Teacher Notes
Research Features of Your Region (60 minutes) > Print/View All Notes
Students will explore the slideshow to learn about various aspects of the geography of their settlement site. Next, lead a class discussion where students will be asked to predict the advantages and disadvantages of the settlement site and how the site’s geography will affect life in the settlement. As students discuss, they should fill out the decision trees on pages 5 – 6 in their Engineering Portfolios.
Decision Trees (possible answers)
Landforms and Bodies of Water
Advantages: Close to the bay and trading routes
Disadvantages: Being so close to the bay may make the water salty like it was in Jamestown.
Climate
Advantages: Climate is moderated by the bay. Only occasional snow. Winters are cold but not too harsh.
Disadvantages: Summer is hot and muggy. Cool, wet winters could reduce colonists’ resistance to disease.
Soil
Advantages: Soil is very fertile.
Disadvantages: Areas near and in the marshes are not good for farming.
Plants
Advantages: Good trees for wood, good plants for food and medicine.
Disadvantages: Some poisonous plants
Animals
Advantages: The land and water have many animals that can be sources of food, such as bears, bison, elk, fish, crabs and oysters.
Disadvantages: Some dangerous predators such as bears, mountain lions and wolves
Standards Addressed:
3.B.1.c, 3.C.1.a,
D2.Geo.7.3-5, D2.Geo.8.3-5,
W.5.8, W.5.9,
SL1,
SSOP4, SSOP5,
MTLSS 5.B.1
