Colonial America

A Write On Activity

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.

What was life like in Colonial America?

It was much different than life today.

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.

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

Daily Life: Children

Sewing was an important part of a young lady's education.

Fun activities: board games,

puzzles, and cards. rolling hoopswalking on stiltsgame of ninepins

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.

Puritan Religion

Daily Life: Religion

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

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.

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.

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 DollClothing

Daily Life: Family

The colonial family consisted of:The servants of a

house or establishment

ParentsChildren

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.

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.

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

Colonial American Lesson Plans

Choosing Revolution Colonial Reaction to the Stamp Act Eighteenth-Century and Twentieth-Century F

orms 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)

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

Life was so different in Colonial America.