First Contact - The first colonies in the New World unit bundle, including text

“I really like your units. They are detailed and allows for critical thinking on the part of the students. Thank you!”

This 19 day complete unit examines the tragedy and triumphs of the first European explorer/colonists in the New World, focusing on Columbus, Jamestown and Plymouth. This is a “warts and all” examination of this period of history, as it pulls no punches detailing the inhumanity and struggles of these first Europeans in the Americas and their impact on the indigenous peoples already there. It also introduces students to and gives them practice with the art of highlighting and note-taking expository text.

This unit is based upon and complements my textbook “We Take Nothing by Conquest” and is designed for both the novice and experienced classroom teacher as it contains everything needed for the full course. These materials – all of which have been battle-tested in the crucible of my own 8th grade classroom - include:

*a 63 page Teacher’s Guide which provides day-by-day and step-by-step instructions how to teach the unit and use all of the materials;

*35 pages of informative and interesting text, divided into seven chapters (the complete first unit of the textbook);

*an inquiry based study guide for each chapter to focus students on the main points and supporting details;

*quizzes for each chapter;

*PowerPoints with answers to the study guides for review, and including pictures and maps to stimulate discussion and enhance understanding;

*three Cloze activities for three of the chapters;

*a fun board game activity for one chapter;

*a primary source document activity examining the Mayflower Compact;

*a critical thinking activity and essay writing project about the Pocahontas/John Smith "rescue" story, complete with essay instructions, outline, and sample paragraphs included in a teaching PowerPoint;

*a PowerPoint Quiz Show review game;

*a test prep study guide;

*and a unit test.

Answer keys and grading guides for all study guides, activities, quizzes, and project are included in the Teacher’s Guide. Materials are provided as word documents and PDFs in one zip file.

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