Curriculum Materials

The following teacher materials correlate with curriculum-based programs taught at Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown Victory Center and through the Virginia statewide Outreach program. Teachers may use these materials as pre- or post-visit lessons in their classrooms, or they may be used separately to enhance classroom studies of Jamestown or the Revolutionary War.

Jamestown Settlement Materials

Discovering Jamestown: An Electronic Classroom Adventure
Lesson Plans, Image Galleries and Educational Videos

A Jamestown Timeline (PDF)

Jamestown Questions and Answers (PDF)

Educational Video

James I from one of the Jamestown Chronicles videos Werowocomoco: Seat of Power

Holiday Traditions of the 17th and 18th Centuries

Jamestown Chronicles (video biographies)

Quadricentennial Minutes (video)

The Sea Venture (video)

Jamestown Economy

The Shipwreck That Saved Jamestown - lecture by Lorri Glover, co-author of The Shipwreck That Saved Jamestown: The Sea Venture And The Fate of America.

Anna's Adventures: Map It!

Anna's Adventures: Drums and Drills and Nine Men's Morris

English Myth-Making and Indian Reality: Early English Stereotypes of the Virginia Indians - lecture by Helen Rountree, author of nine books, including “Pocahontas, Powhatan, and Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown” and “Pocahontas’s People: The Powhatan Indians of Virginia Through Four Centuries.”

King James I - A five-part series on the life of King James I, featuring episodes about his childhood, becoming a king, assassination attempts against him, the King James Bible, and the founding of Jamestown.

Werowocomoco: Seat of Power - a lecture by Martin Gallivan, archaeologist and guest curator of the special exhibition, "Werowocomoco: Seat of Power."

"Captains, Monarchs, Philosophers, and Merchants: Picturing the 17th Century,"
A lecture by Twyla Kitts of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Audio Files
African woman, a drawing by Wencelaus Holler, 1645 The World of 1607

Jamestown: A Fruitful Soil

Bermuda's Beginnings

English Colony Governance

Podcasts
View of Jamestown Settlement three reconstructed 17th-century ships Download video and audio files in MP4 and MP3 format and subscribe to the Podcast feed through iTunes.

Essays and Lessons Plans
John Smith's Map of Virginia
Cultures at Jamestown
Three cultures converged at Jamestown - the Powhatan Indians, the English and the Africans - each of whom had their own unique way of life. Students compare and contrast these three cultures and learn about their interactions.

Life at Jamestown
In 1607 the Virginia Company of London established a colony in Virginia primarily as an economic venture. They named the colony Jametown, after King James I of England. Learn about early settlement life, the colonists' struggles, how the colony survived and the first representative assembly in English North America.
Their manner of fishing, watercolor by John White, 1585
Powhatan Indian World
The Indians that the English encountered at Jamestown were the Powhatans, who lived in permanent villages and were ruled by a paramount chief. Explore the day-to-day life of the Powhatans and the ways they used their environment.

Voyage to Virginia (PDF)
The voyage from England to Virginia lasted 144 days aboard the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. Students learn about life aboard a 17th-century ship, the route the colonists traveled and the instruments they used to navigate.

Jamestown History - Background Essays

Yorktown Victory Center Materials

Explore the worlds of George Washington and Charles Cornwallis from their military beginnings through the American Revolution and its aftermath. Consider the Revolution from different perspectives as you explore the videos, timelines, biographies and essays contained in the Yorktown Chronicles.

Tobacco Economy Video and Classroom Instruction Unit
This classroom instruction unit will bring colonial economics to life for your student with a short video and fun learning activities.

Colonial Life (Essay and lesson plan)
When the Revolutionary War began, about two million people lived in the thirteen colonies, with about 500,000 in Virginia. Many Virginians were farmers or planters, living and working on small farms. Students explore life for a typical family and their slaves on a 1780s Virginia farm.

Life of a Private (Essay and Lesson plans)
Thousands of men joined the Continental Army, under the command of General George Washington. Most were from the middle and lower ranks of society and enlisted as privates. Students learn why they joined, the hardship's of a soldier's life, and the role of women and African Americans with the army.

Interpreters loading muskets at Yorktown Victory Center Colonial Medicine (PDF)
A revolution in science began in the 17th-century with scientists carefully observing and conducting experiments to explain "why" things were the way they were. By the 18th century, old theories were being questioned but still influenced the practice of medicine. Explore the types of health care given in a typical colonial home, medical theries of the day and the many jobs of a colonial doctor.

Revolutionary Virginia (PDF)
Virginia's geography and economy influenced the lives of Virginians during the Revolutionary War. Explore some of the challenges faced by ordinary farmers and soldiers in Virginia during the time of the war.

The Road to Revolution (PDF)

What cause the stong ties between Great Britain and the American colonies to unravel in the second half of the 18th-century? Learn about the economic and political forces on both sides of the Atlantic that led to the American Revolution.

The Battle of Great Bridge (PDF)
The Battle of Great Bridge, near Norfolk, was the first major Revolutionary War conflict in Virginia.

The Road to Independence (PDF)

American public opinion in 1775 was divided on the question of independence from Britain. Learn about the events and personalities that led to revolution and independence.

Yorktown History - Background Essays

The French Alliance and the Winning of American Independence

How the Allied Victory at Yorktown Won American Independence

The Role of the Militia During the Revolutionary War

Yorktown History - Video