| LU Title: The Pilgrims: Sacrifice for Freedom | Author(s): Susan Grota |
| Grade Level: 1st | School : Oppenheim-Ephratah Central School |
| Topic/Subject Area: Social Studies English Language Arts | Address: 6486
Highway 29 St. Johnsville, NY 13452 |
| Email: grotas@oecs.k12.ny.us | Phone/Fax: (518)
568-2014 (518) 568-2941 fax |
Overview
Many children can associate the Pilgrims with Thanksgiving, but many do not know why the Pilgrims actually came to America and what these people faced when they made the decision to sail to the New World. The purpose of this unit is to go beyond their prior knowledge to answer those questions through activities such as listening, shared writing, videos, story dramatization and role playing activities. A goal is for the children to put themselves in the place of the Pilgrims to enhance their learning.
Content Knowledge
| Declarative: | Procedural: |
| Concept of freedom and sacrifice - why the Pilgrims came to America. | Writing a list of necessary items to bring on the trip. |
| The hardships Pilgrims faced on the Mayflower. | Writing from a Pilgrim child’s perspective. |
| The concept of laws. | Journal writing. |
| The meaning of the Mayflower Compact. | Write and sign a Mayflower Compact for the New World. |
| The hardships of the Pilgrim’s first winter. | Writing a descriptive paragraph. |
| The concept of cooperation between the Pilgrims and Indians | Dramatization of the meeting of the Pilgrims and Indians by the teachers and the students. |
Essential Questions
Why did the Pilgrims come to America?
What hardships did the Pilgrims face in order to have freedom?
What was the Mayflower Compact?
Connections to NYS Learning Standards
Initiating Activity: Do a brainstorming activity about the Pilgrims followed by a 5 words to 3 words activity.
Content Area: English Language Arts
Level: Elementary
Standards: English Language Arts 1:1
Listening and reading to acquire information and understanding involves collecting data, facts, and ideas; discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources.
Performance Indicator: Gather and interpret information from children’s reference books, magazines, textbooks, electronic bulletin boards, audio and media presentations, oral interviews, and from such forms as charts, graphs, maps, and diagrams.
Standards: English Language Arts 4:1
Oral communication in formal and informal settings requires the ability to talk with people of different ages, genders, and cultures, to adapt presentations to different audiences, and to reflect on how talk varies in different situations.
Performance Indicators:
Listen attentively and recognize when it is appropriate for them to speak.
Take turns speaking and respond to others’ ideas in conversations on familiar topics.
Recognize the kind of interaction appropriate for different circumstances, such as story hour, group discussions, and one-on-one conversations.
Learning Experience 1: Write a list of necessary items to bring on the trip to the New
World.
Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Level: Elementary
Standards: English Language Arts 1:2
Speaking and writing to acquire and transmit information requires asking, probing, clarifying questions, interpreting information in one’s own words, applying information from one context to another, and presenting the information and interpretation clearly, concisely, and comprehensibly.
Performance Indicators:
Include relevant information and exclude extraneous material.
Standards: English Language Arts 4:1
Oral communication in formal and informal settings requires the ability to talk with people of different ages, genders, and cultures, to adapt presentations to different audiences, and to reflect on how talk varies in different situations.
Performance Indicators:
Listen attentively and recognize when it is appropriate for them to speak.
Take turns speaking and respond to others’ ideas in conversations on
familiar topics.
Recognize the kind of interaction appropriate for different circumstances,
such as story hour, group discussions, and one-on-one conversations.
Standards: Social Studies 4:1
The study of economics requires an understanding of major economic concepts and systems, the principles of economic decision making, and the interdependence of economies and economic systems throughout the world.
Performance Indicators:
Know some ways individuals and groups attempt to satisfy their basic needs and wants by utilizing scarce resources.
Learning Experience 2: Daily journal writing about leaving their home and their
journey to the New World.
Writing paragraphs from a Pilgrim child’s perspective.
Content Area: English Language Arts, The Arts
Level: Elementary
Standards: English Language Arts 1:1
Listening and reading to acquire information and understanding involves collecting data, facts, and ideas; discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources.
Performance Indicators:
Gather and interpret information from children’s reference books, magazines, textbooks, electronic bulletin boards, audio and media presentations, oral interviews, and from such forms as charts, graphs, maps, and diagrams.
Standards: English Language Arts 1:2
Speaking and writing to acquire and transmit information requires asking probing and clarifying questions, interpreting information in one’s own words, applying information from one context to another, and presenting the information and interpretation clearly, concisely, and comprehensibly.
Performance Indicators:
Present information clearly in a variety of oral and written forms such as summaries, paraphrases, brief reports, stories, posters, and charts.
Observe basic writing conventions, such as correct spelling, punctuation,
And capitalization, as well as sentence and paragraph structures appropriate
to written forms.
Standards: The Arts 1:1 – Theatre
Students will create and perform theatre pieces as well as improvisational drama. They will understand and use the basic elements of theatre in their characterizations, improvisations, and play writing. Students will engage in individual and group theatrical roles and means of creating, performing, and producing theatre.
Performance Indicators:
Imitate experiences through pantomime, play making, dramatic play, story
Dramatization, story telling, and role playing.
Learning Experience 3: Write and sign a Mayflower Compact for the New World.
Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Level: Elementary
Standards: English Language Arts 1:2
Speaking and writing to acquire and transmit information requires asking probing and clarifying questions, interpreting information in one’s own words, applying information from one context to another, and presenting the information and interpretation clearly, concisely, and comprehensibly.
Performance Indicators:
Present information clearly in a variety of oral and written forms such as summaries, paraphrases, brief reports, stories, posters, and charts.
Standards: Social Studies 5:1
The study of civics, citizenship, and government involves learning about political systems; the purposes of government and civic life; and the differing assumptions held by people across time and place regarding power, authority, governance, and law.
Performance Indicators:
Explain the probably consequences of the absence of government and rules.
Describe the basic purposes of government and the importance of civic life.
Learning Experience 4: Write a descriptive paragraph about the Pilgrim’s first winter.
Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Level: Elementary
Standards: English Language Arts 1:1
Listening and reading to acquire information and understanding involves collecting data, facts, and ideas; discovering relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources.
Performance Indicators:
Gather and interpret information from children’s reference books, magazines, textbooks, electronic bulletin boards, audio and media presentations, oral interviews, and from such forms as charts, graphs, maps, and diagrams.
Standards: English Language Arts 1:2
Speaking and writing to acquire and transmit information requires asking probing and clarifying questions, interpreting information in one’s own words, applying information from one context to another, and presenting the information and interpretation clearly, concisely, and comprehensibly.
Performance Indicators:
Present information clearly in a variety of oral and written forms such as summaries, paraphrases, brief reports, stories, posters, and charts.
Use details, examples, anecdotes, or personal experiences to explain or clarify information.
Include relevant information and exclude extraneous material.
Observe basic writing conventions, such as correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization, as well as sentence and paragraph structures appropriate to written forms.
Standards: Social Studies 4:1
The study of economics requires an understanding of major economic concepts and systems, the principles of economic decision making, and the interdependence of economies and economic systems throughout the world.
Performance Indicators::
Know that scarcity requires individuals to make choices and that these choices involve costs.
Learning Experience 5: Dramatization of the meeting between the Pilgrims and Indians
by the teachers and children.
Standards: The Arts 1:1 – Theatre
Students will create and perform theatre pieces as well as improvisational drama. They will understand and use the basic elements of theatre in their characterizations, improvisations, and play writing. Students will engage in individual and group theatrical roles and means of creating, performing, and producing theatre.
Performance Indicators:
Imitate experiences through pantomime, play making, dramatic play, story
Dramatization, story telling, and role playing.
Standards: Social Studies 1:1
The study of New York State and United States history requires an analysis of the development of American culture, its diversity and multicultural context, and the ways people are unified by many values, practices, and traditions.
Performance Indicators:
Know the roots of American culture, its development from many different
Traditions, and the ways many people from a variety of groups and
backgrounds played a role in creating it.
Initiating Activity
The teacher will direct a brainstorming activity about the Pilgrims. The students will tell the teacher any word that comes to their mind concerning the Pilgrims. The teacher will write the words on the chalkboard.
After viewing the CD-ROM titled People Behind the Holidays: “Who Were the Pilgrims?” in a large group or small group setting, the students in pairs will do 5 words to 3 words. Using the words from the brainstorming activity, each student in the pair must tell their partner which five words they think are the most important ones concerning the Pilgrims. The pair must then narrow their selection down to three words. Each group will then share their 3 most important words with the class. The class will then narrow down the words as a group.
Learning Experiences
Learning Experience 1
The students will construct meaning for why the Pilgrims came to America through the three minute pause and concept attainment.
This involves reading pages 10-22 of If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 to help the children understand why the Pilgrims came to America and what was involved in the choice to leave their home. Use the three minute pause throughout the reading and discussion.
In order for the children to figure out what freedom is, use a concept attainment activity on a simple level for first graders. Present the children with examples of “choice” and “no choice” actions. Examples are as follows:
Choice No Choice
clothes attending school
friends obeying laws
food taxes
Have a class discussion about what the children would take if they were moving to a new place. Divide the class into small groups. Each group is to make a list of items they would take if they were Pilgrims on the Mayflower. Assess the groups’ discussions using the following checklist:
Group Discussion Checklist
Task Yes No
Listened attentively to each other.
Members spoke in turn.
Stayed on the task assigned.
Responded appropriately to each other.
As a class, use the small group lists to organize a chart of necessary and unnecessary items.
Activity: Boarding the Mayflower: Prior to this, have an area on the floor marked out to represent the Mayflower. Make sure the area is small enough so the children will be crowded. The class will use role playing to say good bye and set sail.
Learning Experience 2:
The students will construct meaning about the hardships the Pilgrims faced on the Mayflower through use of the five senses.
Read pages 23-30 of If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 about the hardships the Pilgrims faced on the Mayflower prior to viewing the video “Pilgrim Journey”, the story of the Mayflower journey told by a young girl. Have the children be looking for the hardships as they view the video.
Have a class discussion about the hardships the Pilgrims faced. Gear the discussion toward a Pilgrim child’s perspective.
Activity 1: Using a large tile on the floor or a marked out area, the children take turns squeezing themselves into their “living space”.
Activity 2: Using the Mayflower area marked out, the children will dramatize being on the Mayflower during a storm.
Through shared writing, the students will describe life on the Mayflower from a child’s perspective. Assess the shared writing using the following checklist.
Shared Writing Checklist
Task Yes No
Presented information clearly.
Used facts correctly.
Written from a child’s perspective.
Correct punctuation and capitalization.
Include hardships experienced
Daily journal writing begins at this point in the unit. The children will write in their journal about such things as their trip and what they feel about it. Individual teachers can decide when the best time is for their class’s journal writing. It can be done as a shared writing activity or independently. Individual teachers will need to make that decision based on their children’s writing ability at that point of the school year.
Journal Writing Checklist
Task Yes No
Stayed on the topic.
Sentences express complete thoughts.
Correct punctuation and capitalization.
Learning Experience 3
The students will construct meaning about the concept of laws and the Mayflower Compact through a chart and the three minute pause.
Read pages 32-35 in If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 about the sighting of land and the writing of the Mayflower Compact. Use the three minute pause throughout the reading.
Activity 1: Make a chart to compare the classroom with the United States government. It should show the similarities between the following: president/teacher, classroom rules/laws. Discuss the importance of rules in the classroom and laws in the United States. Use this comparison to teach the meaning and importance of the Mayflower Compact.
Activity 2: Through shared writing, the class will write a simple Mayflower Compact with laws for the New World. The children will takes turns signing their names to the document.
Checklist for Mayflower Compact
Task Yes No
Compact reflects an understanding of the purpose
of laws.
Information presented clearly.
Orally defended the importance of each law.
Learning Experience 4
The students will construct meaning about the Pilgrim’s first winter through use of the senses and the three minute pause.
Read pages 44-51 in If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 about the building of the town and the first winter. Use the three minute pause throughout the reading. View the video “Pilgrims of Plimoth”. Discuss the hardship and sadness of the Pilgrim’s first winter.
Activity 1: Bread and water activity: This activity begins in the morning and continues throughout the day. Divide the class into families. Give each family a chunk of French bread, a glass of water, and individual glasses for each child. That is their food for the day. The families must ration out the food as the teacher stops for breakfast, lunch, and dinner throughout the school day. The children must work together in an attempt to have food left for their last meal. After the final meal, have a class discussion about the results of the activity. Compare the results of each family and have the students give reasons for the results.
Activity 2: First the students will organize their knowledge of the Pilgrim’s first winter being hard and sad using the descriptive pattern graphic organizer. The students will then provide proof through shared writing that the first winter was hard and sad for the Pilgrims.
Checklist for Shared Writing
Task Yes No
Presented information clearly.
Used facts correctly.
Proof supports the main idea.
Used correct punctuation and capitalization.
Shows understanding of the first winter
Learning Experience 5:
The students will construct meaning for the cooperation between the Pilgrims and Indians through the three minute pause.
Read pages 52-56 in If You Sailed On The Mayflower in 1620. Use the three minute pause throughout the reading. View the video “Pilgrims of Plimoth”. Have a class discussion about the relationship the Pilgrims had with the Indians.
Activity 1: The students will organize their knowledge of the cooperation between the Pilgrims and the Indians through a physical representation.
This activity involves a story dramatization of the Pilgrims meeting Squanto and him teaching the Pilgrims how to plant corn and fish. One classroom is assigned the part of the Indians, while the others are Pilgrims. This can be adjusted accordingly if there are more than three first grade classes. The teacher will play the role of Squanto and teach the class how the Indians planted corn and the ways they helped the Pilgrims. That teacher will direct the children how they will show the Pilgrims what to do. The other classes are also being taught about how the Pilgrims were trying to plant and what the Indians taught the Pilgrims. The Indians will then meet the Pilgrims to reenact the Indians teaching the Pilgrims how to plant corn and fish.
Simple props were used when this unit was previously taught. Simple Indian and Pilgrims were made. The Pilgrims made corn husk dolls to give to the Indians. The Indians made turtle rattles and bracelets for the Pilgrims.
This activity was also videotaped.
A final meeting of the Pilgrims and Indians took place during the Thanksgiving meal served in the cafeteria. Tables were decorated for the first grade classes. The students came in costume to have their first Thanksgiving together.
Culminating Performance
The culminating activity is a modified corners activity on a first grade level. Corners is a cooperative learning structure which requires students to make choices, to have reasons to support their choices, and to practice listening carefully to other points of view.
Using a modified corners activity, the students will investigate what would have happened if three facts concerning the Pilgrims were different in order to assess their knowledge of the historical event.
There are three corners for this activity. Assign one of the following topics to each corner.
Divide the class into three groups. The groups will take turns completing each corner. The students will work together as a group, rather than in pairs, to answer the question. The teacher will assess each group individually before they are rotated to the next corner.
Checklist for Culminating Activity
Excellent Good Fair
Did the group members:
Listen attentively to each other
Speak appropriately
Stay on task
Respect one another
Orally demonstrate an understanding of:
-the journey on the Mayflower
-laws and the Mayflower Compact
-the hardships of the first winter
Provide a logical answer to the question
Pre-requisite Skills
The students must know how to use the CD-ROM in order for the small groups to work independently.
The students must already be introduced the comparing skill in shared writing.
The students must be familiar with working collaboratively in a group.
Modifications
Modifications for journal writing are based on the writing ability of each child. Those children who can write sentences independently can do so with the teacher checking for spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors for editing. Those who are not independent writers will do their journals as a shared writing activity. Special education students can do this writing during their scheduled times with their special ed teacher if necessary.
During the teaching of the unit, students with push-in services in English Language Arts or Social Studies can easily be serviced.
Unit Schedule/Time Plan
2-3 weeks
Technology Use
Computers
Videos
Camcorder
Bibliography
McGovern, Ann. If You Sailed On The Mayflower in 1620. New York: Scholastic,
1969.
“People Behind the Holiday.” CD-ROM. National Geographic. 1994.
Pilgrim Journey. Herkimer Boces Videocassette V2265.
Pilgrims of Plimoth. Herkimer Boces Videocassette V3390.