Virginia SOL VS.3.e
The Standard
- VS.3
- The student will apply history and social science skills to explain the causes and effects of events associated with the first permanent English settlement in North America by
describing the hardships faced by settlers at Jamestown and the changes that took place to ensure survival including, but not limited to trade with the Powhatan, the leadership of Captain John Smith, land ownership, and the successful commercial cultivation of tobacco
Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify Jamestown’s main problems, such as hunger, disease, unsafe water, and weak farming efforts. They explain how Powhatan trade, John Smith’s leadership, private land, and tobacco helped the settlement continue.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can connect each hardship to a specific response and explain the cause-and-effect link. The student can separate changes that supplied food from changes that brought labor, profit, or stronger organization.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may assume John Smith alone saved Jamestown or that relations with the Powhatan were always friendly. They may also confuse tobacco profits with an immediate solution to hunger or misunderstand private land as land shared by everyone.
How to Assess It
- Use this exit ticket: “Name two hardships at Jamestown. For each hardship, identify one response and explain how it helped the settlement survive.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs hardship and response cards to match, then have them draw arrows showing how each response improved Jamestown’s chances.
Ask students to write: “Which change helped Jamestown most, and what evidence supports your choice?”
Run a matching relay with cards for hunger, leadership, Powhatan trade, private land, tobacco, profit, and food.
Compare Jamestown’s food, work, and money problems with starting a school garden, then list what each project needs to continue.
Free download
Printable VS.3.e Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to VS.3.e, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetKeep exploring
Related Standards
- VS.3.f
analyzing the impact of the arrival of Africans and women to the Jamestown settlement
- VS.4.f
describing ways people exchanged goods and services in Colonial Virginia
- VS.3.d
describing the interactions between the English colonists and the Indigenous people, including the role of the Powhatan in the survival of the colonists
- VS.3.b
describing the economic and geographic influences on the decision to settle at Jamestown
Turn this exact standard into a lesson
Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.
Also for this standard:Make a WorksheetMake a QuizMake a Sub Lesson