Learning to Give, Curriculum Division of The LEAGUE
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Purpose:
Students explore the definition of community as a group coming together for the common good. Students work cooperatively to form rules and compare their rules to the compact made by the Pilgrims before they left the boat.
Duration:
One Forty-Minute Class Period
Objectives:
The learner will:
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define a community as a group of people who come together for a common purpose.
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recognize the Pilgrims as a group of people who formed a community in order to exercise their freedom of religion.
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write a set of rules for their group.
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compare their rules to the “Mayflower Compact.”
Service Experience:
None for this lesson.
Materials:
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A copy of the book If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620
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A copy of Attachment One: Copy of Mayflower Compact
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World Map
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United States Map
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Journals and pencils
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Construction paper and markers
Instructional Procedure(s):
Anticipatory Set:
Write “community” on the chalkboard. Ask the students to name some communities to which they belong. List their ideas. Define the word community as a group of people who come together for a common purpose. Ask the students to brainstorm more communities of which they are part. Their list should be much longer with this broad definition. Save the list for later in the lesson.
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Read the page about seeing land for the first time (page 32) in If you Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. Have the students get into their “boats.” Tell the children that their journey from England is about to end. In November 1620, the Pilgrims reached land in Massachusetts. (Locate on US map.) Allow them to role play the excitement of seeing land after their long journey.
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Guide the students to recognize that the Pilgrims on the Mayflower were a community who came together because they wanted religious freedom. In order for a community to have peace and to make progress together, they must respect each other, work for the common good and have some rules (or agreements about appropriate behavior).
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Explain that just as we have rules in our classroom community, the Pilgrims needed rules in their community. They were establishing a new home where there wasn’t a king or president and it was important to them that their new settlement would be successful so the Pilgrims decided that they would need rules or laws in their community. They decided to write down those laws before they left the ship and settled in their new land. They called their set of laws the “Mayflower Compact.” (A compact is another word for an agreement.)
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Give each group the assignment to work as a community to write rules for the common good. You may wish to limit the number of rules to suit the age of your students. Tell the students that anyone in the group may suggest a rule, but that each rule must be voted on. More than half of the group must agree on a rule in order for it to be accepted.
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The students should work on rough draft paper, then write their final rules in marker on construction paper. Younger students may draw picture representations of the rules. Allow the students about 15-20 minutes to work on their rules. The teacher should circulate among groups, troubleshooting where needed.
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Have the group reporters read aloud their group’s rules. (For younger children, the recorder might tell about the picture rules.)
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Read to the children the “Mayflower Compact.” See Attachment One: The Mayflower Compact. Read about it in If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. Explain that in the compact, the Pilgrims agreed to make laws for the good of the colony (or community) and to obey those laws.
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Compare the Mayflower Compact to the rules the students made.
Assessment:
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Class Participation ( use observation grid from Lesson One: Get on the Boat)
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Have the student write or draw in their journals about the experience of making rules for their community. Tell them to consider the following when writing: Do they think the rules are fair? Was it hard to agree on certain rules? Which one rule do they think is the most important and why? (This could also be done as a whole group writing activity.)
School/Home Connection:
None for this lesson.
Extension:
Bibliographical References:
- McGovern, Anne. If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. Scholastic, 1993. ISBN: 0590451618
Lesson Developed and Piloted by:
Michal SmithSaginaw Township Community Schools
Handley Elementary School
Saginaw, MI 48602
Handouts:
Handout 1Print Handout 1
The Mayflower Compact
Although this language is too difficult for young students to understand, read at least parts of it aloud so they can hear the language. Talk about the formal language. Summarize the points and talk about the main idea. Why did they think it was important to make this statement?
In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of Faith, etc.
Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Houour of our King and county, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Poltick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Futherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience.
In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Code, the eleventh of November, in Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth and of Scotland the fifty fourth. Anno Domini, 1620
Unit Contents:
Overview:Pilgrim's Progress Summary
Lessons:
- 1.
- Get on the Boat
- 2.
- Searching for a New Home
- 3.
- Sad Seasick Sailors
- 4.
- Arrival (The)
- 5.
- Native American Philanthropists
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