Survive or Struggle

This cause-and-effect worksheet helps students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 develop historical reasoning, analytical thinking, reading comprehension, and explanatory skills through the study of Jamestown’s early challenges. By examining environmental conditions and human decisions, learners connect specific causes-such as location, conflict, and limited resources-to their effects on survival, hardship, and long-term success.

Learning Goals

• Early Colonial Life (Grades 4-6) – Analyze daily challenges faced by Jamestown settlers and how they impacted survival.
• Human-Environment Interaction – Understand how geography, resources, and environmental choices influenced outcomes.
• Cause and Effect Analysis – Link specific problems to their consequences using historical reasoning.
• Critical Evaluation – Assess which factor had the greatest influence on Jamestown’s survival through reflective thinking.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to align with upper elementary social studies and ELA standards.
• Structured Cause-and-Effect Format – Clear organization helps students see relationships between actions and outcomes.
• Extra Thinking Section – Extension question encourages deeper analysis and discussion beyond basic matching.
• Flexible Use – Ideal for independent work, small groups, review lessons, or formative assessment.

This printable worksheet helps students strengthen cause-and-effect reasoning, historical interpretation, and critical thinking by exploring why Jamestown struggled and ultimately survived. By evaluating environmental and human factors together, learners gain a more complete understanding of early colonial life and decision-making. It’s a practical, no-prep resource that works well in both classroom instruction and homeschool learning.

This worksheet is part of our Jamestown Settlement collection.