Learning the 13 Colonies Stack and Link Style

Learning the 13 Colonies Stack and Link Style Adapted from Dr. David Vawter Winthrop University Old English Consortioum Conference 2008 Chester Middle School

1. Imagine • Imagine a giant blue and white delicate chinaware plate, with a crack in it sitting on the ground, (Delaware) • A large Fountain Pen has its tip stuck in the crack in the plate and ink is splashing out onto the plate. (Pennsylvania) • (share what your plate looks like with a buddy)

2. Imagine • Spinning like a wind vane on the top cap end of the pen is a brown and white cow wearing a jersey. (New Jersey) What sports team jersey does your cow have on? (tell a buddy from start to finish)

3. Imagine – George Washington is riding the cow like a rodeo rider, hanging on to the horns as it spins and flapping his tricorn hat. (Georgia) – One of the horns has cut his hand which is wrapped in a bloody bandage to connect the cut (Connecticut) • (share what you have thus far with a buddy)

4. Imagine – To help his cut hand, dripping down onto the bandage is massive block of ice. (Massachusetts) – Sitting barefoot and shivering on top of the block of ice is Marilyn Monroe in a bikini. (Maryland) – A cruise boat is sailing down her leg, Southbound for winter. (South Carolina)

5. IMAGINE – Inside the boat a pig is loose and wrecking havoc on the passengers. He’s becoming a ham! (New Hampshire) – Aboard the ship is Captain, Thomas Jefferson, from Virginia, who saves the day by tossing the pig overboard –he survives (Virginia) (tell a buddy what you imagine thus far)

6. Imagine – Because of the pig’s shenanigans, the ship strays off course and wrecks onto an island into the Atlantic Ocean! (Rhode Island) – After repairing the cruise liner, Captain TJ reverses the boat northbound. (North Carolina) – Finally, in the distance, the passengers see the Statue of Liberty! The have arrived in the “Big Apple” and celebrate accordingly. (New York)!

You have just learned the 13 colonies • • • • 1. Delaware 2. Pennsylvania 3. New Jersey 4. Georgia 5. Connecticut 6. Massachusetts 7. Maryland 8. South Carolina 9. New Hampshire 10. Virginia 11. New York 12. North Carolina 13. Rhode Island

How? • Check for understanding with your students • Use exaggerations so they can buy into the learning process • Have them make up things that help them remember!