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Learning Activity: Discovering Jamestown

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(CNN Student News) -- Students will learn about the history of the Jamestown settlement and what life was like for those living in the colony.

Inform students that in 1994, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities launched the Jamestown Rediscovery archeological project. This project has been investigating the remains of the Jamestown settlement from the time period of 1607-1698. Over the years, the Jamestown Rediscovery excavation has uncovered hundreds of thousands of artifacts.

Group students and direct each group to library and online resources, including the Web sites listed, to learn about the history of Jamestown, the artifacts from the settlement that have been found and what they reveal about life in the colony.

After groups complete their research, have them share their findings with the class and create an archeological and anthropological timeline of the Jamestown colony from its inception to its demise. To wrap up the activity, instruct each group to draw upon its research to develop a skit that depicts what life was like in the Jamestown settlement. Tell students that the skits can be fictional accounts, but they should incorporate real-life facts or events. Have groups perform their skits for the class.

Correlated Standards

Social Studies

Standard III. People, Places and Environments: Students will make informed and critical decisions about the relationship between human beings and their environment.

Standard V. Individuals, Groups and Institutions: Students will explore how institutions are formed, what controls and influences them, how they control and influence individuals and culture and how institutions can be maintained or changed.

Standard VI. Power, Authority and Governance: Students will understand the historical development of structures of power, authority and governance and their evolving functions in contemporary U.S. society as well as other parts of the world.

Standard IX. Global Connections: Students will examine global connections and interdependence.

The Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/) are published by the National Council for Social Studies (http://ncss.org/).

Keywords

Jamestown, Virginia, settlement, colony, archeology, anthropology, anniversary

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