A Colonial Tour from TeachersFirst: Roanoke

The settlement of Roanoke in 1585 marks the beginning of permanent English settlement on the North American continent. But Roanoke's fame lies not in what the English did there, but in that the colonists had disappeared when the expedition's leaders returned with more supplies. The fate of this small band remains a mystery to this day.

Roanoke lies on North Carolina's outer banks, a popular summer location with numerous other attractions. While there are no reconstructions of the lost colony, there are lots of legends, and a visit to the historic site is well worth the time if you're in the area. The links beblow with give you more information.

 

 

Photo Credit: Image: 'usa outer banks Roanoke Island'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33212750@N08/3724110396


 

1-6 of 6 

6 Results | sort by:

Less
More

Reading Treks: So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix - TeachersFirst

Grades
9 to 12
0 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Revisit the story of the novel Little Women in a new way through the eyes of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy as they live their lives within a community of ...more
Here is the direct link to share this resource review. Feel free to copy and paste this URL into an email or place it on your web page or blog so others can read this TeachersFirst review:

 Close Link

Revisit the story of the novel Little Women in a new way through the eyes of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy as they live their lives within a community of newly emancipated people on Roanoke Island. This Reading Trek shares ideas on integrating this book with Google Maps to create a virtual field trip that includes lesson ideas across different subject areas. Along with the suggestions on the map, this Reading Trek also includes several extension activities and resources to engage students to explore further the themes of social justice, diversity, and identity.

tag(s): civil war (148), diversity (62), emancipation proclamation (15), identity (48), maps (223), novels (34), Reading Treks (56), social and emotional learning (221), virginia (16)

In the Classroom

Use this Reading Trek as a guide to integrating a book study into your lessons on the Civil War. Create a template for your book study in Book Creator, reviewed here for students to complete during their activities while reading the book and conducting the virtual tour. Enhance understanding by including timelines created with MyLens, reviewed here, videos made with Motioon, reviewed here, and annotated images created with ClassTools Image Annotator, reviewed here. If this is your first book study, consider completing the Book Creator activities as a class or assigning a book to small groups. This Reading Trek is also perfect for gifted middle school students as an integrated learning activity that explores the book's different themes.
 This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.

Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member

Rating (click star to set rating):

Close comment form

You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).

Close

Less
More

A First Hand Account: Roanoke - The National Center for Public Policy Research

Grades
6 to 12
0 Favorites 0  Comments
Explore an early English attempt to establish a colony in North America through the words of one of its leaders. This resource pairs a short background introduction with an extended...more
Here is the direct link to share this resource review. Feel free to copy and paste this URL into an email or place it on your web page or blog so others can read this TeachersFirst review:

 Close Link

Explore an early English attempt to establish a colony in North America through the words of one of its leaders. This resource pairs a short background introduction with an extended excerpt from Ralph Lane's 1586 report to Sir Walter Raleigh about the first English colony at Roanoke. The introduction explains the colony's founding, its dependence on local Indigenous peoples, deteriorating relations, supply problems, and the colonists' eventual return to England with Sir Francis Drake. Lane's primary-source account describes geography, exploration, encounters with Indigenous communities, searches for food and mineral resources, hardships, and the circumstances leading to the colony's departure. The text uses historical terms for Indigenous peoples that are considered offensive today, making teacher context important. Teachers should also distinguish this 1585-1586 settlement from the better-known 1587 "Lost Colony," which the introduction discusses briefly.

tag(s): colonial america (86), roanoke (3)

In the Classroom

Have students annotate passages from Lane's account and sort observations into categories such as geography, resources, Indigenous-English relations, and survival challenges, then compare Lane's direct reports with claims in the site's introductory summary. Ask students to debate whether poor preparation, strained relationships with Indigenous peoples, supply shortages, environmental conditions, or leadership decisions played the greatest role in the colony's failure, requiring each team to cite evidence from the text. Ask students to work in pairs to trace the colony's major events from its founding in 1585 through the June 1586 departure and create a digital timeline using Timeline Tool by Read Write Think, reviewed here.

Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member

Rating (click star to set rating):

Close comment form

You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).

Close

Less
More

A Teacher's Heritage Education Handbook - National Park Service

Grades
3 to 8
0 Favorites 0  Comments
Fort Raleigh Teacher's Handbook is the teacher's guide that goes with Roanoke Revisited . If provides additional historical...more
Here is the direct link to share this resource review. Feel free to copy and paste this URL into an email or place it on your web page or blog so others can read this TeachersFirst review:

 Close Link

Fort Raleigh Teacher's Handbook is the teacher's guide that goes with Roanoke Revisited . If provides additional historical detail, along with suggestions for using the materials in the classroom.

tag(s): colonial america (86), roanoke (3)

In the Classroom

Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today.

Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member

Rating (click star to set rating):

Close comment form

You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).

Close

Less
More

Fort Raleigh National Historical Site - The National Park Service

Grades
3 to 8
0 Favorites 0  Comments
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is a 500-acre park that recounts the experiences of the settlers at Roanoke. This website offers a wealth of classroom resources, including a children's...more
Here is the direct link to share this resource review. Feel free to copy and paste this URL into an email or place it on your web page or blog so others can read this TeachersFirst review:

 Close Link

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is a 500-acre park that recounts the experiences of the settlers at Roanoke. This website offers a wealth of classroom resources, including a children's page with information on a junior ranger program, the Civil War for kids, and a unique mystery story.

tag(s): colonial america (86), roanoke (3)

In the Classroom

Visit the children's page with your class! Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today.

Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member

Rating (click star to set rating):

Close comment form

You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).

Close

Less
More

Lost Colony of Roanoke - National Park Service

Grades
5 to 12
0 Favorites 0  Comments
What happened to the colonists who disappeared from Roanoke Island? This National Park Service resource introduces students to the enduring mystery of the Lost Colony through a chronological...more
Here is the direct link to share this resource review. Feel free to copy and paste this URL into an email or place it on your web page or blog so others can read this TeachersFirst review:

 Close Link

What happened to the colonists who disappeared from Roanoke Island? This National Park Service resource introduces students to the enduring mystery of the Lost Colony through a chronological set of readings about the English voyages of 1584, 1585, 1587, and John White's return in 1590. Students can follow the changing goals and difficulties of the expeditions, including relationships with Carolina Algonquian peoples, shortages, conflict, English-Spanish rivalry, and the clues left behind when the settlement was abandoned. A linked section on major theories asks readers to weigh evidence for possibilities such as hurricanes, famine and disease, Spanish attack, or relocation to the Chesapeake Bay, Albemarle Sound, or Croatoan. The combination of historical narrative, maps, images, quotations, and competing theories makes the resource especially useful for evidence-based history activities.

tag(s): colonial america (86), national parks (30)

In the Classroom

Assign small groups one theory from the Major Theories page and have them create an evidence chart listing facts that support the theory, facts that weaken it, and unanswered questions. Groups can then conduct a class hearing in which they argue for the explanation best supported while acknowledging uncertainties. Have students map Roanoke Island, Croatoan or Hatteras Island, Albemarle Sound, and the Chesapeake Bay with Google My Maps, reviewed here, adding notes that explain why each location matters to a theory about the colonists' fate. The NPS theories section specifically considers possible movement toward each of these locations. Invite students to examine the historical maps, illustrations, and other visual evidence alongside the written narratives, then annotate what each source reveals and what it cannot prove. Students can use Image Annotator, reviewed here, to create an annotated image that distinguishes observation from inference.

Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member

Rating (click star to set rating):

Close comment form

You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).

Close

Less
More

Roanoke Revisited for Young Readers - National Park Service

Grades
3 to 12
0 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Explore layers of American history through the stories preserved at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island, North Carolina. The site examines the Algonquian-speaking...more
Here is the direct link to share this resource review. Feel free to copy and paste this URL into an email or place it on your web page or blog so others can read this TeachersFirst review:

 Close Link

Explore layers of American history through the stories preserved at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island, North Carolina. The site examines the Algonquian-speaking people of the region, the English voyages and mystery of the Lost Colony, the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony during and after the Civil War, archaeology, and later developments such as early radio experiments. Teachers will find history and culture articles, photographs, John White watercolors, short ranger videos, a 29-minute virtual learning program for grades 4-8, field trip programs, and classroom education resources. The education section includes options for in-person, classroom, and virtual learning, as well as lesson plans on the Lost Colony and the Freedmen's Colony.

tag(s): civil war (148), colonial america (86), north carolina (7), primary sources (176), virginia (16)

In the Classroom

Ask students in small groups to trace the English voyages and major events surrounding Roanoke Island with Timeline Tool by Read Write Think, reviewed here, creating a chronological timeline that distinguishes exploration, conquest, settlement, and John White's return. Have students work in pairs to investigate the site's Lost Colony theories, sort the evidence supporting or challenging each explanation, and defend which theory they find most convincing in a short evidence-based discussion. The NPS presents multiple proposed explanations and discusses strengths and weaknesses of the evidence connected with them. Have students collaborate on a geographic investigation using Google My Maps, reviewed here, to mark Roanoke Island and other locations important to the English voyages, proposed Lost Colony movements, and the Civil War-era Freedmen's Colony. Ask each group to add short explanations connecting geography to historical events.

Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member

Rating (click star to set rating):

Close comment form

You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).

Close

1-6 of 6