Causes for Colonization

Intro

Life in Britain was really something. England was ruler of the high seas. Why would anyone want to leave? The purpose of this webquest is to find out who, why, when, where and how people wanted to leave England to colonize the Nifty Fifty.

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Tasks

You will have several tasks to complete for this quest.

  • The first task to complete is to find out just who was living in England in the early part of the seventeenth century (remember, that would be the early 1600’s).
  • Task number two is to find out what the royalty was like during that time. Was the king snooty, nice or fun? Was there a queen on the throne? How did they treat the common people?
  • Task three sets you to finding why people would want to leave the comfort of home to strike out on their own. Did they do it for love? Money? Did they just want to get away from the king? Did they think they would go down in history?
  • Task four has you trying to find out what the voyage would be like. The ship will be at sea for a long time. What kind of food would be good to take along? What kind of clothes should you take for the long voyage? What about fresh water?
  • The last task that you have is to decide what life would be like in the new world. What would people do for food? Are there natives living there? If so, are they friendly? What will you do for work? Will life be easy in the New World?

The London Sentinel

After you having collected all the information you can, you are ready to start work on your big story.

Your editor (teacher) says that all the buzz around town is that a ship will soon be leaving for the new world. This is a big story and we need to get the scoop on the other papers in town.

Your job as a reporter is to gather information and write an article persuading people not to go. Mother England is where they should stay. You must use your writing skills to write a letter that will make sure the ship sails with no one on board.

The London Courier

After you having collected all the information you can, you are ready to start work on your big story.

Your editor (teacher) says that all the buzz around town is that a ship will soon be leaving for the new world. This is a big story and we need to get the scoop on the other papers in town.

Your job as a reporter is to gather information and write an article persuading people to go. Mother England has turned into a wicked stepmother. You must use your writing skills to write a letter that will make sure the ship sails with only standing room left.

Trafalgar Times

After you having collected all the information you can, you are ready to start work on your big story.

Your editor (teacher) says that all the buzz around town is that a ship will soon be leaving for the new world. This is a big story and we need to get the scoop on the other papers in town.

Your job as a reporter is to gather information and write an article persuading people to go. However, the reporters at the Times are undecided about whether or not people should go. You must use your writing skills to write an article that will display all of the facts about going to the New World or staying behind. You must make sure that your article states the facts only, no opinion.

Procedure

The first step do is to assign roles to everyone in your group. The roles you need are as follows:

One person to research Great Britain in the early 1600’s.

One person to research the royalty of that time (1600’s).

One person to research reasons people left England for the New World.

One person to research how the voyage would go (length, food, clothing, anything else that applies).

One person to research life in the New World. Not life as we know it, but life how it would have been in the New World in the 1600’s.

Any additional group members will be responsible for organizing notes, proofreading the article, and making sure that it gets published (gets to the editor) on time.

Step two is gathering data. You must use any resources at your disposal to find the necessary information. Some examples of resources include, but are not limited to: dictionary, encyclopedia, Internet, historical societies, magazines, any other reference books.

Step three is collecting your notes and organizing them in a meaningful way. This means organize your notes so they make sense and you can use them to write your article.

Step four is the big one. You must work as a group to write the article you are supposed to write. Include all details you discovered in your research. Drawings of the ship, what you think the New World will be like, or mother England would be good to include with your article.

Step five is where you will present your article to the editor for approval. This will be done in front of the class. We will also make a class paper to share.

Rubric Did I do it right?

Area being scored / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Presentation / Very well planned, creative presentation / Good planning, some creativity / Fair planning, lack of creativity / Poor planning, boring presentation
Notes / Are very well organized and readable / Are organized somewhat / Are difficult to read, not very well organized / Are a mess, sloppy, no organization or no notes present
Group
Effort / Excellent effort, worked well together, no problems / Good effort, worked to resolve disputes / Some effort to work together, minor problems / Bickering, fighting, no effort to work as a group
References / All references are cited correctly / Most cited, most cited correctly / Some cited, or cited incorrectly / Not cited
Graphics / Pictures are of exceptional quality, show much effort / Pictures are present and show effort / Some pictures present, very little effort / No pictures are present
Use of Time / Used allotted time very effectively / Used allotted time well / Used allotted time / Used allotted time poorly

Resources

You will want to look at various resources. Some of the resources you will want are maps. Click here for a map of what people thought the world lookedlike in the1500’s. After you go to the web page click on the first title - Charta Cosmographia.

To find a list of the colonies and when they were founded, as well as who founded them, click here.

To get a mountain of information on all of the colonies, click on the word mountain.

To find a picture that will give you different information, click right here. In the picture you should click on different parts. Each part will tell you something different about colonial life.

To get an idea of what happened when, go to this web site with lots of dates. This site begins with the first explorer, and ends in the year 1700.

Other good resources would include encyclopedias. To find the online version of one click on the word Britannica. Type in colonies, Britain, monarchy, or try other key words. You could also try encyclopedia.com. Try similar keywords for your searches.

Of course, don’t forget your handy dandy library. It’s always full of good information and lots of books. And the last resource you don’t want to forget…EACH OTHER!

Work well, work swiftly, work together!!!