Life at Plymouth Colony ~ Pocket #2

Holly finished up the history pocket #2 a couple days back. In this pocket they talked about the life on the Mayflower during it's journey: how many people, how many died, conditions, how many babies were born, tight quarters and arrival to the new land. When the arrived the scouted the land, encountered natives and suffered serious illness that wiped out half of the pilgrim population in the beginning. She also learned about how on the ship while sailing over the pilgrim group established who their leader or govener would be. As well, they created a doctrine of rules called the Mayflower Compact. We talked about starting a new colony and the need for rules to live together peacefully then she came up with rules she would like to see in a new colony if she had started one.

Holly learned about how they lived that first winter. Some pilgrims stayed abourd the ship while others created a dugout for a home - a cut out into the earth and finished with sticks and brush. A few did make homes but that was a long process that took a long time, so very few were done that first winter. By Spring the pilgrims moved completely off the ship and started to create their small village. In Spring they also finally met up with the natives.

As well, Holly watched this clip on Scholastic.com from Plimouth Plantation - a small lesson on the the journey and a virtual tour of a pilgrim village. You can also enjoy this here: Virtual Field Trip - Plimouth Plantation

This was a great pocket that really provided some great insight to life back then. We had some great discussions based upon this pocket and Holly did some wonderful thinking! She is adoring this project... today we start pocket #3!