On A Mission to 1770 Boston

Students explore 1770 Boston as a young apprentice navigating turbulent political tensions while learning their trade.

Today our 5th grade history students augmented their lessons on colonial America with the first challenge in mission-us.org. Mission US is produced by the public broadcast organization WNET Thirteen.

A nice feature is the ability to download and run a local Flash copy of the game. This provides a smoother experience if you have a sketchy Internet connection. Students will need to register on the main website if they want to save their progress.

There is also an iPad app that contains a follow up quiz to the mission. However, there is no longer any tracking mechanism for teachers to monitor student progress. As such, it makes a great supplement to curriculum and a fun way to reinforce key ideas.

There are three additional missions: the underground railroad, Cheyenne survival on the plains and a Russian immigrant. Educator guides and classroom videos help round out the materials available to teachers.