Colonial Regions Hexagonal Sorting Activity
A hands-on hexagonal sorting activity where 8th graders cut out 28 terms, people, and concepts from the English colonies and arrange them into a connection web across New England, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. It builds historical reasoning, cause-and-effect thinking, and the ability to justify relationships among colonial topics, and it closes with a written record of the five strongest connections.
“Can you make me a hexagonal activity using this study guide?”
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Use this as a review station or a 45-minute post-unit activity after students have studied the English colonies, so they already have the vocabulary and context to make connections.
- Discussion question: Why might Mercantilism or the Great Awakening connect to more than one region, and what does that tell us about how colonies were linked?
- Scaffold for struggling readers: Provide a word bank or a short reference sheet listing each hexagon's region, then have students group by region first before forming cross-region links.
- Extension for advanced students: Ask them to write a short justification for each of their five strongest connections, explaining the historical evidence behind it and noting one connection they considered but rejected.
- Plan roughly 10 minutes for cutting, 25 minutes for building and gluing the web, and 10 minutes for recording and sharing connections.
What is Diffit?
Teachers use Diffit to get quality materials for their unique classrooms. Adjust difficulty, add scaffolds, or change the topic to get started.
Try Diffit for free“Can you make me a hexagonal activity using this study guide?”
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Use this as a review station or a 45-minute post-unit activity after students have studied the English colonies, so they already have the vocabulary and context to make connections.
- Discussion question: Why might Mercantilism or the Great Awakening connect to more than one region, and what does that tell us about how colonies were linked?
- Scaffold for struggling readers: Provide a word bank or a short reference sheet listing each hexagon's region, then have students group by region first before forming cross-region links.
- Extension for advanced students: Ask them to write a short justification for each of their five strongest connections, explaining the historical evidence behind it and noting one connection they considered but rejected.
- Plan roughly 10 minutes for cutting, 25 minutes for building and gluing the web, and 10 minutes for recording and sharing connections.
Colonial Regions Hexagonal Sorting Activity
A hands-on hexagonal sorting activity where 8th graders cut out 28 terms, people, and concepts from the English colonies and arrange them into a connection web across New England, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. It builds historical reasoning, cause-and-effect thinking, and the ability to justify relationships among colonial topics, and it closes with a written record of the five strongest connections.
What is Diffit?
Teachers use Diffit to get quality materials for their unique classrooms. Adjust difficulty, add scaffolds, or change the topic to get started.
Try Diffit for free