(Photos of the colonial tea party, high school students playing a colonial America board game designed by Cooper, Jacob W., and Matthew, and high school students with their Raven Buddies.)
6th grade celebrated colonial America with a tea party, complete with delicious treats the students brought in to share with each other. Throughout the tea party, students learned about the history of tea, its global networks dating back centuries, the colonization of India by France and then England, and then the effect tea would have on colonial life in America. From here, 6th grade moved into learning about the roots of protest and revolution in the American colonies. We read primary sources about the Boston Tea Party, and then we watched the classic Andy Griffith clip of “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” and read the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem about Paul Revere’s ride. From there, we had a discussion about the reliability of those different sources. Sixth graders are now researching different people and events of the Revolutionary War and piecing together what happened in the colonies and the reasons the colonies broke free from England.
Students in 7th and 8th grade history classes have been working diligently on reading, understanding, and questioning primary sources for the past few weeks. Students began reading three primary sources related to the 7 Years War, and then they were tasked with finding additional sources from the time to add layers to their understanding. Throughout this unit, classes have been focused on recognizing the need for multiple sources to have an idea what happened in the past. After the 7 Years War, students looked at sources related to the Boston Massacre, and then we discussed what the sources told us about what happened that day and why. Through this process, students are learning to be critical of the things they read and hear, asking questions of their sources to more fully understand.
