Patience Wright: Storytelling

Today we heard the story of Patience Wright, an American sculptor  who later became a spy during the Revolutionary War! Tonight, we'll each be storytelling her story to someone at home. We prepared for this work by meeting in Storytelling Clubs at school and practicing her story. Here are some snippets from our work at school!

Did you hear the story of Patience Wright? What did you learn about her life or about the lives of women in Colonial America? 

Colonial Signs: Finished!

This week, we put the finishing touches on our signs from Colonial America! We added details using markers, colored pencils and crayons. Our signs turned out beautifully!

Visit the hallway outside the classroom to see these signs in person and to view all the other signs made by students in our class!

Tasting Colonial Treats

On Monday, we divided into social studies book clubs where we'll be studying different topics from the colonial times. Our book clubs range from freedom of religion to slavery. One book club is studying food and gardening in colonial times. Inspired by what she read on Monday, Leela recreated a colonial recipe for butternut squash. She brought enough into the classroom for us all to try on Tuesday. It was delicious!

Peter Stuyvesant: Political Cartoons

In social studies this week, we learned about political cartoons, cartoons that give an artist's opinion about something that is happening in the world. We studied several political cartoons from Colonial America, considering what the artist of the cartoon might have thought of the subject. Then, we created our own political cartoons about Peter Stuyvesant. Some of our cartoons were in support of Peter Stuyvesant and his policies, and some were against him. We presented our political cartoons to the class and explained how they showed our feelings. Here are some pictures of our presentations and of the cartoons up close. 

What did you learn about Peter Stuyvesant from viewing these cartoons? How do students in the class feel about him? How can you tell? 

Family Friday: Signs from Colonial America

It was great to see so many of you in the classroom on Friday for Family Friday! This month, we created art related to Colonial America. Each student chose an occupation from Colonial America that they were interested in and read up about the job. Then, working with families in the room and friends, students created their own signs just like those that would have lined a street in Colonial America. Our signs all include images because a significant part of the population was illiterate at the time.

Enjoy some pictures of our time painting!

Here are a few samples of our signs. We still have some finishing touches to put on the signs, so we'll update again when they are finished. Enjoy!

The Thirteen Original Colonies: A Mini-Lecture!

Our study of Colonial America began last week! This week, we learned about the Thirteen Original Colonies, particularly about the different regions that the colonies were broken up into. The students gave each other mini-lectures about the colonies based on what they learned in class. Here, one student gives part of their mini-lecture (the introduction and the New England Colonies). Enjoy!

Ask a student from our class to give you their Thirteen Original Colonies mini-lecture! What did you learn about the different regions?