Subscribe

7th grade · Social Studies · Unit 1 of 18

Colonial Trade & Work

Resources, trade and choices

What your child practices

Resources, specialization and trade in the colonies, mercantilism, and the Atlantic slave trade and its impact on African peoples, told plainly and age-appropriately.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 7.2c; 7.2e · how land, climate and labor shaped the colonies' economies, and the growth of slavery and the Atlantic slave trade

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The colonial regions had different climates, soil and resources, so they made and traded different things.
  2. Mercantilism: colonies sent raw materials to England and bought its finished goods.
  3. Interest is extra money paid for borrowing: add the percent of the loan to the amount borrowed.

Example: A colonist borrows $200 at 10% interest for one year. How much does she pay back? 10% of $200 is $20. $200 + $20 = $220. Answer: $220

Colonial Trade & Work in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 1 of 18 in 7th grade Social Studies, before Road to Revolution.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    In the triangular trade, ships carried goods from Europe to Africa, enslaved people from Africa to the Americas, and…

    • Nothing at all
    • Crops like sugar and tobacco back to Europe
    • Wheat to the Arctic
    • Gold to China

  2. Question 2

    Free land offered to settlers was an incentive to…

    • Stop farming
    • Leave the colony
    • Join Spain
    • Move to a colony

  3. Question 3

    A colonist borrows $100 at 10% interest for one year. How much does she pay back?

    • $200
    • $90
    • $100
    • $110

  4. Question 4

    Why did enslaved people resist slavery, for example by escaping or slowing work?

    • They were bored
    • They wanted to go to England
    • They wanted freedom and were forced to work against their will
    • They were paid too little

  5. Question 5

    England's rule that colonies should send raw materials to England and buy its finished goods is called…

    • Immigration
    • Independence
    • Mercantilism
    • Democracy

  6. Question 6

    A ship used to carry goods is an example of…

    • Human capital
    • A want
    • Capital goods
    • A natural resource

More 7th grade