Regions of the Thirteen Colonies Lesson Plan: People, Places, and Environments

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Regions of the Thirteen Colonies Lesson Plan. 

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Regions of the Thirteen Colonies, and supports the standard of comparing characteristics of New England, Middle, and Southern colonies. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Display an image of the thirteen colonies, like this one from the BrainPOP movie (timestamp: 1:01):

Ask students:

• How do you think a colony’s geography might have impacted life for people living there? 

Step 2: BUILD BACKGROUND

• Read the description on the Regions of the Thirteen Colonies topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the five Related Reading articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
  

Step 3: ENGAGE
Students express what they learned about the regions of the thirteen colonies while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie: Imagine you’re traveling through the thirteen colonies.Produce a travelog that answers this question: How did geography impact life in different colonies? (Essential Literacy Skill: Determine central ideas)
• Make-a-Map: Make a concept map comparing and contrasting the three regions of the thirteen colonies. (Essential  Literacy Skill: Summarize key details)
• Creative Coding: Code a game challenging players to determine whether information describes the colonies in the New England, Middle, or Southern regions. (Essential Literacy Skill: Acquire and use domain specific words and phrases)

Step 4: APPLY & ASSESS 

Apply: Students complete the Regions of the Thirteen Colonies Worksheet, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Assess: Wrap up the lesson with the Regions of the Thirteen Colonies Quiz. 

Step 5:  EXTEND LEARNING

Mission U.S.: For Crown or Colony: Students use what they know about tensions between England and the colonists to take on the role of an apprentice to a newspaper printer in Boston in 1770.

Time Zone X: Causes of the American Revolution: Challenge players to put historical events in chronological order in this interactive timeline game.

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of colonial life with these topics: Building the Thirteen Colonies, Jamestown, Part 1, and Jamestown, Part 2.

Additional Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students  to stop, think, and express ideas. 
• Modifications for BrainPOP Learning Activities: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• BrainPOP Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.