Grade 1 - Life Long Ago
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Video Storyline: A long time ago a group called the Pilgrims came to America. They settled here among the various native American groups. Other settlers also came to America from other countries. Many came here to be free. Many historical people and symbols have come to mean freedom in the United States.
Video length: 6:21 minutes.
Learning Resources with this Video*
Quizzes – PDF & Online
Freedom Fighting Figures
A Timeline: Looking for Freedom in America
Life Long Ago
Draw a Scene
Universal Resources
National Standards
*Links are active on Full Video page.
Classroom Ideas
Life Long Ago
Discussion Topics
Have students offer ideas about everyday items that didn’t exist long ago.
Have students discuss the daily life of the early settlers or their great-grandparents.
Create a list of all the items that people would have to make for their daily lives.
What did the daily diet of the early settlers look like?
Discuss the very first Thanksgiving.
Art and Social Studies
Use various materials to create a small-scale home for a group of Native Americans, e.g. a wigwam. Can be done in groups.
Cloze Practice
A cloze piece has full sentences used in the virtual field trip with blanks where students can write in the information that is missing. This task requires close listening to the trip in order to complete it.
Coral reefs are the _______ type of ecosystem in the world. They’ve been around for over _____ million years.
Answers: oldest; 240
Alternatively, you could have students create 5-10 cloze statements and they could share those with the class.
A third alternative is to distribute the cloze worksheets before watching the video. Students can fill them in as they watch.
Native American Groups
Create a lesson (or lessons) that introduce students to the major tribes of Native Americans. This could be nearby tribes, or tribes across the country.
Transportation
Compare/contrast various modes of transportation that the early settlers used.
Explore Vocabulary
Identify key vocabulary terms while previewing each video. Prompt students to find the meaning of each word as they watch the video. Example: What do the words bartering and artifact mean? Think about the meaning of this word as you watch this video.
Visual Learning
Offer videos to struggling learners as another form of accessing information and creating knowledge.
Art
Draw a scene from the video you just watched.
Classroom Ideas for ALL Videos
Here are dozens and dozens of ideas that you can use in your classroom along with our videos!
Topics Covered In This Video
Life was harder long ago
Food had to be grown and everything was done by hand
Native American way of life
Native American housing & clothing
Arrival of Christopher Columbus
Arrival of Pilgrims & settlers
Tradition of Thanksgiving
Conflict with England
Lincoln & freedom from slavery
Immigrants & freedom