Good morning, it’s Thursday, January 9, 2020, and time for me to share a Homeschool Resource for Social Sciences with everyone. I would like to ask you to check out the Recommended Website:
On the Trail of Captain John Smith
Age Range: 9-14 (Grades 4-8, with parental supervision) This website offers a fun, interactive game that allows kids to learn about Captain John Smith’s voyage from England to America and the establishment of a colony in what is now Virginia.
When you get to the site simply click on “Let’s Go” to play the game. Be sure to turn on your speakers so you can hear the narrated video presentation that is also displayed in text below the screen.
The topics are:
- Off to Virginia – Watch an introduction and brief history about the initial voyage.
- Building A Fort – Learn about the disagreement among the colonists about building a fort to protect the colony.
- John Smith is Captured! – Discover the difficult conditions the colonists face and the exploration they embarked upon to find relief. Find out how John Smith was captured by Native Americans and the result of his capture.
- Powhatan’s Power – Learn about Captain John Smith’s meeting with the Indian Chief Powhatan. Is the legend of how Pocahontas saved John Smith’s life true? Discover historians’ perspective on this story.
- Help from the Indians – Play a treasure hunt game to find the natural resources in the bay and marshlands that helped the colonists survive.
- Exploring the Chesapeake – John Smith and the colonists were seeking gold and a Northwest Passage. Find out what they DID find, and play some games that will test your skill at virtual fishing and boating.
And more!
Recommended Website: Historical Scene Investigation
Age Range: 11-18 (Grades 6-12, with parental supervision) This website provides social studies students with the opportunity to become virtual history detectives through investigating primary source documents.
Students investigate prepared “case files” about historical events by examining primary source materials archived at this website. Through these “journals, diaries, artifacts, historic sites, works of art, quantitative data, and other evidence from the past… they compare the multiple points of view of those on the scene at the time.”
Developed in partnership with the College of William & Mary School of Education, University of Kentucky School of Education, and the Library of Congress, H.S.I. is an effort to take students beyond textbook facts and give them “experiences that more closely resemble the work of a real historian.”
When you get to the website you’ll see a menu that offers information about the H.S.I. Project and a link to the “Investigations” that include:
- Jamestown Starving Time
- Bacon’s Rebellion
- The Boston “Massacre”
- Lexington and Concord
- Constitution Controversy<
- Antonio a Slave
- Finding Aaron
- Children in the Civil War
- School Desegregation
- Case of Sam Smiley
- March on Frankfort
- When Elvis Met Nixon
Click on any “case file” and a new page opens with a description of the historic event and a question for the student to answer through investigating documents. Click on “Student View” to read the documents and access a series of questions that guide the student in analyzing the information in order to crack the case.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
