8/17/2019 Performance Task With Organizers _ Opinion http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/performance-task-with-organizers-opinion 1/16 Fifth Grade Writing Performance Task Quarter 4 Colonies For this performance task, you will complete the following steps: 1. Deconstruct the writing prompt. 2. Read articles “Comparing The Colony Regions” and “New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies.” Take notes on both articles. 3. Answer text dependent questions based on information from the articles. 4. Watch a video and take notes. 5. Complete a collaborative task with your classmates. 6. Create a plan for your writing using the graphic organizer provided. 7. Write your essay. 8. Reread your rough draft to revise and edit.
Transcript
8/17/2019 Performance Task With Organizers _ Opinion
Read the article and take notes using the graphic organizer provided. Then answer the text dependent
questions.
New England Colonies
The New England colonies are made up by Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New
Hampshire. The people of New England shared certain characteristics and lacked the diversity
experienced in the Middle or Southern colonies. The vast majority of New Englanders were white,
English, extremely religious, and enjoyed large families.
New England Colonies in the northeast had generally thin, stony soil, relatively little level land,
and long winters, making it difficult to make a living from farming. Turing to other ways of life, the
New Englanders harnessed waterpower and established grain mills and saw mills. Large amounts of
timber encouraged shipbuilding. Excellent harbors promoted trade, and the sea became a source of great
wealth. In Massachusetts, the cod industry along quickly furnished a basis for prosperity. So much in
fact that Boston became on of the wealthiest towns through most of the 18th and 19th centuries.
With the bulk of the early settlers living in villages and towns around the harbors, many New
Englanders interacted in “common spaces” within the town. Living so close to one another made places
such as the village school, the village church and the village or town hall, places of common interestthat everyone shared. Important town meetings or urgent announcements would be held in a “common
space”.
Oak timber for ships’ hulls, tall pines for spars and masts, and tar for the seams of ships came
from the Northeastern forests. Building their own vessels and sailing them to ports all over the world,
the shipmasters of Massachusetts Bay laid the foundation for a trade that was to grow steadily in
importance. By the end of the colonial period, one- third of all British ships were build in New England.
Fish, ships, and wood products swelled the exports.
Middle Colonies
The Mid-Atlantic Colonies are Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware. just like in
New England, the environment greatly impacted the way people who lived in the middle colonies made
a living and went about their daily lives.A major difference between New England colonies and the Middle colonies was the quality of
the land. The Middle colonies had rich farmland and a moderate climate, which made farming much
easier than it was in New England. Many people made their living raising livestock or growing grain.
Due to the ease of farming, these colonies were able to provide food for their own people and to send to
the other colonies; the Middle colonies became known as the “breadbasket colonies”. Philadelphia was
the leading city for both political and economic life throughout the Middle Colonies
Land in the middle colonies also consisted of coastal lowlands, which contained harbors and
bays with wide, deep rivers. The location along the Atlantic Coast also allowed people in the Mid-
8/17/2019 Performance Task With Organizers _ Opinion
Atlantic colonies to make a living through fishing. Those who did not make a living by farming or
fishing were able to find work as either skilled or unskilled workers.
People in the middle colonies came from a variety of different cultures and participated in many
different religions. Immigrants from many countries chose the Middle colonies due to the variety of
options that were available to them. Despite the variety of cultures and belief systems, life in the Middle
colonies still revolved around the village or city which one lived in. Market towns were extremely
important in the Middle colonies because people needed to go to town to trade the produces they grew or
made.
Southern Colonies
In contrast to the New England and Middle colonies were the rural southern colonies of Virginia,
Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. “Common spaces” such as those in New England
were absent in the South as most people lived on large tracts of land, miles upon miles apart. By the late
17th century, Southern economic and social stability rested on the great planners of the region. The
planters, supported by slave labor, held most of the political power and owned the best land. They built
great houses, adopted an aristocratic (grand, lavish) way of life and kept in touch as best they could with
the world of culture overseas.
Charleston, South Carolina, became the leading port and trading center of the South. Denseforests also brought revenue: lumber, tar, and resin from pine trees provided some of the best
shipbuilding materials in the world. An excellent growing climate made the Southern colonies the most
popular region for agriculture. Not bought to a single crop as was Virginia (tobacco), North and South
Carolina also produced and exported rice and indigo, a blue dye obtained from native plants that were
used in coloring fabric.
By 1750 more than 100,000 people lived in the two colonies of North and South Carolina. In the
southern-most colonies, German, Scottish, and Irish immigrants populated the land. Living on the edge
of the Indian country, frontier families build cabins, cleared land in the wilderness and cultivated maize
and wheat. While the Southern region had some diversity among the people, it was nothing like that of
the Middle Colonies. People in the South typically fell into one of three categories: Elite (white,
planter), Yeoman (immigrant worker), or Slave.
8/17/2019 Performance Task With Organizers _ Opinion
Read the article and take notes using the graphic organizer provided. Then answer the text dependent
questions.
New England Colonies
Who were the Pilgrims? Why did they travel to a new land?
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire were the colonies that made up
New England. Many people that settled in the New England Colonies were pursuing religious freedom.
This differs from the Jamestown settlers, as they were seeking gold,riches, and economic growth. The
Pilgrims, for example, were separatists. They wanted to break away from the Church of England, which
is why they traveled to the new land. Had they remained, they would have risked jail. The Pilgrims
traveled upon a ship called the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth. Plymouth was the first permanent
colony established after Jamestown.
The Puritans would soon follow and settle in Massachusetts Bay. Puritans were seeking to
reform the church but not break away. Over the years, many other people would immigrate to the landsreferred to as the New England Colonies. These newcomers would set up fishing villages along the
rivers and ocean. The land in these northern colonies was very rocky and not fertile, so most economic
growth came from fishing and whaling not farming. Lumber was also abundant resource, and it was
often times exported to England.
Middle Colonies
Why do you think the Middle Colonies were referred to as the “bread basket”?
The Middle Colonies, which were made up of Delaware, New York, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania, were very diverse. Unlike the New England Colonies, the middle colonies represented
many religions. Many people moved here for religious tolerance. This area was sometimes referred to asthe ‘melting pot’ because people from all over the world settled there. Quakers were one group that
made this area their home. The Quakers were simple people who believed that all people were created
equal. Being truthful was important to them. They did not believe in war, not did they believe in death as
punishment. William Penn, who started Pennsylvania, was a famous Quaker. Another nickname given to
the Middle Colonies was the ‘breadbasket’. This name derived from the vast amount of grain produced.
The grain was then used to make bread. Most people had small farms. People would then sell their crops
at the local markets. Because many rivers flowed into the Middle Colonies, trade was easy. Crops could
be loaded onto ships and then exported. Due to the number of shipping ports, ship building became a
prominent industry. The middle colonies were consisted to be very busy.
Southern ColoniesWhat is a plantation?
The Southern Colonies included Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia. Many of the people who settled in the south were seeking wealth. One way to gain wealth was
through farming. The soil in the south was rich in nutrients and the weather was warm, both of which
made for productive farming. Tobacco, cotton, rice, and indigo (used as purple of blue dye) were some
of the cash crops that boosted the economy. Large farms called plantations were established. On the
plantations, a few of the things you might find were a master’s house, slave houses, a smoke house, a
8/17/2019 Performance Task With Organizers _ Opinion
Selects a colonial regionGives three reasons to support choice
Explains in his or her own wordsCites at least two sources correctlyUses quotes and paragraphed ideas correctly to support reasoningGrammar, spelling, and punctuation are nearly perfectUses interesting vocabulary and voice
3
Selects a colonial regionGives three reasons to support choiceExplains in his or her own wordsCites at least two sources correctlyUses quotes or paraphrased ideas correctly to support reasoningGrammar, spelling, and punctuation are at grade levelUses grade level vocabulary
2
Selects a colonial region
Gives only one or two reasons to support choiceExplains in his or her own words but does not include quotes or paraphrasesOR
Uses quotes or paraphrases ideas but does not explain in his or her own wordsGrammar, spelling, and punctuation are not at grade levelUses simple vocabulary
1Does not select a colonial regionOR
Evidence or examples do not support the topicGrammar, spelling, and punctuation are far below grade level
