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Grade 1 Social Studies · World 3: Colonial Days · Level 15
The American Colonies
Thirteen colonies along the Atlantic coast.
Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.
What children learn in Level 15
- Long ago, before there was a United States, American Indian nations lived all across this land.
- About 400 years ago, people from Great Britain and other countries in Europe sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to live here.
- A colony is a place ruled by a faraway country. Thirteen colonies grew along the Atlantic coast, and Great Britain's king ruled them.
- Virginia was the first of the 13 colonies. Georgia was the last one, started in 1733.
- Most colonists lived near the ocean or rivers. Boats were the easiest way to travel and to carry things to sell.
- Many colonists were farmers. In the southern colonies, big farms grew rice and tobacco. Much of that work was forced on enslaved Africans. That was cruel and wrong.
- Try it with a grown-up! Find the Atlantic coast on a map of the United States. Can you find Georgia, the 13th colony?
Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:
- SS1G1.a — American colonies (Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson)
- MGS.1 — Map and Globe Skill 1: use a compass rose to identify cardinal directions (mastered in Grade 1)