Lesson Plans - Explorer Theme   Early European Explorers 1000-1609 Christopher Columbus Ferdinand Magellan Time Line of Early European Explorers 1000-1609 Lesson One Main Subject Area: Social Studies Interdisciplinary Unit: Early European Explorers1000-1609 Disciplines Involved: History, ESL, Language Arts, Geography, Technology Learning Objectives: Introduce vocabulary. Name different explorers, where they traveled to, and their achievements. Search in the Internet to get information about the explorers. Write a biography about an explorer. Oral presentation-role play part of explorer. Curriculum/Framework Standards: History Strand: Learning Standard 1B Geography Strand: Learning Standard 9 Lesson Activity: Students are going to learn about different explorers and their accomplishments. They are going to be divided into groups of two. Each group is going to be assigned an explorer to research. Each pair is going to present their final product in an oral presentation and publish it on the Internet. Materials/Resources: Paper and pencils Computers Encyclopedias and other books related to the topic Procedures: Introduce the unit to the whole group. Introduce vocabulary. Explain what an explorer is and how they contributed to our civilization. Discuss the different explorers that they will be researching. Write the names of the explorers on the board and invite them to copy it. Explorers: Amerigo Vespucci Leif Erikson Sir Frances Drake Francisco Pizarro John Cabot Henry Hudson Marco Polo Samuel de Champlain Hernando Cortes Christopher Columbus Vasco De Gama Francisco de Coronado Jacques Cartier Ferdinand Magellan Ponce de Leon Each student will pair up with another student. Each pair of students will choose an explorer to research. Review how to look for information in the computer/encyclopedias and how to take notes. Give students some links where they can look up for more information. Give students a guideline that they should follow to research their explorer. Show the students how to download graphics from the computer. Extensions: Role Play will be required upon completion of the research. Students are going to interview parents. Interview questions- http://www.mariner.org/age/sea_worksheet.html Evaluation: The students will publish their work on the Internet at the PBTIL web site. Web Site: http://www.us-history.com/nonf/index.html http:www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/index.html Lesson Two Main subject area: History Interdisciplinary Unit: Christopher Columbus Discipline Involved: Social Studies, Geography, Reading, Writing Learning Objectives: Students will read literature pertaining to Christopher Columbus' journey. Students will brainstorm the steps Christopher Columbus took to find the New World. Students will place sentence strips in sequential order. Students will write diary entries, writing from the point of view of a person traveling with Christopher Columbus. Students will identify parts of a ship. Curriculum Frameworks Standard: History Strand/Learning Standard 1a Composition Strand/Learning Standard 21 Lesson Activity: Students are going to create a journal from the point of view of an explorer. Materials/Resources: Books: Christopher Columbus, The Discoveries of the Americas, Christopher Columbus-A Great Explorer Paper, pencils, journals, chart paper, sentence strips, computer Procedure: Read stories to students. Brainstorm the steps that the explorer took to find the New World. Arrange the steps in sequence. Students will be asked to write a diary entry as if they had traveled with Christopher Columbus. Extension: Students will create a box compass with parents. http://www.mariner.org/age/stu_activity1.html Evaluation: Students will do their writing on the computer. Students will identify the parts of a ship. http:www.mariner.org/age/images/lg_boat.gif Lesson Three Main subject area: History Interdisciplinary Unit: Explorers/Ferdinand Magellan Discipline Involved: Social Studies, Geography, Reading, Writing Learning Objectives: Students will read pertinent information about Ferdinand Magellan. Students will answer comprehension questions about the reading. Students will create a globe. Students will follow a recipe. Curriculum Frameworks Standard: History Strand/Learning Standard 1a Composition Strand/Learning Standard 21 Lesson Activity: Students will learn the importance of Ferdinand Magellan¹s voyage. Materials/Resources: Literature about Ferdinand Magellan Globe pattern Scissors Glue stick or tape Balloon (optional) Computer Procedures: After brainstorming what they already know about explorers students are going to mention the importance of each one. Teacher will give some literature about Ferdinand Magellan Students will go to the computer lab to make more inquires about Magellan's trip. Students will answer the following questions: Where was Magellan born? What did Magellan believe? How did he plan to prove his beliefs? What were some of the difficulties encountered? What were Magellan's major accomplishments? Students will create a globe using the link: http://www.mariner.org/age/stu_activity9.html Extension: As a home assignment students and parents will make sea biscuits, will eat them, and will write a short paragraph about their experience eating what sailors often depend on to keep alive. Sea biscuits recipe- http://www.mariner.org/age/sea_biscuits.html Lesson Four Main Subject Area: Social Studies Interdisciplinary Unit: Time Line of Early European Explorers 1000-1609 Disciplines Involved: History, ESL, Language Arts, Geography, and Technology Learning Objectives: Understanding of time sequence and order via a time line. Identify the year of each explorer voyage. Understand the meaning of arrows at both ends of the time line. Become familiar with places conquered, settled, or explored. Curriculum/Frameworks Standards: History Strand Standard 1c-Chronological orders of events and recognizes the complexity of historical cause and effect. Geography Strand Standard B-Students will identify and explain location of places. Lesson Activity: Students are going to create a time line with the knowledge acquired in previous lessons. Materials/Resources: Color-coded cards with names of explorers Color-coded cards with dates of explorations Color-coded cards with places of explorations 5 ft., oak tag strip Portraits of the explorers Ship made out of cardboard CD Explorers of the New World Computers Procedure: Teacher will place the oak tag strip on the board and draw an arrow on each end. Next she will place the 1000 date at the beginning of the line and place 1601 at the other end. She will proceed by placing the color-coded card labeled Leif Eriksson above or below 1000 on the line. Finally she will place the portrait of the explorer above his name. Now students will follow same procedure for all the others explorers. As the students are placing the cards on the time line they will be moving the ship accordingly. Extensions: Students can play the CD Explorers of the New World. Evaluation: Students will write a composition using Focus Correction Areas. This program is supported in part by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

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