In this experience, students explore why the English established colonies and how different goals shaped their success. They compare these early settlements to understand how motivations like profit and religion influenced colonial outcomes.
In this experience, students explore why the English established colonies and how different goals shaped their success. They compare these early settlements to understand how motivations like profit and religion influenced colonial outcomes.
Students read an overview of early English attempts to colonize North America, including Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth, and review key vocabulary. They then respond to a collaborative prompt explaining what they think might cause a new colony to fail or succeed.
Teacher MovesIntroduce the lesson focus and objectives, highlighting that students will investigate why some early English colonies failed while others survived. Encourage a range of ideas in the initial discussion about colony success or failure, share selected student responses that hint at key factors such as location, leadership, resources, and relationships with Indigenous peoples, and keep the emphasis on curiosity rather than correcting misconceptions.
Students read The Lost Colony to learn about England’s first serious attempts to establish a settlement at Roanoke, focusing on the colony’s purpose, the actions taken by the English, and the outcomes of both attempts. Using a graphic organizer, they answer questions with text-based evidence, then respond to a discussion prompt explaining how English actions led to the colony’s eventual failure.
Teacher MovesFrame the reading as an investigation into why Roanoke struggled and guide students to use specific evidence from the text in their graphic organizers. Afterward, prompt students to move from recalling events to explaining cause and effect by asking guiding questions about English decisions and missed opportunities, modeling cause-and-effect sentence starters, and facilitating a discussion in which students read and respond to classmates’ posts, highlighting strong examples that clearly connect actions to outcomes.
Students read Early English Colonies: Jamestown and Plymouth to examine who founded each colony, why it was founded, and what happened to the settlers, with attention to goals of profit and religious freedom. They complete two graphic organizers—one for Jamestown and one for Plymouth—describing each colony’s purpose, settlers’ actions, challenges, and outcomes, then answer a discussion prompt explaining how a colony’s purpose impacted its outcome using an example from the reading.
Teacher MovesSupport students in distinguishing between each colony’s founding goals and actual outcomes, prompting them to connect motivations such as profit or religious freedom to the strategies settlers used and the challenges they faced. After students complete the organizers, facilitate comparison and discussion across Jamestown and Plymouth, then guide students in crafting clear cause-and-effect explanations, sharing exemplar responses that show how founding purposes shaped colonial successes and struggles.
Students read the primary source excerpt Reasons for Colonization by Richard Hakluyt to identify English arguments for establishing colonies, such as increasing trade, spreading religion, and strengthening national power. They then respond to a series of discussion prompts explaining Hakluyt’s reasons, how the first colonies reflect the benefits he describes, and how his arguments relate to the purposes of the first English colonies.
Teacher MovesExplain that this scene is an optional extension and prepare students for challenging language by previewing key vocabulary and focusing them on Hakluyt’s main ideas rather than individual difficult words. Encourage strategies such as reading aloud in pairs, summarizing arguments in their own words, and connecting Hakluyt’s reasons to what students already know about Jamestown and Plymouth; then highlight exemplar responses that clearly link the primary source ideas to the colonies’ founding purposes and outcomes.
Students complete the exit quiz by answering all the questions.
Teacher MovesFacilitate the assessment and use student data to evaluate understanding, address misconceptions, and identify areas for growth.
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