Passport to Colonial Times Home

Assignments:

There are four main assignments for this project. You will need to use books and websites on our "Colonial Resources" page to complete the assignments. Remember that your family should work as a team to complete the assignments. Also, be sure to check the "Assessment" page to make sure you have completed all that is required of you.

Our culminating activity will be our colonial fair. This will be the time that you get to show off all of your hard work and share what you have learned with others.

For this project you will need:

Researcher's Notebook (Kidspiration File)
Researcher's Notebook (document file)
Diary Packet (printable file)
Diary Packet (document file)

If you prefer to write your notes, print out the Kidspiration page. If you prefer to type your notes, save the file in the appropriate folder on your computer.

If you prefer to type your diary entries, open the Diary Packet Document file and save it on your computer. If you prefer to write your diary entries, open the Diary Packet Printable file and print it out.

Assignment 1:

Meet Your Family

You will be given a family name. Find the other members of your family. You will be working together throughout the project and will be responsible for helping each other. Go to the Colonial Families page and read about your family. Some of the familes have links you can go to to read about yourselves; some do not. If links are provided, take notes in your researcher's packet. If you do not find a link for your name, your family should come to a consensus about where you live, how old each of you are, and your social status.

Assignment 2:

Background for Everyone

What was daily life for colonial people in New York? To find out go to Historic Hudson Valley and read through the Introduction, The New York Colony, The Village, Farming,
Transportation,Tools, Trades, Crafts, Holidays, Games, School and Clothing. Take notes in your research packet.

Assignment 3:

Digging Deeper

Using books and the resources provided on the Colonial Resource page, you are to find out more about the daily colonial life for the person you are assigned to be. In your research packet you will find instructions to follow depending on who you are (colonial man, woman, child, founding father or slave).

Assignment 4:

Create Your Historical Fiction Family Book!

Using Microsoft Word, your family will create an historical Dear America™ fiction book. You will need the Diary Instruction sheets for this assignment. Here is what you will need to complete this assignment:

Go to Talk Like a Pilgrim and hear the way colonial people spoke! Copy down some of the expressions to use in your journal writing.

Print out these colonial vocabulary words. Use some of these words in your journal writing!

Write your journal entries using the template in the diary packet.

Using a digital camera, you are to create a family portrait, using sepia tones. The picture will be downloaded to the computer and saved in the colonial folder.

Dear America™ Book Cover: Using the Scholastic Dear America framery link, your will create the book cover. You are to fill out the information required, print it out in color, and then scan it, saving it as a jpeg file. You will then use Adobe Photoshop to layer your family portrait pictures into the frame. This will be the cover for your historical fiction book.

Print out the pages of your book and the cover to bind into a book.