Worksheet

Two Settlements, Then and Now

Compare the founding of Jamestown and Plymouth with present-day life while examining work, challenges, and relationships in early colonies.

Grade 5Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

Aligned toHIS.5.2

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1 C3 Framework standard
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15 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 5
Subject: Social Studies
Question types: Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students describe reasons Jamestown and Plymouth were founded.
Students compare work, challenges, and relationships in early colonies with life today.
Students support historical comparisons with evidence from a passage.

How to use

Read the museum curator's notes together, then have students use specific details to compare early colonial life with life today.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

HIS.5.2

Describe the founding of Jamestown and Plymouth and daily life in the early colonies.

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Two Settlements, Then and Now

Compare the founding and daily life of Jamestown and Plymouth with life today.

Read the exhibit notes

Read the notes from a student history exhibit. Then answer the questions using evidence from the text.

A Display at the Northstar History Center

Imani is helping prepare a Northstar History Center exhibit called “Settlements Then and Life Now.” The exhibit compares Jamestown, founded in Virginia in 1607, with Plymouth, founded in New England in 1620. It also asks visitors to think about how daily life has changed. Imani studies short notes before arranging the display.

The Virginia Company established Jamestown as an English settlement. Investors hoped the company would earn money, and settlers hoped to build new lives. Jamestown stood beside the James River, which helped ships arrive, but the settlement also faced difficult conditions. Settlers had to clear land, build shelters, find safe food and water, and protect the settlement. Illness, hunger, and disagreements made the early years difficult.

Plymouth was founded by English Separatists who wanted to form a community where they could worship in their own way. The settlers arrived after a long voyage and built homes in a place they did not know well. During the first winter, many became ill, and the small settlement had trouble getting enough food and shelter. People had to work together to plant, fish, prepare food, and care for one another.

Neither settlement began in an empty land. Jamestown was in the homeland of Powhatan communities, a group of distinct Native communities with their own leaders and ways of life. Plymouth was in the homeland of the Wampanoag people. Relationships between Native peoples and English settlers could include trade, communication, diplomacy, and conflict. Wampanoag leaders, including Ousamequin, made a diplomatic relationship with the people at Plymouth. Native knowledge and assistance helped some settlers understand local conditions, although the relationship changed over time.

Imani adds a “Life Today” panel. A modern family can use electric lights, stores, roads, and machines that make some tasks faster. People still need food, shelter, cooperation, and useful work, but they usually get these things in different ways. A modern student might study the settlements with books and digital records instead of crossing the ocean or building a house by hand. The exhibit reminds visitors that new tools can change daily tasks without removing the need for people to work together.

Why does Imani add a “Life Today” panel to the exhibit?

A. To show that early settlers used the same tools as families today.
B. To help visitors compare changes in daily work and resources.
C. To prove that modern people no longer need other people.
D. To explain why Jamestown and Plymouth were built in Virginia.

Which task would people at both Jamestown and Plymouth most likely have needed to do soon after arriving?

A. Use digital records to study the land.
B. Buy ready-made meals from a nearby store.
C. Use electric machines to build their homes.
D. Find food and make a place to live.

Underline the sentence that gives evidence that English settlers entered places where Native peoples already lived.

The Virginia Company established Jamestown as an English settlement.Plymouth was founded by English Separatists who wanted to form a community where they could worship in their own way.Neither settlement began in an empty land.A modern student might study the settlements with books and digital records instead of crossing the ocean or building a house by hand.

Match each description to the settlement or settlements it describes.

A company supported the settlement and investors hoped to earn money.
Settlers wanted a community where they could worship in their own way.
People had to build homes and find food after arriving.

A. Plymouth
B. Both Jamestown and Plymouth
C. Jamestown

Which detail best helps explain why Plymouth's first winter was difficult?

A. The settlers had a long voyage and trouble getting food and shelter.
B. The settlers used electric lights and machines slowly.
C. The Virginia Company wanted the settlement to earn money.
D. The settlement was studied later with books and digital records.

Why does the exhibit name Powhatan communities and the Wampanoag people separately?

A. They were two names for one Native community.
B. Only one of them lived near an English settlement.
C. They were distinct Native communities with their own leaders and ways of life.
D. They were groups of English investors who funded settlements.

Underline the sentence that best shows that relationships between Native peoples and English settlers were not all the same.

Relationships between Native peoples and English settlers could include trade, communication, diplomacy, and conflict.Plymouth was in the homeland of the Wampanoag people.The settlers arrived after a long voyage and built homes in a place they did not know well.A modern family can use electric lights, stores, roads, and machines that make some tasks faster.

Which activity was part of daily life at Plymouth, according to the exhibit?

A. Preparing food and caring for people in the settlement.
B. Downloading digital records about local weather.
C. Riding modern roads to buy food at a store.
D. Operating electric machines to light every home.

Sort each detail as life in the early settlements or life today.

People build shelters and find food after arriving.A student studies history with digital records.Families use electric lights and machines.People clear land and preserve food by hand.

Early settlements	Life today

10.

Which present-day example best shows a need that early settlers also had?

A. A student searches a digital record for a date.
B. A family uses an electric light after sunset.
C. A family drives along a paved road to see a movie.
D. Neighbors divide jobs to grow food in a shared garden.

11.

Underline the sentence that best supports the idea that modern tools changed tasks but did not remove the need for cooperation.

A modern family can use electric lights, stores, roads, and machines that make some tasks faster.People still need food, shelter, cooperation, and useful work, but they usually get these things in different ways.A modern student might study the settlements with books and digital records instead of crossing the ocean or building a house by hand.The exhibit compares Jamestown, founded in Virginia in 1607, with Plymouth, founded in New England in 1620.

12.

What can a reader infer about work in the early colonies from the exhibit?

A. Most settlers could depend on machines to finish difficult work.
B. Many tasks had to be shared because settlements had limited supplies and tools.
C. Settlers spent most of each day studying records about other colonies.
D. Settlers had no reason to communicate with Native peoples.

13.

Which comparison is best supported by the exhibit?

A. Jamestown and Plymouth faced no serious challenges after their founding.
B. People in early settlements and people today did daily tasks in the same ways.
C. Early settlers did more work by hand, while people today often use faster tools.
D. Native peoples and English settlers had the same relationship in every settlement.

Make a historical comparison

Write complete answers. Use details from the exhibit as evidence.

14.

Explain one important difference between why Jamestown and Plymouth were founded. Use one detail about each settlement from the exhibit.

15.

Compare daily life in Jamestown or Plymouth with daily life today. Describe two tasks or resources, and explain how a relationship with Native peoples affected early colonial life.