American Revolution

I wanted to post about the awesome American Revolution Unit I was able to do with my 5th graders last year...I know I know better late than never!!

It was a crazy whirlwind teaching both classes but I was able to give special time to this unit.

First I started with a timeline leading up to the Revolutionary War. To make it more interesting we made a:

We used our footprints to highlight major events leading up to the Revolutionary War.

Here is a pic of my 5th grade goofballs with their timeline ;)

Of course we did many other things with the unit (that I didn't take pictures of...I will get better I promise!!)

We did an activity to demostrate tax without representation. I appointed one student as the King and distributed starburst jelly beans (left over from easter & a classroom fav :) to the remainder of the class. Secretly one student was assigned the role of tax collector. The king could make up any "law" he wanted to tax the students...exp If you're wearing black pants or red shirt etc...then the students would pay the tax using their jellybeans. The tax collector would collect the beans and be given some beans back as payment. Eventually students ran out of beans and were taken to jail for lack of payment. This activity really helped to show the students how the colonists felt about taxation and how it may ave caused groups to rally for war.

We also did an assignment over Heroes of the War. Students did research over different heroes on both sides of the war. (I'm so mad I didn't take pics!!!) They compiled their info on redcoats (British or Loyalist :) and bluecoats (Patriots :). We hung them in the hall with the definitions of both sides. This helped us see who was in the action of the war.

This was such a fun unit and I'm excited to add more to in later years...if I teach 5th social studies in the future ;)

Hope you got some good ideas!!