The Original 13 Colonies
A Research Project for Writing Class
This project has two goals.  It will have you...

You and your class will create books for a fifth grade social studies class and the subject of the books will be "The Thirteen Original Colonies."

 You will use the school online databases to research one of the original 13 American colonies.  Your teacher must approve your choice of colony to assure that all 13 colonies are covered by your class.  You will input the information you discover about your colony into Inspiration.  Print your Inspiration web for a grade.  You will next export your Inspiration outline to PowerPoint and complete a PowerPoint presentation.  You will then print your presentation as large slides and take your slides home to complete the project.  At home, you will use highlighter pens or colored pencils to color your slides.  Lastly, you will bind the pages together into a booklet.  Purchase a presentation binder like the one shown below from a store like Staples for about $3.00.

 
For your research, use these links from the Library of Congress web page...
     * America's Story from America's Library: Jump Back in Time: Colonial America
     * Get maps for your PowerPoint presentation at The Library of Congress
     * America's Story from America's Library: Explore the States
     * The Library of Congress Timeline Page: Colonial Settlement, 1600s-1763
     * Try also Maps and Eras from U-S-History.com

Make sure your research answers the following questions...
   * What European nation sponsored this colony?  When?
   * Where in the new world was this colony established?
   * Who were the first colonists?  What was their religion?
   * Who were their leaders?
   * Why did these first colonists come to America?
   * What problems faced these colonists in America?
Most important!
   * What made this colony unique among the 13 colonies?

Include a final Credits page in your booklet where you list the articles you used for research.  A file you can use to keep track of your credits can be downloaded into MS Word by clicking here.

When you print your PowerPoint booklet, print SLIDES, but print in Black & White (so you can color your slides at home) by putting a check in the Pure black and white check box, as shown below...

Click here to return to the SHS Students Page.