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Living in the New Colony
A Virginia Studies Web Quest developed for 4th grade learners
Designed by Caroline Gaskins cgaskins@mcps.org
Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page Ahoy, Sailor! After a long trip across the Atlantic Ocean with your family, you finally set foot on soil of the new land. What a long journey you made! It seems so long ago when you were living in England, attending school and playing with your best friends Emma and William. Since the arrival of Captain John Smith, your life in the colony has improved greatly. Food is now more plentiful, health has improved, and relationships with Native Americans have gotten better as well. Emma and William would love to learn about all of your adventures. They miss you so! Maps, letters, drawings, and journals would all be wonderful ways to share your new life with them. Can you describe life in the Virginia colony? The Task In order to share your new life with Emma and William, you will have three tasks.
Living in an era without telephone, email, or computers requires you to communicate by including a lot of detail in writing letters and drawing maps and pictures. Think creatively!
The Process This web quest involves completing three tasks. Listed below are directions for completing the three major tasks, including the resources you will need to be successful. Be sure to explore all websites and feel free to visit them more than one time! Remember that every link may contain more than one piece of useful information. You will also need to organize the information that you collect while researching. Try to complete one task before moving on to the next in order to maintain your focus.
Task 1: Drawing a map of the Jamestown fort. First, take a look at a map of Virginia. Can you locate the tidewater region? Click on region 10 to familiarize yourself with the bodies of water in that region. Now, let's locate the peninsula where the fort was located. This site will show you exactly where the Jamestown fort was located. Take a look at a birds-eye view of the fort, and then at the replica of the fort as it stands today. Document the building materials that you observe, and the shape of the fort. You can learn more about the unique shape and view some great pictures by checking out The Jamestown Colony by Brendan January from the library. John Smith created a map of Virginia that at first glance may not look like the maps that you have been studying so far. In the library, there is a copy of his map on the back wall. Can you find the map? Notice the differences in his map and the ones that we use today.
Task 2: Letter to William and Emma. The Jamestown 2007 website describes the life of children in early America. Read about some of the work and play that you would have been a part of. Be sure to play The Jamestown Online Adventure Game while you are at the site. It is a lot of fun! You will learn what it took to survive in colonial days by making choices about food, clothing, and shelter. The library has a book by Gail Sakurai named The Jamestown Colony. This book details information about Captain John Smith that will be of use to you. It also has some great pictures that may help you with other tasks! Be sure to check out the table of contents first. Another library book that may help you in your research is James Towne: A Struggle for Survival by Marcia Sewall. Look at your class encyclopedia CDROM to learn more about the ways in which John Smith improved relationships with Native Americans. John Smith arrived in Jamestown to view harsh conditions. Read about his life and the conditions that he helped to change here.
Task 3: Corn and Tobacco representations. By now, you have learned that the Native Americans taught the colonists how to grow these important crops. This website developed for kids describes how corn grows and has some excellent illustrations as well. Wikipedia is a free, online encyclopedia that describes and illustrates tobacco plants in detail. It's a great resource! Your textbook, Virginia Social Studies will be of great use for this task. Corn and tobacco are discussed in the Powhatan section. Be sure to use the index and table of contents to locate this section. You should have completed the When Cultures Met activity already in your classroom. Revisit this sheet in your notebook that highlights the Native American influences on the settlers.
Additional Resources Note that the websites and books listed under each task will help you begin your task completion. Remember to use your library skills to locate some of the following books to help complete your tasks! Your classroom computer, maps, dictionaries, and encyclopedia CDROM's are also always available for your use. My America: Our Strange New Land - Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary, My America: The Starving Time - Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary II, Season of Promise: Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary III by Patricia Hermes Jamestown by James E. Knight Surviving Jamestown: The Adventures of the Young Sam Collier by Karwoski and Casale Journey to Jamestown: My Side of the Story by Lois Ruby Corn Raid: A Story of the Jamestown Settlement by James Collier Corn on and off the cob by Allan Fowler What if you'd been at Jamestown? by Ellen Keller The Powhatan Cultures and the Jamestown Colony by Lisa Sita
Evaluation To determine your grade, you and your teacher will each separately complete the grading rubric below. You will meet with your teacher to share your work and discuss your self evaluation.
1 2 3 4
Letter to Emma and William Letter included three of the
required topics Student completed all tasks,
but lacked detail and accuracy Learning about Jamestown(for student only)
Congratulations on a job well done! By now, you have accessed
many websites, books, references, and informational materials
to learn about life as a settler in Jamestown. I am proud of
your efforts and hard work. Your hard work and effort are much
like the characteristics of the first settlers. If they had
given up and not survived, do you think we would be here today? Virginia's colony flourished and expanded into a new town called
Williamsburg. I encourage you to visit the school library and
explore the internet to learn about the exciting stories of colonial
Williamsburg! Animated Ship Clip Art from: http://www.horton-szar.net/clipart/boats.php Jamestown 2007 http://www.jamestown2007.org/kids.cfm Map of Tidewater region http://www.jamestown1607.org/NewWorldSites.asp Map of Virginia http://www.virginiadot.org/comtravel/maps-state.asp Fort Photos http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/espm160/assignments/jamestownall/jamesc_photos2.htm Quill clip art http://www.nativechecker.com/assets/images/quill-blue-2-CA02.gif Smith map http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/kislak/lands/jsmithvimap.html Smith history http://www.apva.org/history/jsmith.html Corn http://www.michigan.gov/mikids/0,1607,7-163-15943_20529---,00.html Tobacco http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco Corn Image www.nysaes.cornell.edu/.../ 1998/Fieldday.html
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