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thirteen colonies unit
13 Colonies Activities & Lessons | Thirteen Colonies for 5th Grade - 8th Grade - Image 2
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13 Colonies Activities & Lessons | Thirteen Colonies for 5th Grade – 8th Grade

(35 customer reviews)

$24.00

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Description

This Colonial America unit covers the history of the Southern, Middle, and New England colonies. These activities prove that learning about the 13 colonies doesn’t have to be boring!

I’ve made these Colonial America activities as easy as possible for busy teachers to implement. From thorough lesson plans to answer keys – it’s all there. This unit will prepare you to teach about complex topics like slavery, reasons for colonization, the Salem Witch Trials, and Colonial Fur Trading.

Even better, I’ve made it fun! The 15 lessons are filled with exciting 13 colonies lessons, and students will never do the same activity twice in a row. This unit will help your students fall in love with history.

Save time and money by bundling this Colonial America unit with other history resources you need.

U.S. History Curriculum Bundle | Save 20% on All Units (5th–8th Grade)

Here’s what’s included in this 3-week Colonial America unit:

Week 1: The Southern Colonies

  • Colonization Introduction—PowerPoint presentation & KL worksheet
  • Jamestown Gallery Walk—activity where students explore primary and secondary sources to learn about life for Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan people
  • History of the Southern Colonies—article about the history of each Southern colony and comprehension questions
  • Life in the Southern Colonies—task cards about aspects of Southern life (religion, education, social classes, etc.), student recording sheet, and reflection
  • All About the Southern Colonies Game—student information booklet, jeopardy questions, and jeopardy board (covers the Southern Colonies’ economy, geography, important people, Native Americans, & religions)

Week 2: The New England Colonies

  • The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony—facts about New England, article about the Mayflower and Plymouth Colony, interactive timeline, and reflection
  • Early American Constitutions—activity analyzing The Mayflower Compact and The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, simulation where students create their own constitution
  • Puritan Life—artifacts about Puritan life (religion, education, social classes, etc.) and student recording sheet
  • The Salem Witch Trials—article about the Salem Witch Trials, evidence activity, and student booklet about the important people in the Trials
  • All About the New England Colonies Game—student information booklet and jeopardy questions (covers New England’s economy, geography, important people, Native Americans, & religions)

Week 3: The Middle Colonies

  • New Amsterdam to New York—facts about the Middle Colonies, article about the British taking over New Amsterdam, two reader’s theater scripts, and comprehension check
  • Colonial Fur Trading—article about colonial fur trading, materials to play a fur trading game (name tags, goods for trading, rules, awards, etc.)
  • The Quaker Way of Life—article about Quakers in the Middle Colonies, articles about different aspects of Quaker life (religion, education, social classes, etc.), rubric for student posters and presentations, and note taking sheet
  • All About the Middle Colonies—student information booklet, and jeopardy questions (covers the Middle Colonies’ economy, geography, important people, Native Americans, & religions)
  • Comparing and Contrasting the Colonies— sorting mats and cards to compare and contrast the Southern, New England, and Middle colonies

13 Colonies Unit Help For The Teacher

  • Table of contents (also available in the preview)
  • Suggested pacing guide
  • 15 lesson plans
  • Answer Keys (Of course!)
  • Editable end-of-unit test and study guide
  • Easy printing file with all student worksheets and articles

Preview the 13 Colonies activities: 

Download a PDF preview.

Watch a video preview:

This Colonial America unit also includes digital access via Google Slides.

I have created a Google Slides resource for each lesson. Each resource contains student instructions, student worksheets with editable text boxes, and articles/task cards, if applicable. Teachers can assign Google Slides via Google Classroom.

Why I created this 13 Colonies unit plan

1. I want your students to love learning about U.S. history!
 
2. Teachers deserve excellent social studies resources (Can someone please tell our school districts?)
 
3. Planning complete units is tedious and time-consuming. I want to save teachers time so they can focus on doing what they love—teaching!

Here’s what people are saying about these Colonial America lessons 

“This Unit has been a LIFESAVER!! I have loved every single inch of this and will use it over and over! I honestly cannot praise this enough!! My Academic life skills class has LOVED this!!!!”

—Cara W.

“Fantastic resource! Going to save me a bunch of time. I love that I can use it for both my 5th and 8th graders with some simple modifications. ”

—Emily A.

“Love that the unit is clear and straight to the point! Bought previous units and love the layout and that all the materials one will use are included. Easy to use with students and can be easily differentiated if needed. ”

—Diana B.

 

FAQs

How can this unit be for grades 5th – 8th?

The unit articles are written at a 7th-8th grade reading level. If you teach one of those grades, your students will be able to complete the activities more or less independently.

If you teach 5th or 6th grade, I recommend reading and analyzing the articles with your students. They will do great! Check out the reviews to see how teachers at your grade level have successfully used and loved this unit.

This Unit is Frequently Purchased With:

Age of Exploration Activities | Interactive Lessons for Grades 5–8

Native American Tribes Activities | Regions Lessons for Grades 5–8

Important Customer Information

All of our products are digital and non-refundable. This is a digital file. A physical product will not be shipped. Please make sure you have a way to open: a zip file, PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, and a word document before purchasing. Please view the preview and read the product description carefully.
 
This product is not editable. The only part of the unit that is editable is the end-of-unit study guide and test. The other elements (like lesson plans, student worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, Google Slides, etc.) are not. The PDFs are password protected. This protects my work as well as the work of graphic and font artists I’ve purchased from. 
 
After purchasing, you should receive an email with the files. If you do not receive the email, please check your spam folder. You will also be able to download the file on this website by logging in to your account. Need help? Contact me at becca@thecleverteacher.com. Please allow 24 hours for a reply.
 
Sharing isn’t always caring. I have created all of these products myself. Your purchase gives you permission to copy for your classroom only. If your teaching friends love this unit and want to use it too, please direct them to my store. For more information, view my Terms of Use.

Copyright© 2024 The Clever Teacher. All rights reserved by the author.

Total Pages 181 pages
Answer Key Included
Teaching Duration 3 Weeks

35 reviews for 13 Colonies Activities & Lessons | Thirteen Colonies for 5th Grade – 8th Grade

  1. Christopher Harper (Verified Buyer) –

    This has some really great supplemental activities and ways to recreate History!

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  2. Julie C. (Verified Buyer) –

    I love these lesson plans, and have already purchased the next in the sequence. My students were engaged and told me the activities actually made history interesting!

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  3. Tiffany F. (Verified Buyer) –

    Social studies is not my favorite to teach and I have struggled with it for awhile. I stumbled across some free resources, loved them and so did the kids. When I needed a whole unit, I immediately searched The Clever Teacher. My students are enjoying the lessons and during this year of crazy, the plans have made my life a LOT easier. I get to enjoy time with my family instead of planning and searching for engaging resources.

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  4. Michael D. (Verified Buyer) –

    This unit is fantastic. It has loads of great ideas. My 7th graders loved working on this unit. I highly recommend this product.

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  5. Anonymous (Verified Buyer) –

    This unit is great!

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  6. Julie (Verified Buyer) –

    I love the 13 Colonies lesson plans, and so do my students! The lessons are meaningful and ready to use. The work is already done!

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  7. Shawn McAnallen (Verified Buyer) –

    Love this unit. Looking forward using more from this link

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  8. Anonymous (Verified Buyer) –

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  9. john s. (Verified Buyer) –

    Such a wealth of content! My students were excited for the rest of the unit and really liked the review games.

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  10. KALPANA MEHTA (Verified Buyer) –

    Clear, concise, fun

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  11. Magic Mapp (Verified Buyer) –

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  12. Melisa T. (Verified Buyer) –

    Amazing lessons. My students loved the Jeopardy review game.

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  13. Amanda F. (Verified Buyer) –

    These units are so helpful in saving time and accurate to history. Love them!

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  14. Tina (Verified Buyer) –

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  15. Gregory Yorgason (Verified Buyer) –

    Great information, but I can’t find the big idea and the deeper question. Higher level question and essential question. Don’t get me wrong I love all the stuff that you have I the lesson. This is not a criticism. I am so grateful for the information that you have provided. I might be missing it in all the content. I would love to know your thoughts

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  16. Anna Gagnet (Verified Buyer) –

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  17. Anonymous (Verified Buyer) –

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  18. Renee D. (Verified Buyer) –

    I have not had a chance to use this unit yet, but have looked through this unit to plan. I am very impressed with the materials and am excited to use them next school year!

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  19. Anonymous (Verified Buyer) –

    Absolutely amazing content, super easy to follow exactly or pick and choose what will work best for you and your class. Kids seem to really enjoy learning with this unit.

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  20. Chandra Story (Verified Buyer) –

    I love all of the US History units! They are well-organized, easy to navigate, approach history from a modern point of view, and provide a great variety of learning activities. Thanks for all the time you have out into these units!

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  21. Cara Z. (Verified Buyer) –

    Excellent resources! The kids stay engaged throughout this unit. I love that many of the lessons require kids to inquire. They come up with great questions and they’re all springboards for great discussions. These were super easy to fit into my lesson plan template and they give kids ownership/accountability for their own learning as well. I love that many activities require them to get up and move. Thanks so much!

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  22. Tracy Austin (Verified Buyer) –

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  23. Shelley (Verified Buyer) –

    This unit is quite detailed and ready to use. The detailed layout makes it easy to change or adapt it as needed for your class. There is also variety of activities,not just a bunch of worksheets.

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  24. gretchen h. (Verified Buyer) –

    So we’ll done and thoroughly researched. My kids loved it and easy to teach.

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  25. Crystal L. (Verified Buyer) –

    Loved the simplicity of the lesson plans. As a brand new homeschooling mom, I’m thankful for the step-by-step outline. Great resource.

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  26. Deborah (Verified Buyer) –

    The lessons make history come alive and provide students with hands-on experience in interesting ways that attract their attention.

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  27. Cindy G. (Verified Buyer) –

    This is an amazing unit for studying the colonies in fifth grade. We are using it to supplement our textbook, but it could definitely be used on its own. A great resource with a wide variety of activities that the students are enjoying!

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  28. Marc Blakeley (Verified Buyer) –

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  29. Constance B. (Verified Buyer) –

    This is a great addition to the curriculum I built, more activities that further my lectures.

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  30. Fernando V. (Verified Buyer) –

    Saved me so much time on the weekend. It really engaged most of my students

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  31. Kimberly (Verified Buyer) –

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  32. Christine Juntunen (Verified Buyer) –

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  33. Ben C. (Verified Buyer) –

    HUGE time saver! I was looking to fill 3 1/2 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas and this was perfect! I skipped some of it (I had already covered it) but this was a great help for my classroom.

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  34. Anonymous (Verified Buyer) –

    I just started using this one. Your work is fantastic. Thank you so much!

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  35. Candace Gotham (Verified Buyer) –

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Q & A

Ask a question
Does the unit explore why the colonists came to the US? (gold, religion...)? Jennifer Ramamoorthi asked on January 13, 2023

Hi! Thanks for your question! Yes, the unit thoroughly explores the reasons why different groups colonized the British colonies. Students learn about general motivations (gold, religion) as well as the motivations of specific groups (Catholics wanting to create a haven in Maryland, Jamestown colonists looking for gold, captive Africans being kidnapped and brought to America against their will, and more). I hope that helps!

 Becca Cowan answered on January 16, 2023 store manager
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Would this work for a single homeschooled child? It seems like a great resource but a lot of activities that require group participation. Suzi asked on December 24, 2022

Hi! Thanks for your question. This unit does have many group activities. Although homeschooling parents have used the unit successfully, they knew going in that they would need to modify most lessons. I hope this answers your question!

 Rebecca Cowan answered on December 28, 2022
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Could this unit be used with 4th graders? Ellen asked on August 16, 2022

Thanks for your question! I designed this unit to be used with 5th grade and up. That being said, I have had teachers use this with 4th graders with modifications. For example, the passages are written at a middle school reading level, so you would need to read those together and pre-teach vocabulary. It's also important to note that several activities require students to work in groups. I hope that info. helps you make a decision for your students.

 Rebecca Cowan answered on August 17, 2022
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Does this unit have any activities in which students "are" the colonists? I feel like I have seen one version of this unit where students are assigned a specific colonist and they learn about what that person might have done, etc. Brittany asked on August 11, 2022

Hi Brittany,

Thanks for your question. In a previous version of the unit I did have a lesson where students acted as Jamestown colonists. After a lot of reflection, I decided to take out the Jamestown simulation. I did so for the following reasons: 

1. I felt like it was prioritizing entertainment over learning. 

2. I realized that the lesson asks students to simulate a traumatic experience. After all, many of the early Jamestown settlers died. And some even participated in cannibalism.

3. I felt that the lesson only presented the colonists’ point of view, not the point of view of the Indigenous people living in the area. 

I replaced the lesson with a gallery walk where students explore primary and secondary sources to learn about life for Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan people. 

I recognize that this is disappointing for some teachers. But, I've done my best to make the unit as engaging and fun as possible without doing harm. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Becca
becca@thecleverteacher.com

 Rebecca Cowan answered on August 11, 2022
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Is it possible to purchase certain resources rather than the entire unit? For example, I would just like to purchase the part of the unit in which the colonies are compared (starts on page 165). Lauren asked on July 16, 2022

Hi,

Thanks for your question!

I currently only sell complete units. Sorry about that!

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Take care,
Becca

 Becca Cowan answered on July 18, 2022 store manager
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