Resources for Families & Community Groups
We are excited to share Children's Lives at Colonial London Town: The Stories of Three Families with you. Whether used as part of a homeschool curriculum, for a community organization, or with family members, these activities will encourage children to think about diversity and historical perspective, while learning about how real people lived in the past.
The following tips will help adult family members and community organization leaders guide children through the storybook and accompanying activities (designed for ages 9-12).
Getting Started
Preview the storybook and activities.
Review the Storybook Guide for a description of the four major content themes in the book and suggestions for making these themes explicit with different readers.
Practice navigating through the storybook's interactive features, including the arrow buttons to turn the pages, links to the Table of Contents and main storybook, Glossary, Timeline, Photo Gallery, and Map. Underlined text in the storybook links directly to the corresponding glossary term. Additional hyperlinked text provides adults with the contextual background on particular people, events, places and historical concepts in the story to enrich your childrens' understanding.
We suggest that you first read the storybook straight through with your children. Have the children read the text aloud with you or in small groups. Children will return to specific chapters to complete the activities.
Utilize the Map, Photo Gallery, and Timeline to give children a sense of place (where London Town was situated in colonial Maryland and where the families lived) and time (chronology of significant events for the three families and those occurring in Maryland, the American colonies, and beyond during the period covered in the book). The photo gallery includes images from London Town, as well as photo illustrations that were created for this book, using our students and their families as models!
A companion resource, Foodways at Colonial London Town, is a guide to the eating habits and cooking practices of the people living in colonial London Town. The website includes articles about customs of food preparation and consumption, as well as a cookbook of colonial recipes - and their modern equivalents - that correspond with the social classes in London Town at the time of the storybook. A How-to-Use guide has suggestions for using Foodways at Colonial London Town with elementary school-aged children and includes three printer-friendly lesson plans.
More information:
- Storybook Guide
- Educator Resources
- Additional Websites and Places of Interest
- Strategies for Before Reading, During Reading, and Before Writing
- Sources Used to Create the Book
- London Town History and Archaeology
- London Town Education Programs
- Visit London Town
- Foodways at Colonial London Town guide to eating habits and cooking practices, cookbook of authentic recipes, and classroom-ready lesson plans (new resource)
Activities for Families, Homeschool Students, and Community Groups
The activities are in a “printer-friendly” PDF format.
Graphing Goods Imported to London Town
“Colonial Life Begins in London Town”
This math and literacy activity involves probability (spinner and outcomes) and graphing.
Forego the Fetid Odors: Discover the Function and Fragrance of a Sweet Bag
“Mehitable, James, Thomas, and Larkin in 1709”
Use the “5-E Science Model” to discover which natural ingredients make the most effective sweet bag.
Connecting to Families through Genealogy and an Introduction to Primary Sources
“Mehitable, James, Thomas, and Larkin in 1709”
Discuss the ancestry of the Holland Pierpoint family and create a family tree.
Colonial Remedies
“Mehitable, James, Thomas, and Larkin in 1709”
Focus on social medicine to learn about the herbal remedies that were used by colonists.
My Mini Book about London Town
This quick activity has students assemble a “London Town Mini Book” after they have finished reading Children's Lives at Colonial London Town: The Stories of Three Families. In completing the activity, students will sequence the major events in the text.
The Life and Times of Colonial London Town: A Game for 2-3 Players
This simple board game is a culminating activity to help students recall events and people from the storybook.
The Legacy of London Town: Centuries of Providing for Others
After the Brown House was sold to Anne Arundel County in 1823, it became an almshouse and County Home for the indigent until the passage of the Social Security Act Amendments in 1965, commonly known as the Medicare Bill, a component of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. In this activity, students read primary source materials and consider the changes that occurred over time in London Town and the impact on public policy in Anne Arundel County.
Additional Activities for Home and School
Native Americans in the Chesapeake
To be completed before and after reading the storybook section, “Native Americans Before Colonization.”
London Town and the Economy of Colonial Maryland
To be completed after reading the section, “Colonial Life Begins in London Town.”
Mercantilism and the Act for the Advancement of Trade
To be completed in conjunction with reading the section, “Colonial Life Begins in London Town.”
The Lives of the Holland Pierpoint Children
To be completed before and after reading Chapter One, “Mehitable, James, Thomas, and Larkin in 1709.”
The Lives of Hannah Hill Moore and Her Family
To be completed before and after reading Chapter Two, “Hannah and Her Family in 1739.”
Jacob and the Brown Family: Comparing the Lives of Enslaved and Free-Born Children
To be completed as a post-reading activity for Chapter Three, “Jacob and the Brown Family in 1762.”
