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September 29, 2013

Life in Colonial America Stations

So, last week was a week I termed “New Teacher Hazing.” 🙂 For me, NTH means your two cohorts in crime (the other two fifth grade teachers) take 33 of your 5th graders to Williamsburg for 5 days leaving you and a substitute teacher with your other 57 friends. Also, for kicks and giggles, let’s add your first field trip as a teacher and then, to plan for the other 2 days of learning and fun. 🙂 Sound about right??

This was my life. It was kind of a terrible three days involving physical altercations, cussing, and lockdowns…but regardless of the mix of personalities in one classroom, we learned ALL about life in Colonial America. The learning was fun, interactive, and really interesting!

In case you’ll be learning about Colonial America in the coming weeks or months, here is what our week looked like!

We visited a local fort and it was awesome! We saw the blacksmith make a Kentucky Long Rifle, the candlemaker dip candles in animal fat, and the weaver spin sheep’s wool. It was such a neat experience for my kiddos. Just in case you were wondering – the blacksmith and the candlemakers were the two favorites. 🙂

The next day we started our morning with Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up to share about our favorite parts of the trip, as well as, what job we would have wanted. Then, we wrote about our trip and added the writings to our class blog!

After blogging, we began our Colonial Stations. My ‘BIG’ kids do not do ‘centers’ but they LOVE stations. 🙂 Here is what our stations looked like –

In the first station, students used our iPads to scan a QR code. (I find that using QR Codes to link a website is SO much easier than sending students to Google or another search engine looking for a specific topic or article.) The QR code brought students to Social Studies for Kids where students could choose what they wanted to learning about – church, school, farm, park, food. After reading the nonfiction article, students compared/contrasted that part of Colonial life to life today. {Click here to grab the recording log and QR Code for free}

Next, the BEST STATION EVER. We made butter, and “it was AWESOME!” My kids said making the butter was better than the field trip…really?!?! I placed the materials students need at the station, and then, these directions. It took each group about 15 minutes of vigorous shaking to get the final product. Then, each group sampled their hard work with saltine crackers. 🙂 {Click here to grab the directions}

Using our SMART Board, one group visited History.org’s Colonial Williamsburg to learn about the lives of specific people in Colonial Williamsburg – farm family of seven, enslaved African Americans, the fired tutor, the master’s apprentice, and the burgess.

At a fourth station, students used our If You Lived in Colonial Times book, and practiced main idea. Students read an article about crime and punishment in Williamsburg. They determined the topic, main ideas, and supporting details of the article and put it into the ‘main idea house’ we have been using.

Somewhere in the two days, we also added Disney’s History Connections – Colonial America DVD for a little ‘down’ time in our day. It was a fun review of what our lives would have looked liked a few hundred years ago. 

Well friends, that is what New Teacher Hazing looked like. It was a crazy, crazy whirlwind – ha. No worries, I have already claimed a spot on the Williamsburg bus next year. 🙂 I

I hope you have a wonderful week of teaching and learning. 5 days until Fall Break…and the people said, “Amen.”

Join me for weekly classroom updates and free resources that are just-right for your guided math classroom!

Sweet! Thanks so much for joining me. Now check your email to confirm your address & snag your freebies. Happy Teaching! -Catherine

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Filed Under: 5th Grade, ELA Tagged With: Colonial America, Freebie

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Claire says

    September 29, 2013 at 5:02 pm

    Wow! Sounds like you guys had more fun than the friends on the Williamsburg trip! 🙂 You are AWESOME and I'm glad you survived NTH 😉

    Reply
    • Kate says

      September 29, 2013 at 7:54 pm

      Haha – Thanks, Claire. It was a good week, but I was really glad for our friends to go home Friday. 🙂 Plus, we could have just made butter all week long, and I would have been the best teacher EVER! 😉

      Reply
  2. Melissa says

    September 29, 2013 at 5:38 pm

    Looks like you had a blast even though you didn't get to go on the trip. For a minute I got really excited when I saw Williamsburg and thought maybe I had missed that you lived in VA. Then I realized it was a 5 day trip. Thanks for sharing your resources!

    Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late
    Follow me on Bloglovin!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      September 29, 2013 at 7:56 pm

      It was a really fun few days! Plus, since it was not officially part of our curriculum, I could go sans standards. It was a really nice opportunity to get to know my kiddos better. 🙂 Thanks so much for all of your support, Melissa. I appreciate you!

      Reply
  3. AMC Looking From Third to Fourth says

    September 29, 2013 at 7:51 pm

    I actually do not super like teaching about the "early settlers" – that is what we call our similar unit of study – but I LOVE the day we make butter!!! I buy fresh bread and we eat ourselves silly! We have also made soap and beeswax candles. Thanks for the tip on using QR codes to bring students to websites – that will be a big help!

    Reply
  4. Bridget S says

    September 29, 2013 at 8:11 pm

    I think you had more fun!!!! Your field trip looked amazing! I love your workstation ideas 🙂 I once bought real jam when we were studying the letter 'j'….let me tell you, those kindergarten students never wanted jelly again!!!

    Bridget
    Literacy Without Worksheets

    Reply
  5. Eclectic Educating says

    September 29, 2013 at 11:24 pm

    Glad you survived your crazy week! Those "stations" look like a lot of fun. I remember making butter when I was in school and thinking that it was the greatest thing ever!

    Amy
    Eclectic Educating

    Reply
  6. Bethany Hunter says

    September 29, 2013 at 11:50 pm

    What a fantastic field trip. Thanks for sharing about your trip, and the freebie. What a great experience for your kids to have.

    Hunter's Teaching Tales
    Find me on Facebook

    Reply

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My name is Catherine Reed, and I am in Year 10 of my elementary life, residing in small-town, Kentucky.  I student taught in 1st grade and never ...

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