Steven Kreis, PhD
The History Guide: The Age of Discovery
A survey of the explorers of the Renaissance period. Includes a general look at the main explorers, with links to biographies of many of them.
![U.s. Mint: Our Goal Pole [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://content.lessonplanet.com/knovation/original/249027-a06b6e1b3a7aa5c8e4fc49293e940618.jpg?1661243094 "U.s. Mint: Our Goal Pole [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
US Mint
U.s. Mint: Our Goal Pole [Pdf]
In this four-part lesson, students will demonstate knowledge of the sequencing of events by studying the westward journey, use terms that indicate the sequence of events and demonstrate an understanding of certain historical figures in...
![U.s. Mint: Which Came First? [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://content.lessonplanet.com/knovation/original/249028-fe9fd34e9fd91c5e0f661d831bfde2a1.jpg?1661243091 "U.s. Mint: Which Came First? [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
US Mint
U.s. Mint: Which Came First? [Pdf]
Introduce students to the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark's Expedition. Then, using the tails side of the Keelboat Nickel as a guide, make a timeline of the westward journey.
![U.s. Mint: Let's Build a Map [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://content.lessonplanet.com/knovation/original/249029-024660939f27fa1ea8589c5fba13f0e6.jpg?1661243095 "U.s. Mint: Let's Build a Map [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
US Mint
U.s. Mint: Let's Build a Map [Pdf]
In this four-part lesson, students study the map of the Louisiana Purchase and the trail of Lewis and Clark's Expedition. Then, build a classroom map displaying the events of the Westward Expansion.
Mariners' Museum and Park
Mariners Museum: Exploration Through the Ages
This website focuses on exploration and offers links to Ancient Exploration, Medieval Exploration, The "Age of Discovery" and Modern Exploration. It also provides pictured links to four explorers: currently they are Christopher Columbus,...
Other
Arlington National Cemetery: History of Arlington National Cemetery
The National Cemetery site gives information about the famous, and not-so-well-known people who are buried there: war heroes, presidents, chief justices, explorers, historical figures, etc.
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How Did Polynesian Wayfinders Navigate the Pacific Ocean?
Imagine setting sail from Hawaii in a canoe. Your target is a small island thousands of kilometers away in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. For thousands of years, Polynesian navigators managed voyages like this without the help of...
PBS
Empire of the Bay: Jacques Cartier
Who was Jacques Cartier? What voyages has history recorded? This one-page biography from PBS provides learners with these details and more.
PBS
Pbs: Empire of the Bay: Paths of the Explorers
Follow Hudson, Champlain and McKenzie as they explore Canada and what will ultimately become the land of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Other
National Maritime Museum: Ships and Seas: Christopher Columbus
Learn about Christopher Columbus's reason for sailing west instead of east. Also, discover what he found on his voyages and his return journeys.
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.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Themes: Honor & Courage: What Makes a Hero?
This is a collection of Grade-Leveled texts (3-12) to address the question, "What makes a hero?" Select a grade level and a collection of on grade-level reading passages on the topic comes up. [Free account registration required for...
SMART Technologies
Smart: Exploring Explorers
This is a lesson activity which is written to engage visual and kinesthetic learners in their study on explorers: Leif Eriksson, Christopher Columbus, Erik the Red, Vasco Da Gama, John Cabot, Marco Polo, and Ferdinand Magellan.
Other
Slippery Rock University: The Treaty of Tordesillas
Some very basic information on the Treaty of Tordesillas and geographic information related to South America.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Native Cultures vs. Explorers in World Court
This lesson represents the end result of a project-based, hands-on unit in which children represent a culture they've researched in a World Court Hearing against the explorers they encountered.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Activity: An Age of Adventure
A website detailing the biographies of Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, and Zheng Hehis. Learn about their inspiration for their voyages here.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Activity: Explorers Mini Project
A mini research project where students will pick an explorer who connected two world zones and answer questions about the journey of that explorer.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Exploring Explorers
Young scholars will create a video in talk-show format about explorers from the 15th-17th centuries. They will utilize books, the Alabama Virtual Library, and the Internet for reference. Groups of students will answer who, what, when,...
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: English Language Arts: Grade 5: The Birchbark House
Emphasizing the connections between English language arts and social studies, this unit teaches students how we learn about our past. Students explore various texts (literary and informational) to come to understand how Native Americans...
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: John Cabot: Voyage to North America, 1497
Letters from Cabot to different people in his life that explain his exploration and his discoveries.
NASA
Nasa: Detailed Chronology of Events Surrounding the Apollo
How would you like to experience what was actually said during the Apollo 13 accident? At this site read recorded NASA information from 2.5 minutes before the accident to about 5 minutes after.
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools
Loon Lake Elementary: Explorers: Sir Richard Grenville
Find out about the life of an explorer in this brief biography regarding an English naval commander, Sir Richard Grenville.
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools
Loon Lake Elementary: Explorers: Sir John Hawkins
A brief snapshot of the life and work of sixteenth century explorer and English mariner, Sir John Hawkins.
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools
Loon Lake Elementary School: Gaspar Corte Real
A biography of Gaspar Corte Real (1450-1501) who was born in Angra do Heroismo, on the Island of Terceira in the Azores. He was a Portuguese explorer who explored Greenland and the coast of Newfoundland. This site has a Google widget...