Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Defining Regions

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders will work in cooperative learning groups to research North American regions and create presentations to share with their classmates. To show what they have learned, 5th graders will create maps of North American regions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Explorers

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Learners search interactive sites to discover the history of exploration. They inspect an explorers' timeline and read about them. They participate in a Viking quest game and a multimedia recreation of Marco Polo's explorations.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Couriers in the Inca Empire: Getting Your Message Across

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore how the Inca communicated across the bast stretches of their mountain realm.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Be A Food Explorer

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students read about and discuss the origin of many different fruits and vegetables. Students complete surveys, sample a variety of new foods and write about their reactions. They commit to trying at least three new foods.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Search for the Northwest Passage

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders listen to lectures and research the motivations and history of the Spanish, French and English explorers searching for the Northwest Passage to India. They trace routes on maps and consider how these explorers helped shaped...
Organizer
Curated OER

Explorers

For Students 6th - 8th
In this Explorers study guide worksheet, learners respond to 3 questions regarding Prince Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama, Columbus, Magellan, Cortez, Pizarro, Drake, and Cartier. Answers are included.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

South American Architecture

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders review and discuss what they read about North American architecture. They then study images of North and south American architecture and make comparisons
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An International Menu

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students research etymologies using dictionaries. They explore the diverse origins of the common foods they eat after making a list of their favorite foods.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hispanics in Indianapolis

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders explore the history of the Indianapolis Hispanic Community and create an illustrated timeline of Hispanics in Indianapolis beginning from 1870 and ending in 1999, while exploring local social issues of the past and present.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Am Me and More! Assemblages and Pepon Osorio

For Teachers K - 6th
Students discuss their role and importance of being a part of a community. After listening to a story, discuss how an artist's memories affected his pieces. Using the internet, they research the different roles of community members.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Africans in Mexico

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students read case studies to examine the role of Africans in Mexico. Using maps, they research the areas that are discussed in the text and map out movement maps of Africans to and from Africa. They research the history of the Mexico...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Nutrition and Health

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore the conditions faced while sailing on the ocean regarding health and physical fitness. They experience the importance of Vitamin C. Students analyze the cause of many diseases and sicknesses on the ships.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Living Through Fire

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Pupils investigate the poverty found in Haiti. In this current events lesson, students research the noted Web sites to study Haiti's geography, history, and civil war. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hispanic Arts: Visual Arts, Dance and Music

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students observe global cultures by listening to music and watching videos. In this Latin American dance lesson, students define merengue, salsa and other dances from the Hispanic culture while listening to Latin rhythm music. Students...
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest

For Students 11th - 12th
From a chapter on "Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492-1650," this section describes the importance of Portuguese exploration of the Atlantic and Spanish exploration of the Americas.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Teaching With Primary Sources: Hispanic Exploration in America [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This is a great lesson plan from the Library of Congress that shows how to use primary sources in the examination of the Spanish Conquistadors in America. The lesson offers many possible activities for students to use with the primary...
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: Colonial Societies 1500 1700: Spanish Exploration & Colonial Society

For Students 11th - 12th
Examines the establishment of Spanish settlements in America, the differences between them, and the conflicts the Spanish had with other European interests and with the native peoples.
eBook
Other

Eldritch Press: Cabeza De Vaca's Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America

For Students 9th - 10th
Read this fascinating account by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, one of four survivors who traversed Florida and the Southwest for eight years, from 1529-1537.Read the preface which gives a background to this narrative before delving into...
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Exploration and Colonization of America

For Students 9th - 10th
Given short summaries about the reasons for European exploration and colonization of North America, students will compare English and Spanish settlements in the New World.
Website
University of Calgary

European Voyages of Exploration: 15th & 16th Centuries

For Students 9th - 10th
This award-winning website from the University of Calgary's History Department is both impressive and extensive. It focuses on Portuguese and Spanish expeditions of the 15th and 16th centuries (the sitemap provides a good outline of...
Website
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Colonial Williamsburg: Numismatics: Coins and Currency in Colonial America

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: The Forts of Old San Juan: Guardians of the Caribbean

For Students 9th - 10th
Visit such Spanish sites in Puerto Rico as El Morro, the fort that provided the keystone to protection of the Spanish Empire that spread across the Caribbean. Many photographs and drawings.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Parallel Histories: Exploration and Early Settlement

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the Spanish conquistadors who explored what was to become Spanish America. Included are links to digital collections from the Library of Congress and the National Library of Spain.
Article
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Spanish, American Beginnings: 1492 1690

For Students 9th - 10th
Two maps and four accounts of the Spanish exploration of North America that reflect the goals of the conquistadors and fascination with the land they examined-and the brutality of their treatment of native peoples.