Focus: This unit (Unit 7 for schools using the CKHG series in Sequence grade-level order) explores how three regions of English colonies in North America—Southern, Middle, and New England—developed differently as a result of each region’s geography and climate, as well as the different religions and beliefs of the colonists settling each area. Students learn about differences in climate and agriculture, as well as the growth of important cities including Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and Charleston.
Early lessons focus on Jamestown, labor by indentured servants, and a growing reliance on enslaved workers. Students learn how religious motives influenced the founding of the New England colonies by the Pilgrims and Puritans, and explore what life was like for children in a Puritan colony. Students explore how the Middle Colonies were founded for financial and religious motives, with a focus on the Dutch in New York and the Quakers in Pennsylvania. Some chapters incorporate primary source documents and cross-curricular art and literature connections, including historically-informed imaginative narratives. Some content is tied to the “Pathway to Citizenship,” an array of civics-focused knowledge, questions, and activities.
Number of Lessons: 35
Lesson Time: 30 minutes each daily. Lessons may be combined into longer sessions.
Additional Search Terms: social studies • geography • civics • map skills • nonfiction • informational text • cash crop • John Smith • Powhatan • John Rolfe • Pocahontas • Starving Time • Lord Baltimore • plantation agriculture • Middle Passage • James Oglethorpe • Mayflower Compact • Squanto • Plymouth • Great Migration • Massachusetts Bay colony • Roger Williams • Anne Hutchinson • William Penn
CKHG Grade Levels: CKHG units are correlated to topics at the grade levels specified in the Core Knowledge Sequence, which allows students in schools following the Sequence to build knowledge grade by grade. In other settings, individual CKHG units may be used as supplemental resources. In general, the content and presentation in the CKHG units for Grades 3-5 are appropriate for young readers from the upper elementary grades through middle school.
