From the Mayflower Compact to the Declaration of Independence

The students in my third grade class have learned a lot this year about how our country became a country.  We started out in September learning about the Wampanoag tribe.  This tribe of Native Americans lived right here in what is now known as the Southcoast.  My students loved learning about the Wampanoag's way of life and I kept reminding them, "This is really true!  These people lived right here!"  From there, we moved on to the Pilgrims.  We studied the Mayflower Compact and what it meant to the Pilgrims as they set up the first colonies. 

Around this time, I took a course to introduce a new Social Studies program entitled, Children Discovering Justice.  (CDJ)    It was a 2-day seminar, which focused on how our country created the rights and responsibilities of American citizens.   I had to put the program on hold because my class was still learning about the 1600s (by December we were learning about the Puritans).  But finally, after February vacation, I was able to start the CDJ program.

My students just love it!  It comes with a set of literature that teaches history in a fun way.  I don't think the students even knew that they were learning; they just thought they were reading a great book!  We started off with The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss.  This introduced the idea of the importance of rules.  We moved on to Can't You Make Them Behave, King George?  After this book, my students pretended they were colonists.  They wrote letters to King George telling him that they wanted independence from England.  The letters were really angry!  One "colonist" ended his letter with, "We had the Boston Tea Party for a reason, you know!'  I loved that.  These letters showed me that my students truly understood this time period.  We followed these letters up with mini dialogues between colonist siblings who have overheard their parents talking about dumping tea into the Boston harbor.  We put on mini plays using the dialogues.

The latest thing we've done is to create a huge timeline.  It runs the entire length of my blackboard.  It covers the time period from the Wampanoags to the Revolutionary War.  Now my students truly understand the progression of time from the 1600s to 1776.  That's big for an eight-year old!

We will now be starting our next novel, Revolutionary War Wednesday, which is part of the Magic Tree House series (our favorite series).  More books will follow. I am only a few lessons ahead of my students, as this is a brand new program.

History has come alive in my classroom, thanks to our new CDJ program.

Susan Kiley

Grade 3 teacher

DeValles School