their colony. The questions are on

Connecticut’s slide and is the same for every colony. Have the Connecticut

slide up while students are working with their partner, so they know what

information they need to know. Each pair will be known as the founders of the

colony they are assigned.

o I recommend having day two be a model day and fill in the New England

colonies due to only having 45 minutes for social studies.

filling in the rest of the colonies. After the colonies are all filled in on the

presentation, print out a copy for each student so they all have the

informational text and a copy of the synthesized information on each of the 13

American Colonies.

 Day Four

o Today starts with a class discussion about the 13 American Colonies to review

their location prior to having a checkpoint. The checkpoint is their first formal

assessment of the unit. This is going to be used to see what gaps still need to

be filled for day five prior to having the class take the final unit assessment.

Religion and economic systems will be assessed in their second unit on the 13

Colonies.

 Day Five

o Depending on the results of the checkpoint, the activities are going to vary.

However, there are several map activities spread throughout the folders for

this unit that are helpful if students are mixing up the location of the colonies.

It could also be beneficial for students to practice with another map if they are

having trouble remembering which colonies make up the New England,

Middle, and Southern Colonies.

 Day Six

o Today is the day that students will independently be taking the final

assessment for the unit. Prior to handing out the test, go through the map in

the slide show as a class and answer any questions the class has. Then pass out
 the test and read the directions aloud to the class. Inform the students they

should not start until they are instructed to do so. Once all questions about the

directions are answered students may begin to work on their test

independently.

Lesson Closings:

 Day One

o The lesson will end by students sharing what they learned today. This will

also allow the teacher to gage how interested the class is in social studies and

the activity that they did today.

 Days Two & Three

o The lessons will end by reviewing the information presented about each

colony. The review includes asking students what they learned, what surprised

them, as well as anything they would like more clarification on. This provides

the class a chance to hear information presented by their peers as well as a

chance for the teacher to see what needs to be discussed again.

 Day Four

o The lesson will end by students completing the checkpoint that assesses if

students can identify the 13 Colonies on a map.

 Day Five

o The lesson will end by asking students what they learned, what surprised

them, and what they would like clarification on. This will provide time for the
 class to restate information that was discussed in class as well as let the

teacher know what needs to be clarified prior to the final assessment.

 Day Six

o The lesson will end by the students handing in their end of unit assessment.

Summative Assessment:

 Day Four

o https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1W6FGUWMcmy72oBqGNAIX8Xku_Nw

5NRyw?usp=sharing

 Day Six

o https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sHXp5cbxjP1CKeW6kv0FZIFGjNCLdh

RS?usp=sharing

 Reminders

o The religions and economic systems of the 13 Colonies will be assessed in unit

two. This unit introduces the two topics to provide some background knowledge

to support students learning as the content difficulty increases.

Modifications/Adaptations:

A modification that will be made for every lesson to support all students is providing

instruction so that students can hear the directions and read the directions. Also, anytime students

need to take notes, they will be given a worksheet that requires them to fill-in blanks. The blanks

are the terms that are most important for students to know for each lesson. By doing so, my

students who do not require accommodations are able to participate and learn at the same pace as
my students who have an IEP or are ELLs. On the checkpoint and end of unit assessment,

students will be read the directions aloud while they follow along on their paper.

Also, the test does not require students to spell or write complete sentences as they are

writing numbers next to colonies. My students who are ELLs will have the paper read aloud to

them, so they get two inputs of information. My students who are on an IEP are able to tell a

teacher or paraprofessional what their answers are, and the teacher or paraprofessional will help

them write it on the paper. Since none of my students have a technology accommodation, they

will all be taking the tests on paper in the classroom as I do not have any students requiring extra

time on tests.

English Language Learners:

I have a few students in my class that are ELLs, however we were never given any

WIDA levels for them as the school does not use WIDA levels. Therefore, the accommodations I

provide my students include reading all text aloud to the student, having leveled text, and

allowing students to look-up any words they do not know or understand on their Chromebook.

Such accommodations have been beneficial to my students with other subjects so I will continue

to use such accommodations and try new ones as well.

References:

History Illustrated. (2015). Colony Definition for Kids. Retrieved November 21, 2021, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDeSttDI66o&t=2s.

Kids Academy. (2019). 13 American Colonies. Retrieved November 21, 2021, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd0fMpAIs1s&t=3s.

Mr. Betts Class. (2018). 13 Colonies Song. Retrieved November 21, 2021, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqvlwaBUM4I.