French and Indian War

This lesson is one of many the students have done that dealt with the French and Indian war. My homeroom class pretended to be British. While the other 4th grade Social Studies class pretended to be French. During this unit the students made British and French forts, made out of desks and cardboard boxes to prepare for battle, students on both sides wrote a list of demands, students on the British side surveyed the land that the French were "living" on, and both sides had to try and convince a third group of students, who were pretending to be Native American to join their side.

After the students have completed the above lessons, during the list of demands lessons, the students will watch a video made with the Flip Camera from a messenger with news from the war (This will be a teacher who will just read that the French are currently winning the war, the next day the students will see a video message that says the British are winning), then the students will each select a leader. There will be a French and a British leader. The French leader will go to the British side, while the British leader will go to the French side to try and end the war. They will each share their list of demands. After the leaders return to their side we will discuss what we heard. We will then decide if we want the war to continue. The class of course will vote that they do want the war will continue. The class will then send a message to the other side that the war will continue using the Flip Camera. Then the other side will also respond with their own video message.

This unit ends when the two sides get together after a message is heard that the British have blocked off the French from receiving supplies from their home country. The two sides will agree to end the war with the British receiving the land they were fighting over. Then every student will sign the Treaty of Paris.