13 Colonies Project

The 13 Colonies project will be a group project, with a final group presentation and group grade. Everyone must have a part in the creativity, research, and presentation. Your final grade will reflect the effort put into the project, the final outcome, and your work as a team to get the job done. Make sure everyone in your group has done something with this project.

Project must have:

  • Name of colony region
  • Name of colonies in the region
  • Map of colonies in the region
  • Brochure with information about the colony region and each individual colony
  • Include pictures
  • Information on a famous person that lived in this colonial region during the time
  • Why were they important?
  • Information about their life
  • Two important events that happened in your colonial region that affected America.

Questions that must be answered:

  1. When did they come to America? (History)
  2. Where did they come from? (History)
  3. What hardships did the people of your colonial region face as they came to America? (History)
  4. How was your region governed? How did they make decisions as a town or city? (Civics/Government)
  5. What type of land was your colonial region most associated with? (mountains, oceans, etc.) (Geography)
  6. Why was their location good for the people that lived there? Why was it bad? (Geography)
  7. It may be one or the other and not both.
  8. How did people in your region make a living? What were common jobs? (Economy)
  9. What did the region’s economy mainly depend on? (Economy)
  10. What type of education was available in your region? (Culture)
  11. What people settled in the region? (Culture)
  12. Why did they come to America? (Culture)
  13. What types of houses did people in your region live in? (Culture)
  14. Did religion play a part in daily life? In government? (Culture)
  15. How did the culture (values and beliefs) of the settlers of your region affect the way they lived?(Culture)
  16. What was everyday life like for the colonists in your region? (Culture)

Folder of Evidence

This is a manila folder that will be given to your group on the first day of class work. You must keep up with this folder as a group, and it must be neatly returned to the teacher at the end of the project. This folder should contain:

  • All questions and their answers TYPED or NEATLY WRITTEN and separated by category (culture, economy, etc.).
  • All research information either printed out as a hard copy, or URL’s written out so that I can check those websites. (You may also type out the URL)
  • Map of your colonies
  • Page of information about a key/famous person from your colonial region (paper will be graded as a part of your portfolio, but information must be part of your class presentation)

Class Presentation

Your presentation MUST be 5 – 7 minutes long and MUST cover all of the information and questions 1-15 on the previous page. You may present this information any way you like, but your goal is to attract people to your colony and make them want to settle there. All of the information presented should be presented that way. Style is up to you, but everything you do must be appropriate for school, and follow all school policies and dress code.