The Great Explores Debate
1 Narrator: The 3rd graders at ____________
Elementary school are studying some
European explorer in their classroom. Let’s
listen to their conversations…
12: He was a pretty determined guy; he had
to ask lots of different Kings and Queens to
sponsor his trip before someone finally said
yes
2: Wow, I can’t believe we are going to get to
go to on a field trip..
13: Yeah, Isabella and King Ferdinand finally
agreed to give him money and ships to sail
for…
3: I wonder what we are going to do?
ALL: SPAIN!
4: It’s the Explorers Museum so I guess we
are going to learn about different explorers.
14: They gave him three ships; the Nina, the
Pinta, and the Santa Maria
5: What’s an explorer?
15: He sailed all the way across the…
6: Oh I know, Explorers are people who
travel to seek new discoveries or an unknown
area.
ALL: Atlantic Ocean!
7: I think we are going to learn about
European Explorers.
17: He named the place he landed….
8: Oh, that means we are going to learn
about explorers from countries in the
continent Europe: like Spain, England and
France.
9: There where lots of explorers from Europe
but my favorite was…
ALL: Christopher Columbus!! [Gesture]
10: What’s so great about Christopher
Columbus?
16: and landed in the Bahamas
ALL: San Salvador
18: He never found a western sea route to
Asia to get silk, gold and spices but…
19: He is now famous for discovering the…
ALL: Western Hemisphere
1: That IS pretty cool but my favorite explorer
isn’t Columbus. it’s…
ALL: Juan Ponce de Leon! [Gesture]
11: Well he was very brave and wanted to be
the first to find a…
2: That’s kind of a weird name… where was
he from?
ALL: Western Route to Asia
ALL: Spain
3: Oh yeah, Juan Ponce de Leon was the first
person from Europe to land in Florida
4: Did he sail all the way across the Atlantic
Ocean just to visit Florida’s beaches?
12: He was a great sailor! He started working
on ships when he was around 12 years old
5: No, he wanted to find riches and land
13: Wow, my brother is 12 and all he does all
day is eat and plays video games
6: Sailing from Spain is pretty cool but my
favorite explorer sailed from France, his name
is…
ALL: Jacques Cartier! [Gesture]
7: Oh I remember him. He wanted to find a
western sea route to Asia just like
Christopher Columbus.
14: Christopher Newport probably wouldn’t
be very good at playing video games…
15: When he was in a battle on a ship he lost
one of his hands and had to have a hook
instead
16: He sounds like a pirate! Arggggg
8: Yeah but he went much farther north, all
the way into
17: He wasn’t a pirate but he did go on lots of
adventures
ALL: Canada!
18: The king and Queen of England gave him
money to sail all the way across the Atlantic
to try and find a western sea route to Asia
9: If he was from France was he the first
person to bring French fries to North
America?
10: No! He explored the St. Laurence River
near Quebec
11: All of those explorers sound pretty brave
and fearless but the BEST explorer was the
person who claimed land and made colonies
right here in Virginia…
ALL: Christopher Newport! [Gesture]
19: But he never made it to Asia… instead he
landed in
ALL: Virginia!
* Teacher enters the classroom *
Teacher: All right class, can anyone tell me
what they remember about our famous
European explorers?
* Students all jumps out of their chairs
to raise their hand *