Famous Explorers Linda A. Collins

Title: FAMOUS EXPLORERS Previous Lessons: (Prior Knowledge) Examine the reasons for the key expeditions of Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and England. Examine the problems faced in the key expeditions of Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands and England.

Objectives: The student will describe the early exploration of America. (PASS Standard 2)

The students will identify explorers, the countries they sailed for, and the results of key expeditions of Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and England by completing a handout including this information. The students will personally identify with a specific explorer as they “become” that explorer and discuss where and when they traveled, whom they traveled for, the purpose of their voyage, and their accomplishments. The students will illustrate from an overhead map where their explorer traveled by drawing the route depicting the explorer’s journey. The students will trace the journeys of each explorer on their own map handouts using a different colored pencil for each explorer. Additionally, they will make map keys for their maps.

Overview: This lesson is to familiarize students with famous European explorers, what part of the new world

they explored, the country whose flag they carried, the purpose of their voyages, and their accomplishments.

Time:

Three 50 minute periods to make notes answering given questions (criteria) about selected explorer. One 50 minute period to plan with small group and rehearse their explorer discussion Optional 50 minutes to construct puppets, create costumes, or color explorers (this may be done in an art class) Two 50 minute periods to present explorer discussions (may take longer, depends on the number of students in the class)

Age group/grade level: 5th through 8th Materials needed: Individual information about explorers including maps of their expedition each student only needs the information pertaining to his/her explorer Explorer handouts, “Famous Explorers,” for each student to record information about explorers given during group discussions Overhead maps of the world and the Western Hemisphere Map handouts for each student of the world and the Western Hemisphere Colored map pencils Note cards for each student to record their specific explorer information

Information about explorers and/or maps may be obtained from given references, Social Studies textbooks, or the Internet. (Optional ways to identify with explorer) Construct a stick or paper bag puppet to represent explorer. Stick puppet: popsicle or other stick, cloth head with cotton inside, string or rubber band to tie around head, glue on yarn hair, draw face with markers, cloth cape. Paper bag puppet: insert a stick up the middle of a paper sack, stuff the bottom of the sack with shredded paper for the head, tie a string around this shredded paper ball for the neck, decorate the head same way as stick puppet. Dress up to represent explorer. (Will need imagination) Make a simple costume out of paper, use old dress.up clothes from home, or make a few items to wear over your own clothes (ie: a shield or a cape, helmet or hat) and dress up as explorer. Color & laminate picture of explorer & hold picture during discussions (see references of coloring book of Great Explorers)

Technology based: Internet References KID INFO http://www.kidinfo corn/American HistorvlExplorers.html A Treasure Trove of North American Exploration http://www collectionscanada ca/passages European Explorers http://www cdli caJCITE!ex_pkrchtm Discoverers Web http://www.win.tue.nh/engels!lijcrv An Alphabetic List of Explorers (Scale down to North America) Explorers of North America (includes maps) http://www .win.tue nlhengels/discovery!noflham.htmI Conquest of North America http.//www.vacacorniinsetll.html

Primary Source Achieves Exhibits of Historical Artifacts: Primary sources http://www.win.tue.nl/~enge1s/discovery/primary.htmI Student instructions: “On this page are primary sources on voyages of discovery that can be found on the web. Primary sources are the texts the travelers themselves wrote on their voyages. Of course these sources are of utmost importance when studying the history of exploration. There is also a part on secondary sources that is, sources that were written by others than the voyagers themselves, either based on information directly from the voyagers themselves, or on primary sources, which in some cases might be lost afterwards.” (from above site)

Strategies: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Have students select whom they want to research & give them needed information Group students into groups of four Select a way for students to represent their explorer (optional) Have students present their explorer to the class using group discussions with other explorers. Have students fill out explorer handouts and map explorers’ journeys. Student Instructions: Pretend the explorers have gotten together to compare their voyages. Plan what your explorer will say. (Based on 100 points) (5 points) What country you are exploring for. (5 points) When you explored (dates). (10 points) The purpose of your voyage. (10 points) What part of the new world you explored. (10 points) What you saw during your explorations. (20 points) Something interesting that happened on your trip or use a quote from a primary source. (10 points) You might even argue about whose discoveries were the most important and why. (15 points) Finally, what you accomplished on your voyage. (15 points) When group discussion is completed, each member of group will draw their explorer’s journey using overhead.

Evaluation/Assessment: Handout called “Famous Explorers” which includes the name of the explorer, country, date, purpose, and accomplishment of the explorer. Students will be allowed to fill out these papers as they listen to the discussions. Optional: May follow up the discussions with a teacher made test over explorer data collected during discussions. Handouts of maps (World & Northern Hemisphere) depicting all the explorer journeys. Students will fill these in as their peer students do them on the overhead. Grading Criteria on discussion. Determines whether student covers the points listed above under “Student Instructions.”

Extension Activities: The idea of this lesson could be adapted to other historical topics: (ie famous colonists, pioneers, patriots, war heroes, presidents, etc.) Create a Power Point presentation on your explorer including pictures and maps of their explorations. Design a chart using Excel depicting famous explorers, the dates they sailed, the country they sailed for, their accomplishments, and where they explored. Create a time line showing the famous explorers and the dates they explored. May draw pictures along the time line for added interest. Hold a debate on whether European exploration to the New World was a good (positive) or bad (negative) thing. One team will represent the views of the Europeans and argue that the arrival of the Europeans was a good thing. The other team will represent the views and feelings of the native people and argue that the coming of the Europeans was a bad thing. (Maestro) Be a travel agent and prepare a fold out brochure with several pages describing your trip, as an explorer, to the new world. Include information about where you visited, a description of the food, scenery, recreational possibilities, and the people. Make the brochure exciting so others will want to vacation there. (Maestro) Outfit your explorer’s ship. Plan on the supply of foods, weapons, tools, and extra parts for the ship. Remember space on the ship is limited. (Maestro) Write a newspaper article about your explorer. Make an exciting headline. In the news story tell who was there, what happened, where and when it happened. (Maestro) Interview an explorer: Choose one of your peers (an explorer), become a reporter, and interview the explorer for your newspaper. Be sure to include the above questions.

After completion of all group discussions: Play “tic tac toe” using the explorer’s accomplishments as questions. Students’ team gets to play if they know the answer to the question. If not, they forfeit their turn. Play “I have, whose has?” where all the explorer names are listed on individual cards along with the accomplishment of one of the other explorers. One student will begin and say, “Who has an explorer who (list accomplishment) Whoever has the name for the explorer is next and responds with “I have,” and then he/she lists the accomplishment on their card, and so on. Continue until all the cards are used. In order for this game to work the students need to know the accomplishments and explorers well. (Teacher preparation to make cards is needed for game.) Play “Bingo” with the accomplishments as the questions and the explorer names as in various places on a Bingo card. (Teacher preparation to make cards is needed for game.) Play “Twenty Questions”. Teacher writes the name of each explorer on a piece of paper and gives one to each student. The student pretends to be an explorer (other than the one he/she was before) and the class can ask up to twenty questions to guess who that explorer is. They must be questions that can only be answered with a “YES” or “NO”. The student pretending to be an explorer tries to stump the rest of the class. (Maestro)

Resources: Blattner, Don. U.S. History Maps. Mark Twain Media/Carson Dellosa Publishing Company, Inc. 1999. Maestro, Betsy & Giulio. The Discovery of the Americas. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books: New York. 1992. Tomb, Eric. & Conkle, Nancy. A Coloring Book of Great Explorers Bellerophon Books. Santa Barbara, CA. 1999. Textbooks: The United States Past to Present. Teacher’s Resource Book: Outline Maps. D.C. Heath & Company: Lexington, MA. 1989. Early United States. Harcourt Brace & Company: Orlando, FL. 2002.

APPENDIX

Grading Criteria for the Explorer Discussions: (based on 100 possible points) Student Instructions: Pretend the explorers have gotten together to compare their voyages. Plan what your explorer will say.

(5 points) What country you are exploring for. (5 points) When you explored (dates). (10 points) The purpose of your voyage. (10 points) What part of the new world you explored. (10 points) What you saw during your explorations. (20 points) Something interesting that happened on your trip or use a quote from a primary source. (10 points) You might even argue about whose discoveries were the most important and why. (15 points) Finally, what you accomplished on your voyage. (15 points) When group discussion is completed, each member of the group will draw their explorer’s journey using overhead.