A Review of Evan-Moor’s History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony, Grades 1-3

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Evan-Moor’s Pocket book series supplies you with interactive learning activities that are compiled into construction paper pockets and bound into a book. The resulting pocket book is a nice portfolio of student work and a great way to review the content learned. I have previously used and loved Evan-Moor’s Literature Pocket series (CLICK HERE to read my full review), and was excited to try out their book, History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony, Grades 1-3. I received a complementary copy of this book in exchange for this review.

Overview

History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony, Grades 1-3 covers information about what it was like to live in Plymouth Colony including:

• The voyage to North America
• Initial challenges in the settlement and the first Thanksgiving
• What the village was like
• Life in the home
• The family
• Working in the colony
• School
• What we gained from the Pilgrims

In each unit, the child creates artifacts to go in the corresponding pocket including vocabulary, a student booklet, and additional writing and craft projects related to the pocket theme (e.g., Life in the home). In addition, an overview page and a teacher fact sheet are included for each pocket.

Supplies Needed

In addition to the History Pockets book, you will need:

• 12″ x 18″ pieces of construction paper for each pocket (8 pockets and 1 cover)
• 9″ x 12″ construction paper
• Hole punch
• yarn, string, ribbon, or binder rings to fasten the pockets together into a book
• crayons, markers, or coloring pencils
• glue
• scissors
• wooden dowel or chopstick, scrap of fake fur, bead to fit the bottom of the chopstick or dowel
• file folder
• paper clip
• wax paper
• tag board
• paper fasteners

Pocket Construction

Benefits of History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony

Easy to Use

Ease of use is really important to me as a homeschooling mom. I just don’t have the time to search for other resources or specific books that my library may not even carry. History Pockets really is easy to use. Everything you need is right in the book. The history information is perfectly supported through the hands-on activities, which are also all included. The basic supplies for the hands-on activities are easy to access, most of which I keep as basic homeschooling supplies.

Engaging Content

I remember hating history as a child as it was just soooo boring. I was never taught in a way that helped me make connections with my own experiences to make history interesting and meaningful. History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony provides content that children in grades 1-3 can really connect with. What it was like to move, the home, family, school, church, etc. are all things that many children have experience with and can relate to. The hands-on component really helps the children connect with and enjoy history. My children enjoy History Pockets so much, they even ask to do more of the activities on some days.

Can stand alone or use as supplement to enhance your favorite history curriculum

History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony can stand alone as its own history unit. Life in Plymouth Colony is perfect for November as it covers the first Thanksgiving. It is also great for any time of the year that you want to dive into teaching early American History and about the first pilgrim settlers.

History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony also can be used as a supplement to provide hands-on activities to enhance your favorite history curriculum. A lot of the information we covered in History Pockets really provided additional insight into what we had previously studied in American history.

Sample Pockets and Artifacts from History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony

Cover

This is the cover of one of our pocket books. I would recommend making the 8 pockets and cover ahead of time. As you go through each topic, it will be easy to just add the pocket label and artifacts as you complete them.

Voyage to the New World

The New World

Building a Village

Home Sweet Home

The Keeping Room diorama folds flat for storage in the pocket, and yet easily opens up too. I love this diorama design!

Final Recommendations on History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony for grades 1-3

I highly recommend using History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony. My children really enjoyed the activities and learned more history in the process. For grades 1-3, additional History Pocket books are available. CLICK HERE to go to Evan-Moor’s website for more information and to see a preview of these books.

If you have 4th to 6th grader, there are an additional 7 History Pocket books available covering content about Ancient Civilizations and American History. CLICK HERE for more information. If you are interested in a bundled discount, History Pocket products are included in Evan-Moor’s Homeschool Curriculum Bundles and in Evan-Moor’s Homeschool Social Studies Bundles for grades 1-6.

 

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