Dutch Exploration of America Teacher Resources

Students complete many activities including mapping, reading books, and Internet research to learn about European exploration. In this European lesson plan, students study geographical mapping, trade, and colonization.

Fifth graders read in any textbook, about the French, Spanish and Dutch explorations. They choose any 5 questions from the back of the chapter to answer. Students listen to the tape and follow along in "America will Be." They watch a...

What brought settlers from Europe to North America? By exploring primary sources, such as posters seeking recruits for the new lands, class members take a deeper look at these motivations. To finish, they present their findings to...

While this instructional activity focuses on a study of the Hudson River, it could be used as a template for a discussion of map skills, converting measurements, and plotting a route. The instructional activity includes vocabulary and...

Trace Columbus' voyages by locating them on 21st Century maps.  Using a navigators lesson plan, 4th graders will examine the Age of Exploration and trace Columbus's routes accurately on laminated world maps using different maps. Note:...

Fourth graders become familiar with the explorations of Hernando DeSoto. In this DeSoto lesson, 4th graders recognize the routes and territories of DeSoto's explorations. Students use primary and secondary sources and research to answer...

Students examine the role of the explorers. In this explorers and conquistadors, students create word puzzles (Wordles) regarding the time period in history. Students conduct research regarding a particular explorer and create foldables...

Readers are introduced to some of the conflicts that arose over land and resources in the Americas in a two-part cross-curricular comprehension worksheet that asks kids to study the article and then to use information provided to respond...

Thomas Malthus posed the most famous, and most easily disproven, theory about projected population growth in economic history. What did he get wrong—and why? Explore the Malthusian Theory of Population with a Crash Course video that...

Young scholars work together to examine Dutch, French, Spanish and English explorers. They create a poster of the information they collected and write about one explore they find most interesting. They share their information with the...

Fifth graders explore all the myths of the battle of Yorktown. A variety of primary documents are viewed and analyzed for discussion. They become aware that what one sees and hears is not always as it seems in reality. Each group...

Students explore the theory of Plate Tectonics. They participate in a simulation in which they re-enact the debate over Plate Tectonics vs. traditional beliefs of stationary continents that were widely accepted during the 1800's and...

Fifth graders explore quilting in pioneer families. In this quilting lesson, 5th graders review the history of quilts, the role of women, and quilting patterns. They create their own pattern and quilt square.  

In this pilgrims worksheet, students read facts about the history of the Pilgrims beginning during the early 1600's and ending with the first Thanksgiving. Students answer thirteen short answer questions.

Students research etymologies using dictionaries. They explore the diverse origins of the common foods they eat after making a list of their favorite foods.

Students explore some of our country's founding myths and legends by participating in an online poll. For example, did George Washington really chop down a cherry tree, then confess to his father about the deed, saying, I cannot tell a lie?

Available in both English and Dutch, this Library of Congress and Library of the Netherlands collaborative project offers over 11,000 digitized images relating to the Dutch in America. Includes a letter describing the purchase of...

An overview of the French, Dutch, and English explorers in the late 1500's and early 1600's.

Outline text explaining how the French, Dutch, and English explorers began to make inroads into the Americans in the late 1500s and early 1600s.

Essay about the beginnings of Dutch exploration into the New World. The author describe the journey of Englishman, Henry Hudson, as he sailed reaching the north Atlantic coast of America, what is now Newfoundland and explored the river...

Valuable lessons in the history of Europeans' early exploration and settlement of America can be gained by following the money used in trade. Coins and Currency exhibition lets you examine evidence of Spanish, British, Dutch, French, and...

Essay on how the Dutch laid claim to Manhattan Island and Albany, home to indigenous peoples, establishing themselves in banking, insurance and shipbuilding.

A great map showing the explorations of Spanish, French, and English explorers in North America between 1530 and 1675. A detailed key identifies each explorer and route. From the Perry-Castaneda Collection