Explorers
Grade Five
Social Studies Strands
Toby Siefring
Kristin Houser
Table of Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
History…………………………………….3
People in Societies………………………...8
Geography………………………………..13
Economics………………………………..18
Government………………………………23
Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities….29
Social Studies Skills and Methods……….34
Science Technology and Society………...39
Strand One:
History
Activities for History
• The students will create a time line of
Christopher Columbus’s voyages to the New
World. This will be done on adding machine
paper so every student may create their own
timeline.
• The students will be assigned one explorer of
the New World to research. They will give a
short (5 – 10 minute) speech presenting
themselves as that explorer. Costumes will
earn extra credit.
Activities Continued…
• Students will play the game “Go West with
Columbus” which can be found at the following
site: http://www.brybackmanor.org/actpag10.html
• Students are to find one lasting effect that an
explorer left in the New World (i.e. language,
food, etc.). They will create a poster board of
this lasting effect to display in the hallway.
• Students will build a Viking ship using clay.
They must find a picture of a Viking ship to
model their design after. A brief explanation of
the ship should accompany the clay model.
Websites for History
• Explorers:
http://www.mce.k12tn.net/explorers/explorers_start.ht
m This website gives a list of activities to use with
units on Explorers.
• Columbus Navigation:
http://www1.minn.net/%7Ekeithp/ This website gives
a timeline of Columbus’s voyages and his life.
• Christopher Columbus:
http://www.win.tue.nl/cs/fm/engels/discovery/columb
us.html This website is for navigators and their
accomplishments in the New World. It contains a lot
of useful facts for research.
Websites Continued…
• Enchanted Learning:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/c/c
olumbus.shtml Enchanted learning makes learning
about explorers fun for students. It also gives some
great ideas for activities for educators and parents.
• Surfing the Net with Kids:
http://www.surfnetkids.com/columbus.htm This
website gives unknown facts about Columbus and
other explorers. It is full of interesting information
that students would find funny.
Strand Two:
People in Societies
Activities for People in
Societies
• Students will compare the clothing worn by 15th
Century people in Europe with that of clothing that is
worn today. They will write a short paper describing
their findings.
• Students will research how the expeditions to the New
World began. They will write, as a class, a short play
about King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
• Students will compare the reasons for immigration to
the New World between Africa, Spain, Europe, etc.
Activities Continued…
• Students will research an explorer from the 20th
Century and compare it to one of the 15th
Century. Focusing on their clothing, language,
and missions. A paper will be collected for this
activity.
• Students will prepare a Spanish festival for class,
including 15th Century food, clothing, music, art,
etc.
Websites for People in Societies
• Enchanted Learning:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Dictionary.html
Enchanted Learning gives a list of facts about many
explorers past and present.
• Explorers:
http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/explorer.html This
website has a list of hundreds of explores through time.
It included facts, pictures, and comparisons.
• Explorers’ Club: http://www.explorers.org/ This is a
club for students to join that are interested in
explorations.
Websites Continued…
• http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/explorer.htm This
website gives information on the many
European Explorers through the years. It gives
maps, pictures, and facts.
• http://web54.sd54.k12.il.us/schools/hale/pgraf/e
xplorers99/sld001.htm This page is a
PowerPoint presentation designed by students
about many explorers that they research.
Strand Three:
Geography
Activities for Geography
• Students will choose an explorer and map their
expedition on a piece of poster board. They
must draw map and then place the route on the
map.
• Students will compare and contrast the physical
features of Europe to that of North America.
• Students will create a location for a new land for
them to explore. They must include
latitude/longitude, physical features, and
inhabitants.
Activities Continued…
• Students will construct a mapping of the colonization of
North America by the Europeans. The map will be
provided to the students, and they may creatively
develop a representation of the colonization.
• Student will analyze the positive and negative
consequences of human changes to the New World. One
group will be responsible for the positives and the other
group the negative. Students will then use the class time
for a whole class debate.
Websites for Geography
• Education Planet:
http://www.educationplanet.com/articles/explore
rs.html This website links geography with the
explorations of 15th Century.
• Social Studies School Service:
http://www.socialstudies.com This website will
teach the students about paths of explorations
and maps of the conquering.
Websites Continued…
• Explores:
http://zephyr.esd123.org/htbin/wwform/www/?TEXT=
R1727326-1746902/www/documents/079/cat/idx770.htm This website
gives specific information of the path of exploration
for several explorers.
• National Geographic:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ This website is
full of pictures for students to view. It contains a lot of
facts as well.
• Geography: http://www.eduex.com/Geography/ This
website focuses on geography of the world. It has
parts that discuss explorations through time.
Strand Four
Economics
Activities for Economics
• Students will find what Spanish money looked
like in 1400 by research on the Internet. They
will then compare and contrast their money to
ours today.
• Students will research what goods were
important to the European explorers. Then they
will research if those good were available to
them in the New World.
Activities Continued…
• Students will create a poster board with their
answer to “Why do countries explore?” They
are to use facts, opinions, and lots of pictures.
• Students are to create their own money for use in
the New World. What would they have designed
our money to look like?
• Students are to answer the following question in
a short essay: What did Indians in the New
World produce, how did they produce it, and for
whom did they produce it for?
Websites for Economics
• The Federal Reserve Bank:
http://www.ny.frb.org/education/econexjrnl.pdf
This site discusses the change in currency from
past to present. It gives pictures of several
types of currency.
• Economics for Kids:
http://www.kathimitchell.com/econ.htm This
site helps kids to understand economics, and it
relates economics to the discoveries of new
land.
Websites Continued…
• Early Explorers:
http://www.coreknowledge.org/CKproto2/resrcs/lesso
ns/199explorer.pdf This page discusses early
explorers and they survival techniques in a new land.
• Kid Info:
http://www.kidinfo.com/American_History/Explorers.
html This page gives short research information on
explorers. It also discusses money, Indian survival
techniques, and goods and services of European lands.
• The European Voyages:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/eurvoya/
This page is for reference about how Europe
influenced the world through their explorations.
Strand Five
Government
Activities for Government
• Students will compare and contrast the
governments of 15th century England to the U.S.
government of today in a short paper. Resources
will be available in the classroom for research, and
they may work in pairs.
• Students will research and report on how the U.S.
Government affected the age of American
continental exploration in the 19th century. They
should be sure to discuss the great surveyors in
this time in a 2-3 page paper.
Activities continued…
• Each student should choose an American explorer
of their choice, and prepare a short presentation on
how their actions influenced American democracy.
• The class will be set up to reenact the debate
before the explorers Lewis and Clark’s expedition.
One student will be President Jefferson, a group
will act as the Congress approving the trip, two as
the explorers with the rest of the class being the
people to travel with Lewis and Clark. After the
reenactment each student will turn in a short
summary of the event.
Activities continued
• Students will be put into small groups to
search the Internet for information on the
style of government followed by the Native
Americans. They will then give a short
presentation to the class (in any creative
manner they wish).
Websites for Government
• Discoverers and Explorers:
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Discoverers.html
This site offers facts and figures regarding the
Oregon Trail. It goes into detail on the exploration
across the trail and offers quicklinks for quicker
access.
• Westward Explorers:
http://www.nps.gov/jeff/LewisClark2/Circa1804/
WestwardExpansion/EarlyExplorers/OtherExplore
rs.htm This site discusses the Governments affect
on the Big-Four Surveys in the age of American
exploration. It offers timelines as well as detailed
explanations.
Websites continued…
• Explorers, Frontiersman, Pioneers, Frontiersmen,
Trappers:
http://www.linecamp.com/museums/americanwest/hu
bs/pioneers_explorers_frontiersmen/pioneers_explorer
s_frontiersmen.html This site offers many links and a
lot of information from the days of the Wild West.
• Explorers of the Millennium:
http://library.thinkquest.org/4034/ This website
focuses on 19 of the most popular explorers over the
last 1000 years. There are timelines, facts, quizzes,
and much more.
• American Explorers:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/nameric
a.shtml This site alphabetically lists American
explorers with brief information and a link for more.
Strand Six
• Citizenship
Activities for Citizenship
• Students will choose a country and find the
citizen’s rights within that country in the 17th
century and present their information to the class.
• Students will choose any explorer and create a
passport (as you would find one today) for that
explorer to be admitted into a different country.
• The students will turn their classroom into a
foreign country in the past. The class will
investigate what it takes to become a natural
citizen and obey laws and such of that country for
a day.
Activities continued…
• Students will choose a particular freedom of our
nation and compare that freedom to the the Native
Americans in the 16th and/or 17th centuries. They
will turn in a written paper with their findings.
• Students will create a timeline of a typical day of
an explorer of their choice. They will then create
a timeline of their personal typical day and
compare the two. Creativeness through drawings
and pictures is encouraged.
Websites for Citizenship
• Native American Conquest: http://www.estudent.net/ This is a high-tech website with audio
and visual displays offering a lot of information
about the 1st Americans.
• European Explorers:
http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/explorer.htm This site
offers links to many European Explorers and
categorizes them by country.
• Age of Exploration Timeline:
http://www.mariner.org//educationalad/ageofex/ti
meline.php This is an extensive, detailed timeline
throughout the history of exploration.
Websites Continued…
• South American Explorers:
http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/southam.
html This site focuses on explorers, such as the
Conquistadors, of South America.
• Vikings:
http://www.mariner.org//educationalad/ageofex/vi
king_disc.php This site is devoted to the
discoveries of the Vikings, and the Viking
explorers who contributed to these discoveries.
Strand Seven
• Social Studies Skills and Methods
Activities for Skills and Methods
• Each student will conduct themselves as a
newspaper journalist reporting on one of the
voyages of Christopher Columbus. They may use
any sources to gain information. The final
newspapers will be hung in the hallway.
• Students will pull names of explorers from a hat
and compile information (facts, pictures, etc.) into
a portfolio pertaining to their particular explorer.
• Students will find a book about any interesting
explorer they would like. Students will be given
time in class and be responsible for reading
outside of class. After completing the book, each
child will do a book report.
Activities continued…
• Students will be paired up and assigned a specific
period of American exploration. They are to
create a timeline or graph of all the major
exploration events in that time.
• Students will find information from three different
sources about one explorer of their choice. They
will critique the source of information and rank
the source on a scale of their making or finding.
Websites for Skills and Methods
• Christopher Columbus:
http://www.mariner.org//educationalad/ageofex/colu
mbus.php This site is devoted to Columbus and has
links to the four voyages in his exploration.
• Explorers’ Themes Page:
http://www.cln.org/themes/explorers.html There are
numerous links from this page pertaining to specific
themes of exploration. There are annotations of
each link.
• Example Report:
http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/amexp.htm This site
allows students to view a sample report done by a
5th grade student on the explorer John Cabot.
Websites continued…
• Explorers:
http://www.mce.k12tn.net/explorers/explorers_star
t.htm This site has different categories for
reviewing the explorers. It also offers activities
and quizzes about each category.
• Spanish Empire:
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/REFORM/EMPIR
E.HTM This site explains how the Native
Americans did not last in the Spanish Empire and
leads into the Northern Renaissance.
Strand Eight
• Technology
Activities for Technology
• Students will be able to work in small groups and
put together a PowerPoint presentation about any
explorer. The PowerPoint should be at least 10
slides.
• Students will be given a list of movies in some
regards to explorers. The students will be able to
vote which movie they would like to watch in
class. Students will be given a short quiz over the
movie they select.
Activities continued…
• Students will be taken on a field trip to Sunwatch
to explore for themselves how the Native
Americans lived. They will write a one-page
typed response on their trip.
• Students will create their own compass with
materials given in class (styrofoam, paperclip,
magnet, bowl of water, marker). They will then
write a journal entry how a compass helped
explorers on their journey.
Activities continued…
• Students will work in pairs to design their
own video game. The game will be relative
to the lifestyle of an explorer or a particular
group of explorers. Each group will have
the opportunity to share the game they
design.
Websites for Technology
• Evolution of Steering Ships:
http://www.mariner.org//educationalad/ageofex/ste
ering.php This site reviews the evolution of these
ships over the course of the world’s history.
• Henry the Navigator:
http://www.win.tue.nl/cs/fm/engels/discovery/henr
y.html This website investigates the life of Henry
the Navigator and also the technology and
techniques he used in his lifetime.
Websites continued…
• Explorers:
http://www.kathimitchell.com/explorer.htm This
website has endless links to specific and general
explorer information.
• European Explorers:
http://www.chenowith.k12.or.us/tech/subject/socia
l/explore.html This site offers excellent links
about many explorers.
• Who Really Discovered America, eh?:
http://www.lawzone.com/half-nor/swearinger.htm
This site allows you to view a speech by a
California judge on his thoughts of who really
discovered America.
Explorers
Grade 5
THE END