The Washingtons In Virginia History

Students travel back in time to experience Colonial Virginia from early settlements to the founding of the nation using the lesson plans with student exercises. This program focuses on Virginia when the first Washington arrived and colonial life as George Washington knew it. The educational program The Washingtons in Virginia History is a result of the partnership between George Washington Birthplace National Monument and Westmoreland County Public Schools. This program is part of the Teaching American History Grant through the United States Department of Education. Based entirely on the Virginia Standards of Learning, The Washingtons in Virginia History enhances student performance on SOL testing.

Teacher lesson plans include a variety of exercises for the students to understand Colonial Virginia, life on a tobacco plantation and George Washington. At the park, students participate in hands-on activities in the tobacco fields and balance the merchant ledger for the tobacco shipped from the plantation to experience how a tobacco plantation operated. Post-visit exercises have the students writing and participating in a Jeopardy game as they develop their critical thinking skills concerning Colonial Virginia and George Washington.