Fifth Grade Exploring the Americas

by Jennifer Jordan, Latin & History Teacher

The fifth grade class is completing a study of European Explorers. An essential component to the study of American history, the Age of Exploration demonstrates to students how North and South America was discovered and who embarked on these brave expeditions to unknown lands. After learning about the major countries and their most famous explorers, students embarked upon a mini-project. Each student chose one explorer to research in depth. Students used two websites to learn basic facts, and then they used these facts to write a one-page journal entry in their explorer’s point of view. Students honed both their writing skills and their imagination to put themselves in their explorer’s shoes. Many students learned that their explorers failed at their missions several times, and some never achieved their goal. This was a good lesson for students-- there is value in perseverance. The final aspect of the mini-project involved the creation of a help wanted poster, seeking crew members to join the explorers’ expeditions. Overall, fifth graders enjoyed applying a variety of skills--evaluative, interpretative, and artistic--to this project.