DESCRIPTION
Who were the Colonists to the New World? What hardships did they face? Why did they come? Examines four
different colonies and their reasons for success or failure. Discusses the French Huguenots, Sir Walter Raleigh's
Lost Colony, and the establishment of Jamestown and Plymouth. Also includes the Colonists' treatment of the
native people. Reviews the reasons for colonizing.
ACADEMIC STANDARDS
Subject Area: United States History
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Standard: Understands why the Americas attracted Europeans, why they brought enslaved Africans to
their colonies and how Europeans struggled for control of North America and the Caribbean
§ Benchmark: Understands social and economic characteristics of European colonization in the 17th
and 18th centuries (e.g., changing immigration and settlement patterns of Puritans, Quakers, Germans,
and Scots-Irish; the slave trade and chattel slavery in the Spanish, English, and French Caribbean,
Louisiana, the Dutch West Indies, and Chesapeake) (See Instructional Goals #1 and #2)
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Standard: Understands cultural and ecological interactions among previously unconnected people
resulting from early European exploration and colonization
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Benchmark: Understands the political and religious factors that influenced English, Spanish, French,
and Dutch colonization of the Americas (See Instructional Goals #1 and #2)
INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS
1. To understand the political and religious factors in Europe during the 1500s that led Colonists to leave
and settle in the New World.
2. To examine four of the first colonies to be established in the New World, and investigate the reasons for
their successes and failures.
VOCABULARY
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Huguenots
Protestant
Mayflower
Pilgrims
fowl
venison
Dutch
BEFORE SHOWING
1. Establish that the events depicted in the video occurred in the mid-1500s, after Columbus had first
traveled to the area now known as the United States.
2. Identify the four colonies to be discussed in the video as those of the Huguenots, Roanoke Island,
Plymouth, and Jamestown.
3. Predict reasons these early settlements might have failed.
4. Introduce and quickly review several Colonial legends or stories. Include Pocahontas, the Amistad, and
the disappearance of the Roanoke Island colony.
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DURING SHOWING
Discussion Items and Questions
1. View the video more than once, with one showing uninterrupted.
2. Pause the video at the introduction of each of the new settlements to indicate which colony will be
discussed next.
3. Pause the video to point out the introduction of Pocahontas, John Smith, Squanto, slaves brought on
Dutch ships, and the doorpost on Roanoke Island. Discuss the significance of each.
4. Create a worksheet to be used during the second viewing of the video. On a sheet of paper turned
horizontally, make four columns, one for each of the four segments of the video:
a. The Huguenots, the settlers of Roanoke Island, the Pilgrims of Plymouth, and the Colonists of
Jamestown.
b. Use this guide to take notes on the following topics during viewing:
(1) What caused each colony to succeed or fail?
(2) Who were the leaders of the colony?
(3) What was the relationship between the Colonists and the Native Americans?
(4) How long did the colony survive?
(5) What historical legend comes from this colony?
AFTER SHOWING
Discussion Items and Questions
1. Using the notes taken during viewing, review and discuss each question for each Colonial settlement.
2. Explain Queen Elizabeth I’s understanding of the hardships the Colonists were experiencing in the New
World.
3. Why did the Spanish Catholics from Fort Augustine attack and kill 500 of the Huguenots at Fort
Caroline?
4. What did Sir Walter Raleigh gain by naming the newly discovered territory “Virginia,” and what was the
significance of that name?
5. Why did the colony of Fort Raleigh disappear? What might have happened? What could have been done
to provide more clues to those looking for the Colonists later?
6. How did John Smith revive the failing colony of Jamestown? What were the positive and negative
aspects of his rule for the workers of the colony?
7. List the skills that people needed to survive in the colonies. Decide why gentlemen from London would
fare poorly in such an environment.
8. Compare the “gold” the Jamestown settlers came to America to look for to the “gold” they actually
found.
9. Why was Pocahontas removed from her tribe and taken to Jamestown?
10. Why was the raising of the crop of tobacco such a success?
11. Discuss the growth of Jamestown from 1612 to 1619. What changes took place during that time?
12. Why did the arrival of a ship full of women and girls in 1619 cause such excitement?
13. Discuss what happened to the Africans brought to the colonies by the Dutch in exchange for their service.
Determine if the promises made to these people were kept.
14. What precipitated the March 1622 attack by the Powhatan Indians on Jamestown?
15. What brought the English Separatists who left England on the Mayflower to the colonies?
16. How did the Separatists/Pilgrims come to settle in Plymouth Harbor?
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17. What contribution did the Pawtucket Indian named Squanto make to the Pilgrims?
18. Review the reasons the first Colonists came to North America.
Applications and Activities
1. Create a colony that may have been successful in the Colonial period of settlement.
a. Select and assign roles/skills to the people chosen to live in the colony.
b. Determine if there will be any particular form of government/leadership in the colony.
c. Decide how the colony will operate in order to feed and care for its inhabitants.
d. Determine where the people will live.
e. Justify the choices made in terms of what was proven to work well in the early colonies.
2. Research the tobacco industry, tracing its roots back to Jamestown Colony. Discuss the growth of the
industry and the changes that have occurred in the industry over the past 300 years.
3. Research and report on the story of Pocahontas as told by a variety of media.
a. Watch the Disney movie version of the story.
b. Watch a historical version Pocahontas: Ambassador of the New World, (#8174).
c. Investigate a variety of printed materials such as library books, magazine articles, or encyclopedias.
d. Search the Internet for historical accounts about Pocahontas.
e. Summarize the similarities and differences between accounts and describe which account is likely to
be the most accurate.
4. Investigate the story of the slave ship Amistad.
a. Explain the significance of this particular group of African slaves in relation to other groups of slaves
brought to the United States from Africa.
b. Imagine the conditions aboard the slave ships as they crossed the oceans.
c. Discuss the outcome of the Amistad story and the implications the trial had on the lives of subsequent
slaves brought to the Colonies.
5. Research the first Thanksgiving celebration. Find recipes to replicate the food served. Determine which
foods have become a part of the holiday tradition.
RELATED RESOURCES
Captioned Media Program
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Pocahontas: Ambassador of the New World #8174
Pilgrim Journey #2207
Plymouth Colony: The First Year (Revised) #2320
Jamestown: The Beginnings #3146
First Thanksgiving, The #2609
Colonizing North America: Early Settlements #3022
Puritan Family of Early New England (Revised) #2323
Home Sweet Home: Daily Life in Early Colonial America #2666
World Wide Web
The following Web sites complement the contents of this guide; professionals who have experience in teaching
deaf and hard of hearing students selected them. Every effort was made to select accurate, educationally
relevant, and “kid-safe” sites. However, teachers should preview them before use. The U.S. Department of
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Education, the National Association of the Deaf, and the Captioned Media Program do not endorse the sites and
are not responsible for their content.
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EXPLORING AMERICAS: COLONIES
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Way/9301/HistoryDay.html
Information about the original colonization of the Americas.
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THANKSGIVING http://www.night.net/thanksgiving/
Information about the first Thanksgiving.
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