8th Grade US History Quarter 1 Bellwork #2

Learning Objectives: Language Arts Focus: Analyze/Evaluate Text Structure

Social Studies Content: The Thirteen Colonies Social Studies Skill: Synthesize information      

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Colonial Times and People: Life in the Thirteen Colonies

The colonial period in America started in the 17thcentury, and it lasted until the Revolutionary War. There were 13 colonies altogether, and they were divided into three different regions, namely, New England (Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island), Middle (Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware), and Southern (North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Georgia). The inhabitants of the colonies were mostly made up of British immigrants, but there were a significant number of people from other European countries as well.

The colonists had decided to migrate to the New World because they were experiencing great poverty and religious restrictions back in England. They had thought that there was an abundance of gold and precious stones in the New World, but they found that their expectations were false. After they arrived in America, the colonists had trouble making a living, because farming was difficult due to the unfamiliar climatic conditions, and land in most of the colonies was not fertile. Nevertheless, farming was the only thing that they could do to feed their families, and they had to find ways to overcome the adverse conditions.

Of all the colonial regions, the Middle region had the most fertile land, and it was referred to as the “breadbasket”. The middle colonies prospered from farming, and their major crops included wheat, rye, barley, and corn. The southern colonies cultivated cash crops such as cotton, tobacco, and indigo, with Virginia being the largest producer of tobacco. During the colonial times, families had to take care of their own food. They cultivated crops and hunted animals to feed their families. On Thanksgiving Day, they consumed food such as turkeys, geese, ducks, lobsters, and corns.

Many colonists had come to America because they wanted to seek freedom of religion. The most dominant religion in New England was Puritanism, while the Middle colonies had more diverse religious practices, such as Catholicism, Quakers, and Jewish. The inhabitants of the Southern colonies were mostly Anglicans, but a significant percentage of them were Baptists. Colonies in New England valued education, but the southern colonists did not give education much importance. Nonetheless, children from rich families in the south received excellent education from private tutors. Universities were established in America around the middle of the 17th century.

 

 

Question for the day

Question for day 1: L.A. 1.7.2.: Authors Purpose 1. Why do you think security is the true design of government?   . The authors purpose to instruct the reader on the causes of colonization. . The authors purpose is to entertain the reader about farming in the colonies. . The authors purpose is to educate the reader about the life in the colonies. . The authors purpose is to summarize the Thanksgiving holiday.

Question for day 2: LA.7.2.2.1: The student will locate, use, and analyze specific information from organizational text features (e.g. table of contents, headings, captions, bold print, italics, glossaries, indices, key/guide words). 2. Analyze the word in quotations in section three to determine its meaning.   . It is an area of land in the New England colonies that contains unfertile, rough, thin and rocky soil. . Land located near the coast. . A type of religion in the New England colonies. . It refers to the fertile wheat, barley, rye, and corn producing land within the middle colonies.

Question for day 3: LA.7.1.7.3: The student will determine the main idea or essential message in grade-level text through inferring, paraphrasing, summarizing, and identifying relevant details 3. Examine          to determine the main idea of the passage above.   . The main idea of the passage above describes the religious differences within the colonies. . The main idea of the passage above describes the cultural differences in the colonies. . The main idea of the passage above describes thefarming difficulties faced by the colonists. . The main idea of the passage describes the immigration process to the new colonies.

Question Day for 4:LA.7.1.6.3: use context clues to determine meanings of unfamiliar words.   4.Determine the meaning of the word  immigrants  using context clues from the above passage.   . People who move to new countries. . Native Americans in the colonies. . One who gives a code of laws to others. . A type of religion in the southern colonies.

 

 

 

King George III, Parliament, and the Colonies

The first Englishmen came to America four hundred years ago looking for gold, silver, and a waterway to Asia. They were part of a trading company that convinced the king of England to grant them a charter giving them permission to set up a colony in America. But they did not find what they were looking for. Times got so hard those first settlers had to eat rats and even each other to keep from starving to death. Pretty soon, though, more people arrived and times got better. The English were here to stay.

Hail to the King

Back in England, the King probably figured he had a pretty good deal. Other people got seasick sailing across the ocean to settle an untamed land while he sat in his palace ruling England. Except that being king just wasn’t what it used to be. Back in the 1200s, a king could really do what he wanted! But this was the 1600s, and now the English people had representatives inParliament who made laws and stood up for peoples’ rights. They even gave advice to the king. Bah!

You Don’t Mind If We . . . Uh . . .

Govern ourselves, do you? In America, the colonists needed some kind of government to deal with everyday problems. After all, the king was on the other side of the ocean. And because of Parliament, the colonists were used to having a say in government. In Virginia Colony, the first settlers decided each community should have two representatives and that all the representatives would meet together. Farther north, in Plymouth, the colonists signed a compact agreeing to form a majority-rule government where all the men would vote on whatever issues came up. (Women didn’t get to vote in 1620.) Even so, the king still controlled the colonies, and the colonists had to follow England’s laws.

We’re Doing Just Fine, Thanks

England had a lot of other colonies besides those in America and plenty of other problems to deal with. The king and Parliament didn’t have much time to pay attention to the American colonists. By the mid-1700s there were 13 colonies, and each colony had its own government. These little governments grew stronger and more used to being in control. When problems came up, the colonial governments took care of things themselves. The colonists were out on their own, making their own decisions, governing things the way they wanted to without much interference.

Raw Deal

But then times got tough, and the British government went looking for money. Great Britain, which now included both England and Scotland, saw its colonies around the world as a source of profit. Colonies were places to cut timber, grow crops such as cotton and coffee, and mine for valuable minerals. The king forced the colonists to sell these raw materials back to England at really cheap prices. People in England would use the materials to make finished products. But did the colonists get a bargain on these items because they provided the materials? No way! The king forced the colonists to buy the finished products at extra high prices.

 

Quiz

1: L.A. 1.7.2.: Authors Purpose 3. The authors purpose is to   a. To inform the reader of the effects of English colonization. b. To inform the reader of the causes of English settlement. c. To inform the reader about Native Americans. d. To inform the reader about how the King of England was unfair.

2: LA.7.2.2.1: The student will locate, use, and analyze specific information from organizational text features (e.g. table of contents, headings, captions, bold print, italics, glossaries, indices, key/guide words). 4. Analyze the Raw Deal heading to determine the meaning of the paragraph number 5.   a. To demonstrate how the colonies profited from the British Government. b. To explain the purpose of self-government. c. To educate the reader about how Great Britain saw it’s colonies as a source of profit. d. To describe Great Britain’s representatives in Parliament.

3: LA.7.1.7.3: The student will determine the main idea or essential message in grade-level text through inferring, paraphrasing, summarizing, and identifying relevant details 3. The main idea of the above describes   a. How the process of self-government began in the colonies. b. Describes the charter process for colonization. c. King George’s relationship with the colonies. d. Describes how St. Augustine was the first permanent settlement.

4: LA.7.1.6.3: use context clues to determine meanings of unfamiliar words 4. Determine the meaning of the word compact    using context clues from the above passage.   b. An agreement between two parties c. The ability to arrest someone without trial. d. the representative lawmaking body e. permission to set up a colony.