Curated OER
Should We Celebrate Columbus Day?
Students gather information about Columbus' impact on the Americas. They use the information to determine whether or not a fictitious community should continue to recognize Columbus Day.
Core Knowledge Foundation
Christopher Columbus
Take some time to focus on Christopher Columbus, his three ships, the purpose of his voyage, and the new land he discovered. Pay special attention to the included additional materials, they are the real value in this resource.
Core Knowledge Foundation
Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue
Young adventurers embark on a journey, setting sail along the blue ocean with Christopher Columbus. Teachers will find that this unit makes their lesson planning smooth sailing!
Curated OER
Planning a Trip for Christopher Columbus
First graders plan a trip for Christopher Columbus. They use their math skills to construct a ship for Columbus' voyage. They show their ship and calculations to their classmates and build graphs to show the amount of supplies needed to...
Curated OER
Christopher Columbus
Students read about the good and bad aspects of Christopher Columbus in Jean Fritz's book, "Where do you think you're going, Christopher Columbus?" They conduct and analyze a survey about common myths and create a pop-up book.
Common Core Sheets
Reading a Timeline
Sometimes the most important details of an informational text aren't within the text at all. Teach your class how to read timeline with a set of activities that prompts them to find specific dates and events on the timelines, as well as...
Curated OER
Exploring Maps: Lesson 2 Guide: Navigation
Students explore and examine how maps have been used in navigation. They research how travelers collected observations to keep track of their positions and plotted information on maps. Each student then makes a Mercator projection...
Curated OER
Finding Latitudes and Longitudes
Students analyze Columbus' rationale for sailing west, and find the latitude and longitude of modern and ancient place names.
Curated OER
Who Discovered America? The Great Debate
Was it Christopher Columbus, the Native Americans, or the Vikings? Get ready for a lively debate with this question!
Curated OER
Make Your Own Trashasaurus Rex Sculpture
Students explore environmental awareness through reusing materials. For this environmental awareness lesson, students use trash to create a "trashasaurus," a large dinosaur sculpture made from waste. Detailed structure and papier-mâché...
Curated OER
Early Explorers Project
Students choose an explorer from a given list, create an original song or poem based on the life of their explorer, make puppets to represent their explorer and then present their original piece to the class while students take notes on...
Curated OER
Lesson One: Flag Day
Students discuss importance and symbolism of flags to United States and its people, discuss history and meaning of American flag, identify flags of other countries, analyze symbolism of color, shape, and design, and view images of Civil...
Curated OER
Exploration and Encounters
Fourth graders research explorers of the New World. In this American history lesson, 4th graders conduct internet & textbook research about various New World explorers. Students compare and contrast the sources used for...
Curated OER
Celebrating Thanksgiving
First graders identify symbols associated with special days and give reasons for observing holidays. They compare families of long ago with todya and talk about the first Thanksgiving and how it is celebrated in modern times. For...
Curated OER
North American Explorers
Sixth graders discuss famous explorere then research an explorer, collect reference materials and take notes using notecards. They write a three to four page typed and double spaced report then present their findings to the class.
Curated OER
Life for the First Inhabitants
Fourth graders study the contributions of the American Indian culture on the development of Utah. They examine and create American Indian rock art.
Curated OER
AIH-5: Westward Expansion
Fifth graders research how the westward expansion affected the American Indians.
Curated OER
Life for the First Inhabitants
Fourth graders trace the emergence and development of culture in Utah. They study the contributions of the American Indian culture on the development of Utah. They create their own rock art by using signs and images that show something...
Curated OER
Local Government
Fourth graders research services and responsibilities of local government. They use cameras to take pictures of local government in action and create posters with them.
Curated OER
My Community Then and Now
Third graders examine and discuss the characteristics of their community. They compare their present community with its characteristics at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and they make flat or relief maps that include unique...
Other
Columbus: Empty Bowls
In this project, participants create ceramic bowls then serve a simple meal of soup and bread. Guests choose a bowl to use that day and to keep as a reminder that there are always "empty bowls" in the world. In exchange for a meal and...
Utah State University
Teacher Link: Celebrations: A Resource Guide for Teachers
TeacherLINK at Utah State University offers a wealth of topics and project information on celebrations held throughout the world. Click on "Topics and Authors," to access a long list of available lesson plans on a variety of...
Wisconsin Historical Society
American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts Early American Exploration/settlement
A collaborative project of the Wisconsin Historical Society and National History Day, this site contains over 18,000 pages of primary source, eyewitness accounts of North American exploration starting with the Vikings.