Sessions

 

Session 1: Explorers Come to North America

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define the word explorer. 

Students will identify the differences between Iroquois and the explorers that caused conflicts. 

Students will examine The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

Students will explain Portugal, Spain, France and England sent explorers to the New World.

HOMEWORK: 

Choose Portugal Spain, France, or England. Do research to find the flag of the country. Make a poster that shows the flag and other facts about the country. Be ready to share your poster with the class in the next session. 

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Session 2: A Spanish Community

Students will define the word fleet. 

Students will share their poster with the class. 

Students will examine Juan Ponce de Leon's discovery and Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles' settlement of St. Augustine, Florida. 

Students will investigate a colonial Spanish fort.

Students will examine the battle for Florida between France and Spain.

Students will discover Cadiz, Spain.

HOMEWORK: 

Use a map to trace Florida. Place a dot where St. Augustine is today. Put other cities that you know are in Florida on your map. Label the cities. Write a title for your map. Tell what you know about each city to the class in the next session.

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Session 3: A French Community

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define the word fortification.

Students will share their map and information with the class. 

Students will discover Jacques Cartier's discovery of Canada.

Students will investigate Samuel de Champlain's settlement of Quebec City.

Students will explain the importance of fortifications in Old Quebec.   

Students will examine the issue of who owns the land between European settlers and Native Americans.

HOMEWORK: 

Native Americans and European explorers had different views about who could own land. What viewpoints do people have about owning land today? How are these views alike or different from the views of the Native Americans or European explorers? Explain your answers in a one page essay.

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Session 4: An English Community

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define the word representative government.

Students will present their arguments to the class. 

Students will describe the relationship between Native Americans and English settlers in Roanoke and Jamestown.

Students will investigate the Roanoke and Jamestown settlements.

Students will explain the archaeological investigations in Roanoke and Jamestown.

Students will discuss the life of Pocahontas.

HOMEWORK: 

Choose Roanoke or Jamestown. Create an ad to help someone decide to settle in the settlement you have chosen. Show scenes of life there. Tell about people and places that the settler will encounter. Share your ad with the class in the next session. 

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Session 5: Transportation Over Time

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define the word Transcontinental Railroad.

Students will present their ads to the class.  

Students will discover the important contributions Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Sacagawea made to the United States.

Students will describe the effect the Transcontinental Railroad had on the way people traveled west.

Students will explore how trains, cars, planes and space shuttles have changed the world.

HOMEWORK: 

Create a new transportation invention or innovation. Draw your invention on a poster and label the parts. Describe how your invention works. Where can it be used? How fast can it go? Be ready to present your invention to the class. 

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Session 6: Communication Over Time

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define the words Pony Express, invention, Morse Code and broadcast.

Students will present their transportation inventions to the class.   

Students will discover Benjamin Franklin's invention of the postal service. 

Students will explore the rise and decline of the Pony Express.

Students will explain how Samual Morse's invention of the telegraph and Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone changed communication in the United States. 

Students will examine the inventions of the radio and television. 

HOMEWORK: 

Communication has changed over time. Think about one kind of communication that was covered in class. Write about why this kind of communication was important both in the past and today.

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Session 7: Inventions Over Time

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define the word reaper.

Students will present their invention papers.

Students will examine how Thomas Edison's invention of the light bulb changed the world.

Students will explain how Cyrus Hall McCormick's invention of the reaper changed farming in the United States. 

Students will investigate the inventions of the camera, computer, handheld computers, cellphones and compact disks. 

Students will examine the importance of newspapers in colonial time. 

HOMEWORK: 

Create your invention. Complete the My Invention packet and be prepared to present you invention in the next session.

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Session 8: Medicine Improves Over Time

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define the words pasteurization and vaccine.

Students will present their inventions to the class.

Students will examine the important contributions Edward Jenner and Louis Pasteur made to protect people.

Students will discover how Jonas Stalk and Gertrude Elion saved lives with the discovery of important vaccines.

Students will investigate how Helen Keller changed the lives of blind people.