World of Naaya - Teacher's Guide - Environment 1: The Woodlands

Part 1: The Arrival of the European Colonists


Introduction: In 1620, the Mayflower landed, bringing the first Europeans to the New World. These Pilgrims and others left England in search of a home where they had religious freedom and could build their own society. They faced sickness, fire and freezing weather. Through hard work and the help of Native Americans, they created the Plymouth Colony.
Areas: The Cabin and The Hut
Myles Standish

Portraits

Historical Figure: Myles Standish

Date Story (told by Myles Standish)
1584-1656 "I'm Myles Standish. I was hired to be the millitary leader of the Plymouth colony as it grew. I was known for my short temper, and people said I was 'the little pot that boils over quickly." But our Governor Bradford himself said that I comforted many and was a source of strength to those who suffered."
Fact 1 Fact 2 Fact 3 Fact 4
Myles Standish was an English military officer and a passenger on the Mayflower. The Pilgrims hired him to protect them in their new settlement. He served as a millitary leader of the Plymouth Colony for the rest of his life.

Time Tokens

The Mayflower Arrives

Date Story (told by Myles Standish)
1620 "Before we got off the boat, we signed the Mayflower Compact. It was a set of rules for our new colony. That agreement helped us maintain order and work together in the rough years that followed."
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The pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower and travelled from England to the New World in search of religious freedom. They landed in what is now Provincetown in the state of Massachusetts. They named their new home Plymouth after the city in England from which they sailed.

The First Thanksgiving

Date Story (told by Myles Standish)
1621 "When we arrived in North America, we quickly learned that we were not alone. Many Native American people were living there, and it was a good thing too. Soon, our friends the Wampanoags showed us new ways to plant corn, fish with nets, and hunt deer."
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The Pilgrims struggled to survive in their first year. The Wampanoags were a  Native American tribe that taught the Pilgrims many new skills to help them survive. They held a big feast to celebrate how things were getting more comfortable and that they had high hopes for the future. More than 200 years later, president Abram Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony

Date Story (told by Myles Standish)
1630 "In just a few decades, tens of thousands of settlers filled New England with cities and towns. Soon, people began to spread inland from the coast. The Massachusets Bay Colony was formed to tie it all together. In that society you had to follow the Puritain rules... or else. Sometimes, it was my job to kick people out of the coloney when they didn't follow the rules. "
Fact 1 Fact 2 Fact 3 Fact 4
Between 1630 and 1640, more than 20,000 Puritains left England for the New World. The Puritains were much more strict, serious and religious than many of the other European settlers. They established the Massachusets Bay Colony which grew to include Plymouth and many other cities along the coast of Massachusetts.  

Founding of Pennsylvania

Date Story (told by Myles Standish)
1681 "The Puritans in New England established religious freedom for themselves, but not for anyone else. A man named William Penn wanted to protect his followers, so he led them to a new colony they named Pennsylvania. It became one of the biggest and richest colonies in the New World."
Fact 1 Fact 2 Fact 3 Fact 4
William Penn established a new colony so his people, the Quakers, had a safe place to practice their religion.  Freedom of religion was granted to all citizens of Pennylvania. The name Pennsylvania means "Penn's Woods."  

Fact Files

Title Fact Story (told by Myles Standish)
Change of Plans The Mayflower passengers wanted to sail to Virginia, but were blown off course. The landed far north, in what is Provincetown, Massachusetts today. "When we boarded the ship, we were heading to Virginia. Then, while we were in the middle of the ocean, a storm picked up and winds blew us northward. We made it through that storm, but we decided on a new path to the New World. We landed almost 600 miles to the North."
Rough Ride The passengers on the Mayflower experienced stormy seas on a perilous voyage that lasted nine weeks. "Oh what a trip! The main beam of the ship cracked, one man fell overboard and was rescued, and a baby was born on the journey too. He was named Oceanus. I bet you can guess why."
Plymouth Rock Plymouth Rock is celebrated as the place where Pilgrims first set foot on American soil. Nobody knows if this is true or not, but people mark this as the beginning of the the Pilgrim's new life. "We were lucky. The place we landed had already been cleared and made ready to build on by Native Americans. Those people had all died before arrived, and we didn't even know about it. This gave us a big head start towards building our permanent settlement."
Town Meetings Many communities in New England held town meetings several times a year. All citizens could vote on many of the important issues of the day. (Not all people were citizens, of course.) "A few times a year, we'd get together to talk about new laws and some of the projects that the town should build. If you were white man, and attended church regulary then you were allowed to vote."
Pillory The pillory was one of the tools used to punish lawbreakers. A wooden frame had three holes in it to hold a person's head and hands in place. "Living was harsh in the early colonies and, sometimes, the law could be just as tough. When people broke the rules ,even just a little bit, there were strong punishments, like spending time in the pillory. It hurt, and it also let everyone else see what would happen to folks who didn't follow the rules."
Chicken cleanup! It was important for the colonists to keep their fireplaces from getting clogged. Sometimes, they would drop a chicken down their chimney. The animal's frantic flapping would brush away soot! "It was cold, so the colonists used their fireplaces all the time. Since their houses were made of wood, fires were a big danger. Folks invented a lot of ways to keep from accidentally burning down their buildings!"

Nature Frames

Seagull

Story (told by Myles Standish)
"When you hear seagulls, you know you're near land. What a joy it must have been for those Mayflower passengers to hear seagulls after nine gruelling weeks at sea."
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Seagull is the name for more than 43 species of birds. Any gull bird that lives by seawater is a seagull. They can be found almost anywhere in the world where there are oceans or lakes. Gulls eat fish, plankton, worms, eggs, and often scavenge for food left behind by humans. They can drink both freshwater and saltwater.

Pumpkin

Story (told by Myles Standish)
"Pumpkins were introduced to the Pilgrims by the Native Americans. Right away, they became a very important food for settlers everywhere. Pumpkins could be dried, roasted, boiled or stewed. People roasted pumkin seeds, and farmers fed pumpkin pieces to their cattle and pigs."
Fact 1 Fact 2 Fact 3 Fact 4
The pumpkin is a vegetable related to the squash. They are usually orange, but can also be white or other colors. Most full-grown pumkins weigh between 10 and 15 pounds. Some can grow to be more than 800 pounds!

White Tailed Deer

Story (told by Myles Standish)
"The Wompanoags taught their neighbors new ways to hunt for deer. For the first Thanksgiving, the leader of the Wompanoags, Massasoit, brought five deer as a gift to share for the dinner feast."
Fact 1 Fact 2 Fact 3 Fact 4
The white tail deer is the most common deer in the United States. They eat twigs, leaves, fruit, grass or water plants, so they can survive in many different environments. Their main predators are mountain lions, wolves, coyotes and wild dogs. A deer's main way to defend itself: run away fast!