#571. Colony Brochure

Social Studies, level: Middle
Posted Mon Aug 17 00:24:55 PDT 1998 by Judy Rieke (JuRieke@aol.com).
Our Lady of the Pillar, St. Louis, MO USA
Materials Required: reference material, computer, Pagemaker program (or similar program for creating a brochure)
Activity Time: 3-4 classes for group research and planning
Concepts Taught: Study of the 13 original colonies

This lesson was done in conjunction with the computer class. After studying the 13 colonies, students were to create a brochure advertising one of the colonies. The purpose of the brochure, they were told, would be to urge people in Europe to come to America and settle in their particular colony. They worked in groups of 2-3 and each group was assigned a different colony. The brochure had to include a map, famous people of the colony, reasons why people would want to settle there -- opportunities available for jobs, land, religious freedom, etc; cities settled, dates of founding and settlement. After the research was done and the brochure planned and designed, the project was completed in computer class using Pagemaker. Brochures were printed on an 8 1/2" x 11" paper and most used a trifold design. (The computere teacher and I brought in some sample travel brochures) Pictures were scanned in. After the projects were completed, students gave an oral report and passed their brochures around to their classmates. It was a very good cross-curricular project that I used with my 7th grade class.