The Thirteen Colonies Worksheet
Grade 5 students place key colonial events on a timeline, identify the three regions by their economies, and explain why colonists came to North America.
15 questions · Timeline · Multiple choice · True or false · Short answer · Application
This worksheet guides Grade 5 students through one of the most formative chapters in American history: the founding of the thirteen colonies. Students begin by placing five landmark events on a timeline, then use what they know to answer multiple-choice questions about the three colonial regions — New England, Middle, and Southern. True-or-false questions challenge them to separate fact from common error, while two short-answer questions ask them to think like historians, explaining how geography shaped daily life and why different groups chose to settle in different places. The sheet works well as a lesson-review activity, a homework assignment, or a unit-introduction check.
The Thirteen Colonies Worksheet — Grade 5
Read each section carefully and write your answers in the spaces provided. Give full sentences where the question asks for them.
Remember
- The thirteen colonies are grouped into three regions: New England, Middle, and Southern.
- Climate and soil determined what crops colonists grew and what jobs they held in each region.
- Colonists came to America for many reasons: religious freedom, economic opportunity, and new land.
Part A — Place each event on the colonial timeline
Read each event and write its number on the timeline at the correct year.
The Colonial Period: 1600-1750
- 1.
Jamestown is founded as the first permanent English settlement in North America.
- 2.
Roger Williams founds Providence in Rhode Island after being banished from Massachusetts.
- 3.
England takes control of New Netherland from the Dutch and renames it New York.
- 4.
William Penn receives a royal charter and founds the colony of Pennsylvania.
- 5.
Georgia is established, becoming the last of the thirteen colonies.
Part B — Choose the best answer
Read each question and choose the best answer.
- 6.
Which group of colonies included Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island?
- A.New England Colonies
- B.Middle Colonies
- C.Southern Colonies
- D.Chesapeake Colonies
- 7.
Maryland was founded partly to give which religious group a safe place to worship?
- A.Catholics
- B.Quakers
- C.Puritans
- D.Anglicans
- 8.
Which crop made Virginia and Maryland wealthy in the 1600s and early 1700s?
- A.Tobacco
- B.Wheat
- C.Rice
- D.Indigo
- 9.
The Middle Colonies were called the 'breadbasket of the colonies.' What crop earned them this name?
- A.Wheat
- B.Tobacco
- C.Rice
- D.Corn
- 10.
Why did the Puritans leave England and travel to New England in the 1630s?
- A.To practice their religion without government interference
- B.To find gold and silver for the English king
- C.To trade fur and timber with Native peoples
- D.To escape a famine that had destroyed their crops
Part C — True or False
Read each statement, write True or False on the line, and correct any statement that is false.
- 11.
The first permanent English settlement in North America was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.
- 12.
William Penn founded the colony of Georgia as a safe home for Quakers in 1681.
- 13.
The New England Colonies had warm climates and large plantations where colonists grew tobacco.
Part D — Short Answer
Answer each question in one or two complete sentences that explain your thinking.
- 14.
How did climate and land affect the economy of a colonial region? Give one example from New England and one from the Southern Colonies.
- 15.
Was religious freedom the most important reason people came to the colonies? Explain your answer using one specific example.
Answer key
Part A — Place each event on the colonial timeline
- 1.1607 - Jamestown is founded as the first permanent English settlement in North America.
- 2.1636 - Roger Williams founds Providence in Rhode Island after being banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- 3.1664 - England takes control of New Netherland from the Dutch and renames it New York.
- 4.1681 - William Penn receives a royal charter from King Charles II and founds Pennsylvania as a home for Quakers.
- 5.1733 - Georgia is established by James Oglethorpe, becoming the last of the thirteen colonies.
Part B — Choose the best answer
- 6.New England Colonies
- 7.Catholics
- 8.Tobacco
- 9.Wheat
- 10.To practice their religion without government interference
Part C — True or False
- 11.True
- 12.False - William Penn founded Pennsylvania in 1681, not Georgia.
- 13.False - the New England Colonies had rocky soil and short growing seasons; tobacco plantations were in the Southern Colonies.
Part D — Short Answer
- 14.Example: New England had rocky soil and cold winters, so people fished, built ships, and traded goods rather than farming large crops. The Southern Colonies had warm weather and rich soil, so planters grew tobacco on large farms called plantations.
- 15.Example: Religious freedom was important for some groups, but not for everyone. The Puritans came to Massachusetts to worship freely, but many settlers in Virginia came to make money growing tobacco, which shows that different people had very different reasons for coming.
What this sheet teaches
- Place five key colonial events in correct order on a timeline spanning 1600 to 1750.
- Identify the three colonial regions and describe how geography shaped their economies.
- Explain in writing why different colonists came to North America for different reasons.
Notes for the adult
- A common misconception is that all colonists came seeking religious freedom; many came for land or economic gain.
- Use a labeled map of the three colonial regions alongside this sheet to help students connect geography to economy.
- A student is ready to move on when they can explain, without prompting, why the Southern Colonies needed large amounts of labor.
What is on the page
Printed on one side, The Thirteen Colonies Worksheet runs to four parts and 15 exercises. Timeline, multiple-choice, true or false and short-answer work, in that order, so a student who has understood the material has to show it in more than one form before the page is finished.
Part A Place each event on the colonial timeline prints a timeline labeled "The Colonial Period: 1600-1750", seven ticks running from 1600 to 1750 — 150 years across the page — and five events to place on it. Part B Choose the best answer asks five multiple-choice questions with four printed options each. Part C True or False puts three statements up to be judged true or false, answered on the rule beside each one. Part D Short Answer is two short-answer questions with four ruled lines between them, which is the part of the sheet that takes the longest.
Four ruled lines are printed for written answers on The Thirteen Colonies Worksheet, which decides how long it takes more than the question count does. The answer key prints on its own page at the end, so the sheet can be handed out without it.
What it asks of the student
The Thirteen Colonies Worksheet puts about 363 words of reading in front of the student — the fact box, the directions, every question, and every printed option. That is the number worth checking against a class before it goes out, because a sheet that is pitched right on the history and wrong on the reading fails for the same child either way. The longest single prompt on it runs to 24 words.
Writing runs the other way on The Thirteen Colonies Worksheet: four ruled lines for two of the 15 exercises, and the full answer key comes to 207 words. Everything else is answered in a blank, in a box, or on the map itself, which is why the sheet takes a lesson rather than a homework slot.
Where this one sits
The Thirteen Colonies Worksheet is one of ten US History: Events & Eras sheets on this site and one of 19 written for grade 5. two of them share its topic, the colonial period, which is worth knowing before printing two that overlap.
The closest things to it are Civil War: Causes and Effects Worksheet (grade 8) and The Thirteen Colonies: Colonial America Worksheet (grade 4). If The Thirteen Colonies Worksheet lands well, those are the ones to reach for next; if it lands badly, the application sheets a grade either side are usually the adjustment rather than a different topic altogether.
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The Colonial Period at other grades
This sheet: Grade 5, 15 questions — timeline, multiple choice, true or false, short answer. The same topic is also written for:
- The Thirteen Colonies: Colonial America Worksheet — Grade 4 · 15 questions, matching, fill in the blank, multiple choice, short answer · application work