Colonial America

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Colonial America

• A Write On Activity

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Curriculum Standards

• Grade 3
• The learner will be able to (ESSENTIAL)
  understand the daily life of early colonial
  settlements.
• Grade 5
• The learner will be able to (ESSENTIAL)
  understand the daily life of early Colonial
  communities.

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What was life like in Colonial America?

• It was much different than life today.

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Daily Life School

• Education was available only to those who could
  afford it.
• Children practiced letters on slate boards, read
  18th-century children's books and assembled
  educational puzzles.

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Daily Life School

• Families set up grammar schools, which taught
  boys Latin and math and other subjects needed to
  get into college.
• Although girls could read, they weren't allowed
  to go to grammar school or to college. More

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Daily Life Children

• Sewing was an important part of a young lady's
  education.
• Fun activities
• board games, puzzles, and cards.
• rolling hoops
• walking on stilts
• game of ninepins

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Daily Life Religion

• The New England colonists were largely Puritans,
  who led very strict lives.
• The Middle colonists were a mixture of religions,
  including Quakers (led by William Penn),
  Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, and others.
• The Southern colonists had a mixture of religions
  as well, including Baptists and Anglicans.

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Puritan Religion
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Daily Life Religion

• Native Americans clashed with colonists not only
  over land but in resisting conversion to the
  Christian faith.

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Daily Life Religion

• African-Americans also made common cause with the
  evangelicals after 1750.
• Slaves had recognized that they could gain their
  freedom through baptism, a loophole in the law
  that was closed in 1667.

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Daily Life Clothing

• People were concerned about fashion.
• They also varied their garments based on the
  activity and the formality of the occasion.
• "Dress" clothing meant for a special occasion.
• Undress," was everyday clothing.

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Daily Life Clothing

• The garments worn by a blacksmith or dairymaid
  for daily work were different from their best
  outfits, reserved for Sundays at church and
  infrequent special occasions.
• 18th Century Paper Doll
• Clothing

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Daily Life Family

• The colonial family consisted of
• The servants of a house or establishment
• Parents
• Children

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Daily Life Food

• The American colonists got their food from
  several places.
• People who lived on the Atlantic coast often
  caught fish while others hunted for wild game.
• Farmers who grew their own food. Some grew
  wheat, barley, corn, tobacco, or rice hauled
  their crops to a town market, where the crops
  were sold.

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Daily Life Manners

• 1st Every Action done in Company, ought to be
  with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are
  Present.
• 2d When in Company, put not your Hands to any
  Part of the Body, not usually discovered.
• 3d Shew Nothing to your Freind that may affright
  him.
• 4th In the Presence of Others,
• Sing not to yourself with a
• humming Noise, nor Drum
• with your Fingers or Feet.

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Daily Life Manners

• 5th If You Cough, Sneeze, Sigh, or Yawn, do it
  not Loud but Privately and Speak not in your
  Yawning, but put Your handkercheif or Hand before
  your face and turn aside.
• 6th Sleep not when others Speak, Sit not when
  others stand, Speak not when you Should hold your
  Peace, walk not on when others Stop.
• George Washington, about 16 years old,
  transcribes Rules of Civility Decent Behaviour
  In Company and Conversation at his Ferry Farm
  home near Fredericksburg circa 1744

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Colonial American Lesson Plans

• Choosing Revolution
• Colonial Reaction to the Stamp Act
• Eighteenth-Century and Twentieth-Century Forms of
  Resistance
• A Family disrupted--the Randolph Family and the
  Coming American Revolution
• Website Resource Daily Life of 13 Colonies
• Agriculture and Education in Colonial America
  (slide show)

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Colonial America Lesson Plans

• Acrimony in Bruton Parish Church
• Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Slavery in the
  Colonial Period
• A Colonial Christmas in Williamsburg
• Colonial Home Remedies
• Don't Fence Me In
• Eighteenth-Century Music and Dance
• Gardening in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg
• Getting Into History Visiting Museums - a Shared
  Experience
• History Comes Alive in the Graveyard
• Mathematics with a Mob Cap
• Predicting Weather in the Eighteenth Century
• Signs of the Times
• Travel in the 18th Century
• The Trial of Abigail Briggs
• The Two Williamsburgs

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Life was so different in Colonial America.