Kindergarten Unit Three:
Helping Kids Find Their
Place in the World
Sarah Blascovich Brown
Teacher on Assignment
Some things you’ll find in Unit Three
Misconceptions in Unit Three
• Columbus discovered
America.
• Columbus discovered
that the world was
round.
•The Native Americans
Columbus met were hostile
warriors.
• Really – people already
lived there.
• Most educated people
already knew this – they
simply didn’t understand
the arrangement of the
continents & oceans.
• The Arawaks’ beliefs did
not mesh with Columbus’s
ideas of ownership.
Resources (Geography):
• My Wonderful Word (National Geographic’s initiative to
increase geographic learning):
http://www.mywonderfulworld.org/educators_welcome.html
• The Georgia Geographic Alliance:
http://www.gaofgeorgia.org/ (click on teacher resources for lessons)
• The Geography Educators’ Network of Indiana:
http://www.iupui.edu/~geni/ (be sure to look at the resources & lesson plans)
• Roundup of “upside down maps”:
http://flourish.org/upsidedownmap/ (list of different nations’ typical map
perspectives is listed at the bottom)
• List of K-2 lesson plans & resources:
http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/k2/websites-k2.htm
Resources (Columbus):
• Columbus & Columbus Day from the Library of
Congress: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct12.html
• Basic information from the UK’s National Maritime
Museum: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/facts/explorersand-leaders/christopher-columbus
• Howard Zinn’s article on Columbus & the Arwak:
http://www.newhumanist.com/md2.html
• Columbus’s Book of Privileges at the National
Archives: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trt029.html
Resources (Chronology):
• Video regarding the teaching of chronology:
http://www.teachers.tv/video/3315
• Use clotheslines!
– Hang pictures up in chronological order
– Use words from standards to organize them
• Make walkable timelines with events from students’
lives, historical figures, or holidays throughout the
school year.
• Use chronological words as headings for picture sorts
Literacy Resources:
A Coyote Columbus
Story, written by
Thomas King –
allegorical story of
Coyote creating the
world, with some
interference from
Columbus.
In Their Own Words:
Columbus, written by
Peter & Connie Roop.
Uses excerpts from
Columbus’s journals
to tell the story of his
life – good for
REFERNCE.
A Coyote Columbus
Story, written by Mary
Wade – probably on
the shelf in your
media center (Rookie
Reader series).
Rethinking Columbus,
edited by Bill Bigelow
and Bob Peterson – if
you’re interested in
learning more about
what really happened
in 1492, and after.
Teaching Unit Three:
Location
Discuss North American continent (use a map!)
Work with maps and globes to help students learn the difference
Help students see how water and land are often colored
similarly on a variety of maps to help people understand them
Discuss who Columbus was
Discuss Columbus’s contributions, and their effects on other
people – make sure to treat this story accurately!
Teaching Unit Three:
Time, Change, and Continuity
Discuss differences in transportation, clothing, etc., between
Columbus’s time and today (extension)
Review “now & long ago”
Review “before & after”
Review “past, present, & future”
For chronological words, be sure to incorporate these into other
relevant areas – calendar time is a natural fit.