Title: Our strange new land : Elizabeth's diary, Jamestown, Virginia, 1609
Author: Patricia Hermes
Lexile Level: 460L
Recommended for
Age: 7-10 Years
Grade: Second Grade to Fifth Grade
Summary
The book titled Our strange new land : Elizabeth's diary, Jamestown, Virginia, 1609 focuses on girl named Elizabeth, who is a nine year-old girl. She faces homesickness and leaving her sickly twin brother Caleb in England. She utilizes a journal to record her experiences in the New World. Some of her experiences include encounters with the Native Americans. Through her journal, she includes the hardships that the English settlers experience, which consists of suffers starvation and ultimately death.
Here is an excerpt of one of her journal entries:
"August 11, 1609
Today, we came to land at last! it seems there are no bones in my legs. I hugged my friend Jessie. We held each other up. Still, the land seemed to bob beneath us. Seventy-one days. That is how long we were on the ocean. Nine ships sailed from Plymouth, England. But at sea, a hurricane struck. Oh, how it struck." (Hermes 3).
This except demonstrates the beginning of the hardships that the settlers experienced through their difficult journey at sea and the length of time that occurred in order to reach the New World.
Learning Standard
"1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text" (Reading Standards for Literature K–5; Grade 2).
Learning Goal
Students gather information to create a script after reading the text titled Our strange new land : Elizabeth's diary, Jamestown, Virginia, 1609 by: Patricia Hermes.
Learning Objectives
- Students will demonstrate basic knowledge and identify key ideas, individuals and events present within the text (e.g. Captain John Smith) to understand the history of the English settlers in the first settlement of Jamestown by answering teacher initiated comprehension questions, through this lesson. (Cognitive)
- Students will conduct research about the Jamestown settlement by utilizing at least 3 credible sources of information in order to create a script that will focus on an event that they believe is important. (Cognitive and Affective)
- Students will create a script based on what they believe is the most important event in the survival of the Jamestown colony, shown in a journal entry of Elizabeth's diary, within the text. (Psychomotor and Affective)
Learning Activity
This activity will focus on students engaging in a social studies/history lesson about basic knowledge of the first English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. This lesson will be conducted in four sections to ensure that there is adequate time to conduct research and its analysis as well as the creation and the performance of the scripts.
Students will be answer discussion questions based on the text. Through the reading of the text, students will learn to identify the who, what, where, when, why, and how to gather key details of the text. They will conduct research by utilizing at least 3 credible sources to determine if the text provides an accurate portrayal of the Jamestown settlement.
Then, students will create a short script to an important event that played a key role in the survival of the Jamestown settlement.
A rubric will be used to assess this activity, through the portrayal of Jamestown settlement, their performance through teamwork and their responses to teacher initiated questions.
Learning Outcome
Students will conduct research to gain an understanding to the history and events present in the text, in order to determine whether or not the text titled Our strange new land : Elizabeth's diary, Jamestown, Virginia, 1609 by: Patricia Hermes provides an accurate portrayal of the Jamestown settlement.
Selling Tool
Mid-Hudson Library System --Our strange new land : Elizabeth's diary, Jamestown, Virginia, 1609 (n.d.). Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://search.midhudsonlibraries.org/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1226264__SHermes%2C%20Patricia.__Orightresult__X4?lang=eng&suite=cobalt
Lexile Levels Made Easy. (n.d.). Retrieved November 7, 2017, from http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/book-selection-tips/lexile-levels-made- easy
New York State P-12 Common Core Learning Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://www.engageny.org/resource/new-york-state-p-12-common-core-learning-standards-for-english-language-arts-and-literacy
Our Strange New Land, Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary Discussion Guide | Scholastic. (2017). Scholastic.com. Retrieved 7 November 2017, from https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/our-strange-new-land-elizabeths-jamestown-colony-diary-discussion-guide/
