Printable Scholar
Virginia State Report Kit
Everything a student needs to research and write a report on Virginia: the reading, the maps and the pages to fill in. Nothing else to look up.
- 3 reading pages: Virginia fun facts, History, and Land and Work
- 5 maps: landmarks, cities, county, outline, and rivers and lakes
- An 8-page My State Report booklet, from fast facts to a trip plan and a license plate to design
- A pennant to cut out and hang, two map skills sheets and a 10-question reading quiz
- Answer keys for the quiz, the fast facts and the map sheets
- One print-ready PDF, 23 pages, black and white, US Letter
Teaching all 50 states? Get every kit for $39.
Look inside
Read it, map it, write it.
The reading pages and maps hold every answer the booklet asks for. About one third of the booklet is looking things up. The rest asks students to choose, plan and explain.
What is in the Virginia kit
To read and study
- Virginia fun facts: six short true stories, By the Numbers and Did You Know
- History: the state’s story in order, with a timeline, people to know and words to know
- Land and Work: the land and climate, what the state grows, makes and mines, and how one leads to the other
- Five maps, including a rivers, lakes and neighbors map with a letter key
To fill in and make
- My State Report booklet: cover, Fast Facts, My Map, State Symbols, My Trip, Think Like a Geographer, Design a License Plate and Dig Deeper
- A pennant with the state’s name and outline, to color, cut out and hang
- Name the Cities and Name the Rivers and Lakes sheets, each with a word bank
- A 10-question reading quiz, with answer keys for everything that has one right answer
Free: the Virginia History reading page
One page on the history of Virginia for grades 3 to 5, free to print in color or black and white. It is the second reading page in the kit.
The First Peoples
People have lived in Virginia for thousands of years. By 1600, a leader named Wahunsenacah, called Powhatan, led about 30 tribes near the coast. They lived in towns of bark houses. They grew corn, beans and squash, and they fished and hunted deer. The Monacan people lived farther west, in the Piedmont hills.
Jamestown and Tobacco
English colonists built Jamestown in 1607. It was the start of the colony of Virginia. The first years were hard, and many colonists died of hunger and sickness. Around 1612, John Rolfe planted a sweet kind of tobacco. It sold well in England and became Virginia’s cash crop. In 1614, Rolfe married Pocahontas, a daughter of Powhatan, and peace lasted for a few years. In 1619, the first Africans in the colony arrived on a ship. Over time, enslaved people did much of the work on tobacco farms.
The Powhatan Wars
The colonists kept taking more land for tobacco. In 1622, Powhatan’s brother Opechancanough led attacks on the English farms and killed about 350 colonists. The English struck back and burned Powhatan towns and fields. Fighting came again in 1644. In a 1646 treaty, the Powhatan tribes gave up most of their land and kept smaller areas for themselves. Seven tribes with federal recognition live in Virginia today.
The Revolution
In 1775, Patrick Henry told Virginia’s leaders, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" That same year, Daniel Boone marked a trail west through Cumberland Gap. In 1781, American and French troops trapped a British army at Yorktown. The British general had to surrender, and the Americans won the war. Virginia became the 10th state on June 25, 1788.
The Civil War
Virginia left the United States in 1861 and joined the Confederacy. Richmond became the Confederate capital. Counties in the west broke away and became the state of West Virginia in 1863. More Civil War battles were fought in Virginia than in any other state. In 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. Slavery ended that year.
Building Virginia
After the war, Virginians built railroads and dug coal in the southwest mountains. A shipyard opened at Newport News in the 1880s. Today its workers build the Navy’s giant aircraft carriers. In 1943, workers finished the Pentagon in Arlington. It is the main office of the United States military.
Virginia through time
- 1607 Jamestown is founded
- 1612 Rolfe plants tobacco
- 1622 Powhatan attacks
- 1699 Williamsburg becomes the capital
- 1780 Richmond becomes the capital
- 1781 Victory at Yorktown
- 1788 Virginia becomes the 10th state
- 1865 Lee surrenders at Appomattox
- 1943 The Pentagon is finished
People to know
- Pocahontas: Daughter of Powhatan. Married John Rolfe in 1614.
- Patrick Henry: Speaker who said, "Give me liberty!"
- James Madison: Father of the Constitution. The 4th president.
- Booker T. Washington: Born enslaved in Virginia. Started a famous school.
- Ella Fitzgerald: Born in Newport News. A great jazz singer.
Free Virginia maps
Each of these maps is free to print on its own page. The kit puts them in one file with the reading pages and the booklet.