Life on Plymouth Plantation

Have you ever wondered what life was like 375 years ago in America? What did the men, women, and children first see and experience when they landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620? These brave people left their homes in England to escape religious persecution by immigrating to America!

What if you and your family felt the need to fly to Jupiter and attempt to start a new life? Your family members would have no idea where they were going, what type of climate they would find, what they were going to eat, or if there were any hostile creatures living there already. Wouldn't that be scary? This was a scary but adventurous time in American history.

Were the Pilgrims the first people to inhabit America? Actually, the Native American Indian tribes had already lived in what came to be called America for hundreds of years before the first European settlers immigrated in 1620.

View Teacher Notes

The Task

In this activity you will be discovering about the early Americans by looking at a recreation of Plymouth Plantation in 1627. Also, you will be looking at a variety of maps, both modern and maps from the 17th century. Using these sources, you will be answering questions, discovering life in early America and writing a series of letters.

After taking a virtual tour of Plymouth Plantation you will assume the character of a child who traveled to the New World aboard the Mayflower. The child you are portraying is an actual historical person who came from England to the New World in 1620. As many Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower did, you will send letters to your friends and family back in England. In your letters you will explain what Plymouth is like and you will advise your family back in England as to what they should bring with them when they make their journey over.

You will also be looking up and recording the definitions of any underlined words you find throughout the activity.

The Process

STEP 1 - Brainstorm
First, brainstorm all of the things you know about early American settlers and New England.
- What do you know about Pilgrims?
- What do you know about Native Americans?
- What do you know about the Mayflower?
- What do you know about Thanksgiving?
Keep this brainstorm and see what you can add to it at the end of this activity.
Remember to look up each of the underlined words and keep the list of words and definitions near your computer.
STEP 2 - The Journey
Sailing on wooden ships, like the Mayflower, all the way across the Atlantic ocean, took many months. In modern time, taking a non-stop flight from Los Angeles, California to London, England takes about 15 hours. The journey in the Mayflower from Southampton to Plymouth took 165 days.
- Approximately how many weeks in 165 days?
- How many Months?
- How many hours?
- How many meals would the passengers consume assuming they eat three meals a day?
- How many more hours did the Pilgrims spend sailing than it takes for a modern traveler to fly from Los Angeles, California to London, England?
- How did the travelers navigate across the ocean with out the aid of modern technology? What prevented them from getting lost?
In order to keep all of the passengers alive while on the long journey, many provisions had to be stored on board the ship. The Pilgrims also had to think about what things they would need in the New World to survive.

Write a list of all of the provisions you think the 102 Pilgrims needed to take with them on the long voyage across the ocean. Remember, they had to eat and survive in what could possibly be an unfriendly environment.
STEP 3 - Plymouth Map Work
Look at Plymouth on this historic map of the original colonies just before the Revolutionary War in 1776. This map was created 156 years after the Plymouth Plantation was established but the map has a very good detail of the bay and the cape. (http://scarlett.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1776b6.jpg)
- Why do you think the Pilgrims chose to settle in Plymouth?
- What geographical features make Plymouth a good location for the settlement?
- Using an encyclopedia, explain what a bay is.
- What type of climate does Massachusetts have throughout the year? Click on (http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/cgi-bin/data/usclimate/state.pl?lane=fast&state=MA)

Click on Falmouth look at a climate chart and answer the following questions:
o What months have the highest temperatures?
o What months have the coldest temperatures?
o What months have the most snow?
o What was the maximum temperature in 1961-1990?
o What was the minimum temperature in 1961-1990?
o What was the average snowfall in 1961-1990?

STEP 4 - Tour Plymouth Plantation
Now let's visit a reenactment of Plymouth Plantation showing what life was like back in 1627 for those original colonists. Click on this Internet site to begin your tour (http://pilgrims.net/plimothplantation/vtour/index.htm)
The Interpretive Guide
- In this living history of Plymouth, the first people you see on your tour are performing the role of an Interpretive Guide (http://pilgrims.net/plimothplantation/vtour/guides.htm).
- Look up the word interpret and write in one sentence what you think these guides jobs were in 1627.
- Looking at the interpretive guide, notice how they are dressed. How might their clothing be changed if they were living in modern times?
Take a look at the second Interpretive Guide:
- Looking at the second Interpretive Guide, list the items he is wearing that probably came from the Native Americans.
- How do you think he got all of these items from the Native American?
Dwellings

There are several examples of dwellings in Plymouth Plantation http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/pliplant.jpg. Each dwelling has different structures. After viewing each dwelling, make a chart and write down all of the differences you see among them.

View the dwellings on this Virtual Tour http://www.plimoth.org/visit/virtual/ If your computer does not have the needed plug-in, use the links provided after each dwelling number.

Describe what the roof, interior walls exterior walls, windows, and the yards looked like in each dwelling. Make a chart like the one below for each of the five dwellings in Plymouth Plantation.

Here are the sites for each of the five dwellings:

roof	The roof looked...
interior walls	The interior walls looked...
exterior walls	The exterior walls looked...
windows	The windows looked...
yard	The yard looked...

Looking at Dwelling #1 , (why do you think this dwelling was built partially subterranean?
What are the advantages to building a subterranean dwelling?
What are the disadvantages to building a subterranean dwelling?

After completing each of the charts above, write a list of the main differences between each of the dwellings.

The Bastion

What is a bastion?
Why was a bastion needed by the colonists?

The Kitchen

Plimoth plantation hearth cooking
http://www.williamrubel.com/hearthcooking/museums/hearth-cooking-at-plimoth-plantation/

Why do you think the early Americans put their baking oven outside?
What do you think the colonists did for refrigeration? How did they keep things from spoiling?
From whom do you think the colonists learned many of their ideas about cooking and food preservation?
How did the colonists store food?

Transportation and Housing

What do you think the colonists used for transportation over land?
How do you think the colonists made boat?

http://www.proteacher.com/cgi-bin/outsidesite.cgi?id=16646&external=
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mosmd/&original=http://www.proteacher.com/090096.shtml
&title=The%20Pilgrims%20&%20Plymouth%20Colony:%201620

Farming

See these sites for faming in Plimoth colony
http://www.plimoth.org/learn/history/behind/shallop.asp
http://pilgrims.net/plimothplantation/vtour/

For what do you think each tool was used for?
What is maize?
From the Virtual Tour, what did you learn about How the colonists store maize?
By looking at the picture of the chicken roasting on the fire, what are three things that you see that reveal that this campfire is from the time the colonists lived?
Looking at the barn what types of animals do you think the colonists brought from England and why?

STEP 5 - Letters Home
Now that you are familiar with what life was like in Plymouth Plantation, you are going to assume the role of a child in the plantation and correspond with your family and friends back in England.
Looking at the list of the passengers aboard the Mayflower, choose a family with a son or daughter you would like to pretend to be. Click on that family name to see the rest of the family.

You will become a child in that family and will write five letters to the rest of your friends and family still living in England. Once you have selected a family, write down the names of all of the family members so you can mention them in your letters home to England. Also note the names of others on board the Mayflower so you can mention your friends and neighbors in the New World to your family back in England.

In your five letters, you will explain what the New World is like. Also include one drawing in each of the letters of something important in the New World.

In your letters, be sure to mention the following:
- What the New World looks like during each of the four seasons. Refer back to the climate maps and geographical maps of the area.
- Explain what chores you are responsible for.
- Be sure to tell your family and friends back in England exactly what they should bring with them when they come to the New World, such as, food, clothing, animals, tools, etc.
To see an example of an actual letter that Mayflower passenger William Hilton wrote to his cousin in England, asking to have his wife and children sent to him in the New World, look at this site.

Resources

To complete this activity you will need the following materials:

pencil and paper
a world map
a map of the United States
ENCARTA Atlas on CD ROM (optional)
markers
access to e-mail (optional for extension activities

Learning Advice

To help you stay organized, keep the following items next to the computer:

a paper and pencil
a dictionary so that you can look up all of the underlined words
maps so that you can refer to them as needed

Evaluation

You will be evaluated based on your performance in the following areas:

STEP 1 - completion of brainstorm
STEP 2 - calculation of travel time
STEP 2 - list of items needed in the colony
STEP 3 - complete answers to the geography questions
STEP 4 - complete answers for all questions in the tour of the plantation section including the dwelling comparison charts
STEP 5 - complete a series of letters that are both historically accurate and well written

Conclusion

Life in early America was obviously not easy. The brave Pilgrims that came to America in 1620 faced many difficulties and hardships. They fought and struggled for their survival and in doing so were pioneers for the young country of America.

Now, take out the brainstorm from STEP 1. See what your first thoughts about early life in America. Add the new information you learned to your brainstorm. If the information you first wrote down was incorrect, go ahead a cross it out and replace it with the correct information.

Extension Activities

Here is a list of several books about life in early America:
- ...If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern
- ...If You Sailed on the Mayflower by Ann McGovern
- Constance - A Story of Early Plymouth by Patricia Clapp
- This New Land by G. Clifton Wisler
- Samuel Eaton's Day - A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy by Kate Waters
- Pilgrim Voices - Our First Year in the New World by Connie and Peter Roop
Read about many important people who lived in Plymouth Plantation on the Internet.
Read interesting information about the Pilgrims settlement from the Native American point of view
Research Thanksgiving and have fun doing some great Thanksgiving crafts and recipes.
E-Mail questions about the Mayflower to Caleb Johnson, a descendent of the original Mayflower passengers.

Teacher Notes

Grade Level/Unit:
Grade Three: Continuity and Change
Our Nation's History

Purpose of Lesson:
The purpose of this lesson is to enable young students to research and gain an understanding of what life was like on Plymouth Plantation in early colonial America. Using maps, students will gain an understanding of where the pilgrims came from as students trace their journey from England to Plymouth. Students will also study the geographical features and climate of the Plymouth area.

H/SS Standards, Grade 5: Students understand the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era, in terms of:

the influence of location and physical setting on the founding of the original 13 colonies, their location on a map along with the location of the American Indian nations already inhabiting these areas
the major individuals and groups responsible for the founding of the various colonies and the reasons for their founding (e.g., John Smith and Virginia, Roger Williams and Rhode Island, William Penn and Pennsylvania, Lord Baltimore and Maryland, William Bradford and Plymouth, John Winthrop and Massachusetts)

Language Arts Standards Grade 5: Reading Comprehension: Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They recall major points in text and extract appropriate and significant information from text. They ask questions and support answers by connecting prior knowledge with literal and inferential information found in text, [and they] demonstrate comprehension by identifying answers in text. Writing Strategies: Students write personal...letters...that consider the audience, purpose, and context, address knowledge and interests of the audience...[and]include the date, proper salutation, body, closing and signature.

Length of Lesson:
This lesson is highly adjustable in length. To complete the entire lesson as written would take approximately 10 to 12 hours. Each "STEP" can be accomplished in approximately one hour with the exception of the "letter writing activity."

Teacher Materials:
The teacher materials are the same as the student materials listed in the student activity: pencil and paper, a world map, a United States map, ENCARTA Atlas (optional), and markers.

Interdisciplinary Connections:

English/language arts:

Letter writing
Sentence chart
...If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern (Extension activity)
...If You Sailed on the Mayflower by Ann McGovern (Extension activity)
Constance - A Story of Early Plymouth by Patricia Clapp (Extension activity)
This New Land by G. Clifton Wisler (Extension activity)
Samuel Eaton's Day - A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy by Kate Waters (Extension activity)
Pilgrim Voices - Our First Year in the New World by Connie and Peter Roop (Extension activity)