Grade 7 Humanities: Week of 11/25/2019: Happy Revolutionary War Games!

Dear Families,

What better way to conclude our unit on The American Revolution than to create a board game based on The American Revolution! Students worked independently, with a partner, or in a group up to five people to plan, create, and play a board game based on our study of The Revolutionary War. The games needed to show how major (and maybe some minor) events of The War impacted different people in different ways (they also learned a few things about how difficult game creation is!)

Some focus groups included, but were not limited to:

• Colonial Rebels — Some colonists were more enthusiastic about the Revolution than others.  The Sons of Liberty, for instance, were a group that did not hesitate to use violence if they thought it would help their cause.

• Colonial Loyalists — Many in the colonies did not want to become independent of Britain.   What happened to them?

• The British — Of course, the British, from King George III, to his military commanders, to common citizens, thought that the colonists’ ideas of independence were ridiculous and unheard of.  What was their perspective based on?

• African Americans — There were some African Americans on each side of the conflict even while enslaved; what was their story?

• Native Americans — Many Native American tribes had participated on both sides in The French and Indian War, which ended shortly before the Revolution.  Who were some of the tribes and how did their positions differ?

• Historical/Literary figures — Patrick Henry, George Washington, and/or characters from Chains: Ruth and Isabel, The Locktons, the list goes on . . .

Next, students needed to discuss ways in which a board game might be able to teach information about The American Revolution.  Some questions we asked were:

• What Revolutionary War events do you want to show?
• Who were some of the major people in the Revolution?
• What kinds of tokens would be appropriate for this game?
• Should there be some “provisions” or “rewards” available to move the game forward?
• What kinds of positive or negative elements might be used to advance or delay a player as they try to get to “independence”?

Completed games included a board, game tokens, dice or simple game pieces, information cards or similar game pieces, and instruction booklets. On the last day before break we presented our games and played them!

Yours,

Ms. Sacilotto