Education - Information for UK Schools

America’s 400th Anniversary –
Commemorating Jamestown 2007

1. Jamestown 2007 as a KS2/KS3 Project within ‘Excellence and Enjoyment’

The story of Pocahontas, John Smith and John Rolfe, as portrayed in Terrence Malik’s film ‘The New World’ provides.UK schools with a wonderful opportunity to work up a project on Jamestown 2007 and hence to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of English Speaking America. Although Jamestown 1607 is just outside the National Curriculum KS2 focus on the Tudors, the story of the establishment of the first English speaking colony on the shores on North America can be used to bring many other themes alive at both KS2 and KS3.

Just some of these are:

Exploration:– why did the English go, how did they get there and what did they hope to find?

Language:- why is English the language of North America, why is this of enormous importance, even today? How many words have found their way into English from the Algonquian spoken in the film?

Cross-cultural conflict and co-operation: the nature of Virginian Indian society, the way in which the English were helped by the Virginian Indians but ultimately destroyed that society. Why did the Powhatan cooperate with Jamestown?

Citizenship:- what can Jamestown teach us about the roots of democracy and the rule of law?

Enterprise:- Jamestown was founded by a joint-stock company and developed into a tobacco growing, slave owning society. What issues does this raise about the historic roots of America?

2. Web resources

There is a wealth of information from US web-sites which will help teachers to access information and lesson materials.

a. Background information: jamestown2007.org This is the official website of the Jamestown 2007 celebrations and give details of what is happening, when and where, together with access to community programmes, including some in the UK. It also links with the Jamestown 2007 British Committee who are planning events across the UK for 2006/2007.

b. For access to lesson plans, notes etc devised for US schools but easy to adapt for UK schools, see www.jamestownjourney.org

If you want to register on this site as a UK teacher/school, the ‘sign in system requires you to have a ‘US State’ address. If you put in your contact details and just use ‘ Virginia’ as the state, you can get round this! Their system will acknowledge receipt of your registration. This then lets you down-load all the information available and the materials prepared by the University of Virginia for US schools

c. If you want lesson plans and other materials prepared by schools for schools, try www.wjcc.k12.va.us/tahg/ This ‘Teaching American History’ site is based in the Williamsburg – James City County Schools and linked to teams developing curriculum material from other sites, the National Park service teams at First Landing Park and Jamestown Island, the birthplace of George Washington, the Saugus Iron Works in New England, the American Indian National Monument in Georgia and the links with Spanish speaking settlements in Puerto Rico.

d. Perhaps best of all is the Virtual Jamestown site at www.virtualjamestown.org/ This has a huge collection of interactive materials, collections of maps, documents and images, court records, public records and first hand accounts. Many can be downloaded to form part of an inter-active white-board presentation for class use, to bring alive this extraordinary episode in our shared history.

3. Planned projects for UK schools and colleges

a. ‘Discovery’
A replica of the smallest of the three ships that sailed from Blackwall, East London in December 1606, the Discovery has been gifted to the UK by its American Museum owners. The ship will be moored at the West India Dock quay, outside at the Museum in Docklands and from mid-May, it will visit places around the UK with links to the settlers’ story. Visit the website for updates on where it can be seen www.jamestownuk.org/discovery.

b. NASA and Historic Jamestowne
NASA has developed a joint educational programme with Jamestown on the theme of exploration through the ages. There are resources that have already been developed, and they have offered a visit from one of their 'educators' (at NASA expense, we understand) to come to the UK to deliver a training session to Kent teachers. This has been tentatively scheduled for the autumn term. There is also an offer to set up videoconferences between UK and US schools, aimed at ‘6th grade’, to talk about exploration through the ages. The education content developed jointly between NASA and Historic Jamestowne.

Registration details for teachers on how to book for the training session are available on Kent Education’s Clusterweb

c. Teachers’ Pack
A teachers’ pack to encourage Primary School KS2 class teachers to include a project on Jamestown 2007 in their planning for the 2006-2007 school year will be available in May 2006. The pack will include links to the National Curriculum, a factual summary of the story of Jamestown, material for a ‘time-line’, links to websites, material for quizzes, puzzles and games, and details of regional and national competitions. The materials will be trialled in primary schools before publication to ensure that they are as useful to schools as possible.

d . Debating Competition for Primary Schools
Through the English Speaking Union and their branches across the UK, we plan to set up a competition for Primary School debating teams on a Jamestown 2007 related theme. The idea is for each County ESU branch to support schools in their area to compete in such a debate on a regional/county basis, providing some funds for information/transport etc with a national round in London at a suitable venue.

e. Other projects for schools
‘The Jamestown Company as a study in Enterprise’ a cross-curricular day project being developed by Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School with the support of the Business and Enterprise section of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. ‘Words that changed the world’ - an annotated anthology of poetry and prose from Utopia to Martin Luther King, on themes in the England-America story, for use in schools at KS4 and the 6th Form www.captainjohnsmith.co.uk

f. Contemporary documentation
The Archives Unit at Kent County Council has collated a set of contemporary documents in its care, called ‘From Kent to Virginia through historical documents’, it is available from Kent Archives.

Federal Commission & Jamestown, Virginia

Links to their web pages

• www.jamestown2007.org
• www.americas400thanniversary.com