Early Settlements Unit– Part 1, Jamestown

We have had a great time reading and learning about Jamestown.  We’ll be taking a field trip to Jamestown in November (it was originally in October but it was the week I was sick and we had to reschedule).   I’ll share about that when we get back.

We made several pages for our history notebooks, using some of the mini-books from this Pocahontas Lapbook from Homeschool Share.

We spent a great deal of our time reading about the Powhatan people.   We were really surprised to learn that Opechanacanaugh was 80 years old when he staged his second big raid against the settlers in 1644.  

We also built this miniature model of the fort at Jamestown.  This was a lot of fun and so simple!   We used a paper plate, and painted the land formation and water.   Then we used brown construction paper to make the triangular fort, and added halved toothpicks to the outside to make it more authentic.  We added a meeting house and a docked ship as well.   During this project, we learned geography terms such as peninsula and bay.

As always, I’ve included a list of library resources for you below.

Library Resources:

The Jamestown Colony; by Brendan January
Jamestown; by Frances E. Ruffin
Jamestown, Struggle for Survival; by Marcia Sewall
Explore Colonial Jamestown; by Elaine Landau
1607: A Nation Takes Root; DVD
1607 A New Look at Jamestown; by Karen E. Lange
1607 Jamestown and the New World; by Dennis Montgomery
Jamestown, Hands-on Projects About One of America’s First Communities; by Jennifer Quasha
Jamestown America’s First Permanent English Settlement; by Carole Marsh
The Double Life of Pocahontas; by Jean Fritz
Life of the Powhatan; by Bobbie Kalman
Pocahontas’s People; by Helen C. Rountree
Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma; by Camila Townsend
Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough; by Helen C. Rountree
John Smith, A Foothold in the New World; by Janet & Geoff Benge
John Smith; by Melanie Zucker Stanley
Christopher Newport; by Amy Williams Boykin
Christopher Newport, Jamestown Explorer; by Sharon K. Solomon