Lesson 1:
Who were the Pilgrims?

Image Credit: http://www.beavton.k12.or.us/jacob_wismer/fourth/colonies/images/pilgrims.jpg

Grade Level: 3^rd  

Time Frame: 45 Minutes 

Broad Goals:   

Students will understand where the Pilgrims came from.

Students will understand why the Pilgrims to came over.

Students will agree that their coming over the New World was important.

Students will have compassion for the conditions that the Pilgrims endured on their journey to the New World.   

Social Studies Standards:

State Goal 16: Understand events, trends, individuals, and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.

Learning Standard B: Understand the development of significant political events.

Benchmark 16.B.1b (US): Explain why individuals, groups, issues and events are celebrated with local, state or national holidays or days of recognition (e.g., Lincoln’s Birthday, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, Pulaski Day, Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving). 

State Goal 16: Understand events, trends, individuals, and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.

Learning Standard A: Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.

Benchmark 16.A.1b: Ask historical questions and seek out answers from historical sources (e.g., myths, biographies, stories, old photographs, artwork, other visual or electronic sources).  

NCSS Standard III – People, Places, and Environments.

Early Grades: B. Interpret, use and distinguish various representations of the earth, such as maps, globes, and photographs 

NCSS Standard II – Time, Continuity, and Change.

Early Grades: D. Identify and use various sources for reconstructing the past, such as documents, letters, diaries, maps, textbooks, photos, and others. 

Lesson Objective:  

During the lesson the students will do/perform:

• Make an educated guess as to the location of Plimoth Plantation Historic Site.
• Find the location of Plimoth Plantation on a Map of the United States.
• Students will get background information on Plimoth Plantation by answering questions and participating in discussion.
• Students will get an overview of why the pilgrims came to the new world by answering questions and participating in discussion, as well as looking through their ‘textbook’.
• Students will collect information on their running data list.
• Students will go over vocabulary words and keep a worksheet with them for lessons to come.

Materials: 

• Pen/Pencils
• Vocabulary Worksheet
• Definitions Page
• Reward Feathers/Pilgrim Hats
• Data Sheet
• Map of United States
• Map of the World’s Oceans
• Children’s Books
• …If You Sailed On The Mayflower Books (5)
• Picture Page
• Safety Scissors
• Glue Stick

Resources: 

Digital Map Store. (2005). Map of the United States. Retrieved from http://county-map.digital-topo-maps.com/united-states-map.gif 

Mapquest (2006). The World’s Oceans. http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_map/oceans.gif 

Neither site had authors available, only company names!  
 

Books:    

McGovern, A. (1969). …If you Sailed on the Mayflower. New York, NY: Scholastic 

Davis, K.C., (2002). Don’t know much about the Pilgrims. Hong Kong: Harper Collins Publishers  

Focusing Activity:  

      “Today boys and girls we will be having our very first lesson about our National Park. Our National Park, Plimoth Plantation, is special because it is a Historical Site too! Today we will be learning about the park, and where it is located, we will use maps to help us figure this out. We will also go over some important definitions, like Pilgrim, Native Americans, Mayflower, Hardtack, Salt horse, etc. I want you boy and girls to also be able to understand the reasons why the Pilgrims came to the New World (United States of America), as well as taking a look at their beginning and later relationships with the Indians that were here before them. Ms. Morris and I will be giving each of you a very special book (textbook) to use as a reference when we are learning; this is going to help us learn more about Plimoth! So get excited boys and girls today is going to be a fun filled day of learning!! J”

Purpose: 

      “Who knows why it is important that we know about the history of the Pilgrims first years in the New World? (Pause for student response and integration into lesson, some students may say that we are related to the Pilgrims, some may say because of Thanksgiving, etc) Learning about the Pilgrims is very important because, they are our ancestors, they are part of the first set of people who began to build the United States from land that was wilderness, to what we have today. The Pilgrims are also important to learn about because they show us that if you believe in something enough you need to work very hard to save it, in their case they wanted religious freedom. Which means that they wished for freedom to pray and worship to whichever God they please.  What might be some other reasons be that the Pilgrims came to the New Worlds?” (Students may say things such as, having more space to live, An opportunity to go on a journey, a once in a lifetime experience, etc.) 

Instructional Input/Content Knowledge:  

      “Who is ready to learn about the Plimoth Plantation!?! The first thing we need to know about our National Park is where it is located, at this time I would like all of you to gather around and look at this map of the United States with Ms. Morris and I.

Do any of you have any idea where Plimoth Plantation is? (Wait for student responses). Lead them to the answer of Massachusetts. Then we will locate it on the map of the U.S. 

Actual Responses of Students:

They mentioned states in the south at first such as Kentucky, Louisiana, and then moved to the Northern states and said Rhode Island and New York, then I gave them the answer. 

Who knows what body of water surrounds Massachusetts?  (Make sure that students understand that a body of water means ocean, lake, etc. and wait for student responses) Good answers everyone! Massachusetts is located next to the North Atlantic Ocean.

The Students were able to guess quickly which ocean they sailed across 

Where did the Pilgrims sail from? (I expect that most students will know that they came from a country in Europe, some may even say England) The students guessed correctly about the Pilgrims coming from England. Did they have to sail through several oceans to reach the New World? (Explain that no they did not) One of the students said they sailed through five oceans, I then explained that it was just one and why, and showed them with the map.  

I want to share with you some information about Plimoth Plantation. Here are some interesting facts about our Historical Site. The site has two different locations that people are able to visit and learn from! There are people who role-play as English Colonists. They built a replica of the Mayflower called the Mayflower II (1955-57). There is also a real village on the site that has real replicas of Pilgrims’ homes, gardens, storehouses, animal pens, fields and fortifications that the English colonists had established in New Plymouth by 1627. The actual village that the real English Colonists set up is only 2 and ½ miles away from the recreated site. There is also a museum shop where you can purchase things that the Pilgrims might have made over 300 years ago.

Next Ms. Morris and I will be handing out books to each of you, remember not to look ahead in the books, we will all be working and learning together, also remember to treat the books with respect! (Pass out books). I would like all of you to turn to Page 10 in your books. Look to the pictures and see if you can make any guesses about the pilgrims journey!  (We will then discuss pages 10-12) 

“ I want to make sure that we all understand that the Pilgrims were people who went on a long journey to find a new land and a new life. They left England and moved to Holland in 1608, because they did not value what they King’s Church worshiped, but life was very hard in Holland and the people were worried that their children would forget how to speak English, they also feared their children becoming sailors or soldiers for Holland, so hey made an agreement with Business men in England who lent them money for a ship as long as they promised to work for the business men for seven years” 

Next turn to page 15, here we will read quickly about the Mayflower. (We will then discuss it with the students and go over conditions, what they were able to have on the Mayflower, the number of people on the Mayflower, etc.)  

• The Mayflower was a sailing ship, the Mayflower was also a cargo ship, not intended to carry many people on a long journey.
• Carried 102 people from England to the new world, 34 of those people were children.
• Interesting Fact: The Mayflower normally carried wine, and as some of the wine leaked out of the barrels it left the ship smelling pleasant rather than smelling like garbage.
• The Mayflower had 1 birth, a boy named Oceanus.
• If you were a pilgrim you would have most likely had to leave much of you belongings behind, each family had a bible box and a chest for clothes.
• To eat there was hardtack, salt horse, dried peas, and beans, as well as cheese and butter from Holland.
• Majority of passengers slept on the deck.
• Very dangerous voyage, with many storms, one storm broke the main beam.

Next we will be moving on to filling in our data sheets and our first vocabulary lesson.  

Response Activity:  

This is a very important activity and fun for all of us to complete together! This will be something that you will be able to take home and show your parents eventually.  First we will begin with writing down important facts and dates in our data log. This is so we can keep a record of what we learned and have a quick reference sheet! Then we will be putting together our vocabulary list.  We will hand out paper with pictures and another paper with lines on it. We would like you to please cut out the pictures on the paper and place them next to the vocabulary word you think fits best. Once every one has finished Ms. Morris and I will check it over and then hand you definitions, that we typed out, then we invite you to cut out the definitions and place them next to the word and picture you think it fits best! When you are finished Ms. Morris or I will hand you a feather of completion!  

 We were unable to get to the data sheet activity because we ran out of time, but we used the reward feathers and had each student write down one important fact that they learned today. 

Modeling: 

I will have a completed vocabulary worksheet and data sheet, so the students will understand the placement of items on each sheet. Before they begin their projects I will show them mine, that way they can have a nice finished product.

Conclude: