Taylor Weaver

History/Geography Lesson
Grade 5
Taxation Without Representation: A Study of the Events That Lead to the
American Revolution
Lesson Objective: Working in small groups of 3 or 4, students will write and perform
skits that demonstrate their basic understanding of the major events leading up to the
American Revolution, acquired through a School House Rock Video, class discussion,
and from reading an article.
NCSS Standard: This lesson addresses Standard IV: Power, Authority, and Governance
because it gives students a base for their growing understanding of the origins and
functions of American government. Students will be exploring ideas such as power,
fairness, justification, and individual rights.
Materials Needed:

Smarties (or other individual candies)

Computer with access to the internet
Projection device (for projecting video)
Paper
Pencils
Whiteboard
Dry Erase Marker
Copies of article for each student
Copies of reading guide for each student
Copies of rubric for each group

Grouping: During this lesson, students will participate in whole class discussion, discuss
with partners for think-pair-share during large group discussion, work individually, and
collaborate in small groups of 3 or 4.
Procedure:
Day 1
Inform students that they will be doing some role-playing. Select one student to
be the king, two students to be tax collectors, and inform the rest of the students
that they are colonists.
Give each student a sleeve of Smarties candy, making sure to stress that students
are not to eat any of their candy until the role-playing is over.
Tell students that the King needs to pay off some debt he has racked up in a war
and so he has decided to levy (define) taxes on their Smarties. Tell the tax

collectors that they do not have to be taxed and that they can keep one Smartie
each time taxes are collected, but the rest of the Smarties go to the King.
Read through each of the following tax laws that the King has set, pausing after
each one to allow the tax collectors time to collect from the colonists:
- If you are wearing white socks, you are taxed one Smartie.
- If your hair is shorter than shoulder length, you are taxed two smarties.
- If you are wearing the color red, you are taxed one Smartie.
- If you have brown hair, you are taxed two Smarties.
- If you have blue eyes, you are taxed two Smarties.
- If you wear glasses, you are taxed one Smartie.
- If you are wearing anything in your hair, you are taxed one Smartie.
- If you are wearing jeans or denim, you are taxed two Smarties.
Ask the students questions about the activity: Were the taxes fair? How did they
feel when they were taxed? What do they think about the King and the tax
collectors?
Tell the students that this is how many American colonists felt leading up to the
American Revolutionary War and they are going to learn more about why the
colonists wanted to separate from England.
Play the Schoolhouse Rock video of the song No More Kings. (See resources
below.)
Evenly distribute new sleeves of Smarties for students to eat before continuing the
conversation.
Write on the whiteboard: Transgressions of King George III and put a bullet
point underneath to start a list.
Explain to students that transgressions means things that go against a law, a
rule, or a code of conduct and that the colonists felt that King George was way out
of line when they decided to declare independence.
Ask students to recall some of King George IIIs transgressions from the video
(play the video again if necessary).
Keep the list up for the next lesson and inform students that they will be digging
deeper into the topic tomorrow.

Day 2
Think-pair-share to recall what was discussed the previous class period.
Tell students that they will be reading to learn more about the specific events that
led up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the American
Revolution.
Pass out copies of article and reading guide.
Model how to use the reading guide for the whole class using the first two
sentences of the article. (Read the first sentence aloud then say something about
that being the introductory sentence and that there isnt any specific information
to write down yet. Read the second and third sentences aloud and then think
aloud as you write on your reading guide using an ELMO or other projection
device: In these sentence I see some important people I can write down in my
people column. First I am going to write down British Colonists. I am also
going to write down King George III and British Parliament, and I am

going to make a note that Parliament is like our Congress so I can remember who
they are and why they are important.) Encourage students to write the same things
on their copies of the reading guide.
Read the next two sentences aloud.
Ask students what important details are in these sentences that could be included
on their reading guides. Guide students to not only write the names of the acts in
the second column, but to write what they were and who was involved (ie. King
George III passes Stamp Act that taxes all paper products).
Tell students to finish reading the article and to complete the reading guide. If
students have not had direct instruction about making connections, be sure to
give some examples of connections for the whole group.
Bring the class back together and compile a whole class reading guide to make
sure that every student got every major event and person.
If gifted students researched the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre, have
them present the information they found at this time.
Return to the list on the whiteboard from the previous lesson (Transgressions of
King George III), and have students list any new things King George III did that
the colonists would be angry about.
Number the acts or events chronologically.

Day 3
Divide students into groups of 3 or 4 students.
Inform students that they will work together in groups to write and perform short
scripts that depict the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of
Independence.
Pass out and review the rubric with the students.
Stress accuracy and creativity.
Allow students time to work in groups.
Have each group perform for the rest of the class.
Score each student individually to reflect individual effort.
Differentiation:
Gifted Students: Instead of having these students fill out a reading guide, allow
them to read through the article and then research and report to the class
additional information about the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre and
what acts were to blame for these events.
Students Requiring Additional Assistance: Highlight important paragraphs and
sentences for these students to give them additional guidance in completing the
reading guide. If appropriate, allow students to work in pairs.
Assessment: Students will be assessed on their historical skits using the attached rubric.

Historical
Accuracy

__/8 pts.

reativity

Excellent

Good

All major events

discussed in class are
included in script and
are in correct
chronological order.
All important historical
characters are included.

Most major events and

characters are included
in the script but there
may be some important
details missing.

Major events or
characters are missing
or information
presented is not
accurate.

Script is entertaining
and presentation makes
interesting use of space
and items for props.

Script is well written,

but not creative and
students simply stand
and read their lines
during presentation.

Script is boring and

presentation is
monotone and
uninteresting.

Effort is evident in
quality writing and
enthusiastic
performance. Student
willingly did their part
during group work time
and was consistently on
task.

Student was off task

during some work time
and/ or was not
enthusiastic during
performance.

Student was off task

during work time and
did not contribute a fair
share to the group
project.

Student worked well

with group members.

Student worked well

with group members
some of the time.

Student did not work

well with group
members.

__/4 pts.

Effort

__/4 pts.

operation

Needs Work

__/4 pts.

___/20 pts.
ents:

Resources:
Smarties Activity: http://hunterteachingtales.blogspot.com/2013/10/tried-it-tuesdaycauses-of-american.html
Schoolhouse Rock Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8BwWBc571k

Article: http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/declaration.htm

The Declaration of Independence: Cry for

Freedom
The Declaration of Independence was a desperate cry for
freedom. The British colonists living in America had grown used
to being their own bosses in many ways. They thought that the
British Parliament and its King, George III, were making too
many laws that took away too many of their freedoms.
Some examples of these are the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act.
Both put very high taxes on things that the American colonists
used every day: paper and sugar. The Americans hadn't voted
for these taxes. They hadn't even elected the members of
Parliament who had passed the laws that created those taxes. To
the Americans, this was "taxation without representation." They
thought they had no say in what their government did to them.
People who lived in Britain could protest and even choose not to
re-elect lawmakers who voted for such taxes. But the Americans
didn't have that option. They had to accept the taxes.
Or so Britain thought. The Americans weren't about to accept
such high taxes. Each new Act brought more outrage in America.
In one serious set of acts, which the Americans called the
Intolerable Acts, the British closed the port of Boston and made it
OK for British soldiers to stay in American houses without the
owners' permission. The British government thought that by
coming down hard on Massachusetts, it could isolate the colony
and keep the rest of the 13 Colonies from following the example
of Massachusetts. (After all, Massachusetts seemed to be always
stirring up trouble: the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party...)
But the Intolerable Acts had the opposite effect. American
colonists everywhere were angry. The following months saw the
first meeting of the Continental Congress. Among other things,
this group of delegates from all 13 colonies wanted to boycott
British goods throughout the colonies. Not even a year later, the
Revolutionary War had begun.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill were just
the beginning. British and American troops fought all over the 13
colonies and even in Canada. Many people thought the
Americans needed a rallying cry, something they could all fight
for. People like Patrick Henry were calling for independence.
Early in 1776, while the troops were fighting in the field, more
delegates were meeting in Philadelphia, at the Second
Continental Congress. This Congress went on for months, and
out of it came the Declaration of Independence. The American
people had had enough. The delegates decided that they wanted
to declare themselves independent from Great Britain. They
appointed a committee of five people to write a document to that
effect. Those five people were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Jefferson, R.R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. The
main author was Thomas Jefferson.
On June 28, the committee presented the Declaration to the
Continental Congress. After a series of debates, the Congress
approved it. On July 4, John Hancock, president of the Congress,
signed it. The document itself was not signed by all 56 signers
until much later. But Congress declared it in effect on July 4.
This was in the middle of a war, of course. The Americans had
forced the British to leave Boston, but many bad losses were to
follow. The Americans had to fight long and hard to keep their
independence. Still, the signing of that document gave them all a
common cause, something they could fight for and defend with
their very live

Reading Guide
Name: __________________________________________
Article: The Declaration of Independence: Cry For Freedom
People:

Actions/Events:

Connections: