Virginia SOL USI.5

USI.5 is a Standards of Learning history and social science standard. These are the skills expectations under it.

• USI.5.a

  describing the characteristics and differences among the New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Southern colonies

• USI.5.b

  explaining Virginia’s importance as one of the most populous and wealthiest colonies

• USI.5.c

  comparing life from the perspectives of various groups, including, but not limited to large landowners, farmers, artisans, clergy, merchants, women, indentured ...

• USI.5.d

  explaining the specialization and interdependence of the regions

• USI.5.e

  explaining the changing political and economic relationships between the colonies and Great Britain, including, but not limited to representative government and...

01

What Students Need to Do

Students compare how geography, religion, government, labor, and trade shaped the three colonial regions. They explain Virginia’s wealth and population, examine life from several viewpoints, and trace colonial ties with Great Britain.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

Students can sort accurate details by region and support each choice with evidence. They can explain how colonial groups depended on one another and how self-rule changed relations with Great Britain.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may treat all thirteen colonies as alike or assume every colonist had equal rights and power. They may confuse colonial self-rule with independence or think enslaved people lived only in the Southern colonies.

04

How to Assess It

Give students three regional boxes and six terms: shipbuilding, wheat, tobacco, town meetings, plantations, and religious diversity. Have them place each term, justify two choices, and name one trade connection.

1. 01

   Give groups a blank colonial map, region cards, and yarn; have them place resources, jobs, and trade links, then explain each choice.

2. 02

   Assign each student a colonial role card and ask: How did region, work, race, gender, and status shape your choices?

3. 03

   Play a colony clue sort where teams match geography, religion, crops, labor, and government cards to regions, then correct one another with evidence.

4. 04

   Check labels on classroom products, trace one item’s supply chain, and compare that interdependence with colonial regions trading specialized goods.

• USI.6

  The student will apply history and social science skills to explain the American Revolution by

• USI.3

  The student will apply history and social science skills to explain European exploration and colonization in North America by

• 2.8

  The student will apply history and social science skills to understand the principles of American democracy and relate them to the founding of the nation by

• VS.4

  The student will apply history and social science skills to understand life in the Virginia colony by