I was extremely excited when we were asked to review The Mayflower at Cape Cod- Stories, activities, and research that connect 1620 with life today by Rebecca Locklear. Since both Michael and Therese are taking U.S. History next year, I though this would be a wonderful introduction for them!
For this review, we received a link to download the The Mayflower at Cape Cod eBook. The eBook can be purchased through Teachers Pay Teachers. A printed book can be purchased on Amazon or by contacting the author directly.
The Mayflower at Cape Cod is geared for students in grades 6th-12th. The eBook is 74 pages long.
~ What is The Mayflower at Cape Cod eBook~
The Mayflower at Cape Cod eBook covers the time from when the Pilgrims anchored off the coast of Cape Cod on November 21, 1620 through the five weeks they remained there. Students will discover how the Pilgrims found food, how they searched for a settlement, how the the Native Americans responded to the presence of the Pilgrims, and how the Pilgrims survived during the 5 weeks before they settled in Plymouth.
The Mayflower at Cape Cod provides students with short stories, pictures, activities to work on, and research projects to complete. Students will cover topics like community, epidemics, cross-cultural communication, freedom, religion, immigration, migration, environmental concerns, judgement, language differences, marine mammals, self-sufficiency, materialism, tribal issues, slavery, societal conversations, and wildlife survival skills.
After a brief introduction, the lesson units begin. The Mayflower at Cape Cod contains 7 Units covering the Pilgrims and the Native Indians.
~Unit 1~
The First Encounter between Pilgrims and Native Indians
~Unit 2~
Exploration Overview
~Unit 3~
The Mayflower landing at Cape Cod
~Unit 4~
Search Expeditions
~Unit 5~
Native Indians
~Unit 6~
After the First Encounter
~Unit 7~
Present Awareness
Cross-Cultural Communications and Travel Tips
Native Indian Issues Today
The seven units contain 70 creative activities and 80 research topics for the students to work through.
~Examples of Creative Activities~
Art projects
Poetry
Freeze Pantomime Drama
Leaf Art
Survival Kits
Cooking
Games
~Examples of Research Topics~
Separatists
Native Indians
Weapons
Disease and Epidemics
King Philip's War
Religious Freedom
Slavery
Each Unit contains an objective, a story, a summary, a list of activities, and a few research topics. Parents and teachers can have the students complete all the activities and research projects or they can pick a few to complete.
~What We Thought About The Mayflower at Cape Cod~
The short eBook provides students with some valuable information about the time period from when the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod and those 5 weeks they anchored off the shore. This important time period is often overlooked in history books. The stories are short enough for a brief class or can be easily done over a few classes.
I found that many of the activities were recommend for groups. This can be a little difficult if you only have one or two students working through this eBook. Some of the activities were not appealing to my two high school students. There was no way they were going to act out a skit or create a diorama. Many of the activities they had already done over the years.
The research topics were plentiful, however I think some of them overlapped and could have been combined. Older students can easily take a few of the topics and work on a 10 page term paper.
I personally feel The Mayflower at Cape Cod eBook would be a better fit for students in 6th-8th grade. It would be a fantastic resource for a co-op class or a regular classroom setting. Students could easily spend a few weeks working through this eBook. They would learn about this important time period from history, but also see how it affects us today. The discussion questions are outstanding.
After reviewing The Mayflower at Cape Cod, I felt it was not a great fit for us. I do plan on having the kids read more of the stories when we study this time period next year. I did find a few research topics that I wan them to research and write a paper on. Even if a family decides not to use all the activities and research topics, I think they could easily find a few activities or topics to implement into their homeschool lessons.
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The crew were given the choice between two eBooks to review:
and
Check out the Review Crews thoughts about these to fantastic eBooks!
Till Next Time,
Monique
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