People of North America in the Age of Discovery Lesson Plans

Young scholars access prior knowledge of why the explorers came to America between 1492 and 1542. In this discovery of America lesson, students follow the route of an explorer and find out why he traveled to another land. Young scholars create an eight slide PowerPoint about there explorer. Students share information and are assessed on the content. Young scholars create a time-line to record effects of the voyages of the explorers.

Fifth graders research early American explorers before writing a vocabulary booklet. They chose one explorer to create a slideshow presentation about and design a bookmark to be displayed at the local library.

Students research explorers and explore how exploration affected the Western Hemisphere; students demonstrate competency in using multimedia encyclopedia and information software, and present PowerPoint presentation to class with two scanned drawings.

Students explore the cities of Cairo, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Mecca and Tehran.  In this Middle East lesson plan, students complete a map, research one of the five the cities and prepare a presentation that includes details about the city.  Students also create a musical instrument that these five cities are known for.

Learners watch a Nova program examining the earliest in habitants of the Americas. In groups. they take notes on various topics covered in the program. Among the topics covered are: the Clovis people, Solutrean culture, migration routes, and genetic evidence. to conclude the lesson, students role-play as forensic scientists solving a missing persobns case through the evidence of mtDNA.

Young scholars identify and research famous European explorers using a variety of sources. They compare and contrast the explorers drawing conlusions about the importance of each explorer. They design a web page on one explorer of their choice.

Students explore 6 boxes of stuff about famous people in history including Martin Luther King Jr., Peter the Great, Henry VIII, and more. In this history lesson plan, students then discuss their boxes with the rest of the class.

Fourth graders explore the trade relationships that existed in the late 1700's Colonial America. In this American history lesson, 4th graders examine English and Cherokee trade treaties by reviewing primary and secondary sources. Students share their findings in a presentation.

Students identify periods of history and read a news article about a librarian who wrote an award winning book. In this current events instructional activity, the teacher introduces the article with a class challenge and a vocabulary activity, then students read the news report and participate in a think-pair-share discussion. Lesson includes interdisciplinary follow-up activities.

Learners examine the role of archaeology in gaining information about past civilizations. After reading an article, they discover evidence of the Viking settlement of North America. They summarize the information in the article by making a map of their explorations. They evaluate the role of archaeology in an essay.