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Teaching Resources for Your Classroom

Colonial Williamsburg offers a variety of quality instructional materials to help you teach students about life in early America, including the following:

Quill Pen and Powdered InkSlate and Slate PencilEIGHTEENTH-CENTURY WRITING IMPLEMENTS

A goose feather quill pen and powdered ink were the basic writing instruments in the eighteenth century. A writing slate and pencil were essential equipment for any young colonial student.
Quill, $2.00. Ink Powder (makes 3 fluid ounces): $2.00. Paper (12 sheets of laid paper/envelopes): $5.50. Slate and Slate Pencil: $6.00. To purchase, call 1-800-688-6473 or use the order form in the Teaching Resources Catalog.


Aesop's Fables Playing CardsAESOP'S FABLES CARDS

Eighteenth-century playing cards featuring Aesop's Fables. Based on a deck printed by I. Kirk ca. 1759. $7.00. To purchase, call 1-800-688-6473 or use the order form in the Teaching Resources Catalog.

 

 

"A Day in the Life" instructional videosA DAY IN THE LIFE
Instructional Videos

What was a day like in 1774? How did people live? Actually, it depended on who you were. A Day in the Life looks at the lives of eight people—men and women, young and old, free and enslaved—to give your students a look at daily life in colonial America. Each eighteen-minute video is a window to the daily life of people in early America. Includes a CD-ROM with 180 pages of lesson plans and primary source materials. (Grades 4–8), $99.00. Purchase online

Hands-On History: Slaves's BagHANDS-ON HISTORY: SLAVE'S BAG
Eighteenth-Century Artifacts for the Classroom

Discover the hands-on excitement of historical investigation. Turn a Slave’s Bag inside out. Slaves often carried their personal belongings in a bag or basket. This simple drawstring fabric bag contains a bill of sale, an oyster shell, flint and steel, a wooden spoon, a pewter button, a piece of chain, a feather quill, and a pair of stockings.Teacher materials include a lesson strategy, discovery worksheet, annotated artifact inventory, glossary, graphic organizers, primary sources, and illustrations.
(Grades 3–8), $75.00. Purchase online

Hands-On History: Lady's PocketHANDS-ON HISTORY: LADY'S POCKET
Eighteenth-Century Artifacts for the Classroom

Women tied on their pockets and reached through slits in their petticoats to reach the personal items they kept there. This lady's pocket contains a fan, a wig curler, sewing implements (needle case and wax animal), coins (pieces of eight), a seal and wax, Aesop's Fable cards, and a recipe. Teacher materials include a lesson strategy, discovery worksheet, annotated artifact inventory, glossary, graphic organizers, primary sources, and illustrations. (Grades 3–8), $75.00. Purchase online

Book: Mary Geddy's Day

MARY GEDDY'S DAY by Kate Waters
A Book for Young Readers

It's May 15, 1776, and Mary Geddy is anxious. Today, the colony of Virginia will cast its vote either for or against independence from Great Britain. Photographed in Colonial Williamsburg, this intimate glimpse of daily life shows one of the moments in our history that led to the American Revolution, a day when impending war threatened to separate children from friends and loved ones. (Grades 3-5), $9.95. To purchase, call 1-800-688-6473 or use the order form in the Teaching Resources Catalog.

Book: If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial DaysIF YOU LIVED IN WILLIAMSBURG IN COLONIAL DAYS by Barbara Brenner
A Book for Young Readers

Explore the daily tempos of life in 1770s in this question and answer book—Williamsburg from politics and the economy to colonial homes and foodways.(Grades 4-5), $5.95. To purchase, call 1-800-688-6473 or use the order form in the Teaching Resources Catalog.


"Our Common Passage" VideoOUR COMMON PASSAGE by Abigail Schumann
Educational Video

A compelling one-woman drama depicts the lives of four women against the backdrop of colonial America in the days before and during the Revolutionary War. A gentry woman must come to terms with the death of her child as Virginians approach the brink of revolution; a determined rural midwife celebrates life despite the increasing hardships of war; an enslaved woman reflects on family and loss; and a first-time mother faces the fear and isolation of giving birth alone on Virginia's western frontier.

First presented on stage in 1977, Our Common Passage artfully interprets Colonial Williamsburg's "Becoming Americans" theme. (Grades 5–12), $19.95. To purchase, 1-800-688-6473 or use the order form in the Teaching Resources Catalog.