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Worksheet
Curated OER

Colorado: Reading Comprehension

For Students 4th - 6th
In this Colorado reading comprehension worksheet, students read a 2-page selection regarding the state and then respond to 10 true or false questions.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scientists and Inventors

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore human discovery by reading historical stories in class. In this inventors lesson, students define the terms scientist, invention, inventor and discovery before discussing the many differences between them. Students read...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gold Rush Abolitionists: How different was the role of Spanish-speaking blacks under Mexican rule from the role of English-speaking blacks under U.S. rule?

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students determine how Spanish-speaking blacks and English speaking blacks were treated differently. For this emancipation lesson, students compare the Mexican and American rules regarding slavery.     
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cabeza de Vaca Meets the Coahuiltecans

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students examine the difference between primary and secondary sources by examining the journal of Cabeza de Vaca and creating a poster about the Coahuitecan Indian groups. They portray a scene of the groups in 16th Century south Texas.
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Handout
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: Early European Exploration and Development

For Students 9th - 10th
A chronological timeline of early European exploration and development in Texas spanning from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
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Website
Mariners' Museum and Park

Mariners' Museum: The Ages of Exploration: Age of Discovery

For Students 4th - 8th
This Age of Discovery page presents naval artifacts and explorers of the 15th century to the early 17th century. It looks at European explorers who journeyed to North and South America, the search for the Northwest Passage, and...
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Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The First Europeans

For Students 9th - 10th
The first Europeans to arrive in North America -- at least the first for whom there is solid evidence -- were Norse, traveling west from Greenland, where Erik the Red had founded a settlement around the year 985. In 1001 his son Leif is...
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Handout
State Library of North Carolina

N Cpedia: John W. Kinchelo, Iii: American Indians at European Contact

For Students 9th - 10th
Native Americans inhabited the New World long before European explorers began establishing settlements on the land. This entry addresses the challenges the natives had to face upon Europe's arrival, trials in relationships, and how...
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Lesson Plan
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: America in Class: Early Visual Representations of the New World

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A instructional activity that examines how Native Americans were portrayed by artists in the sixteenth century, whose aim was to convey their appearance to a European audience, and thereby encourage investment in future New World...
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Article
Other

Houston Institute for Culture: Early Texas History: Spanish Exploration

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about Cabeza de Vaca, one of the first Europeans to extensively explore Texas after an accidental landing at Galveston Island.
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Website
British Library

British Library:northwest Passage: Early Approaches, a Historical Account

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the early attempts to find a way through the Northwest Passage. Included are portraits and early maps of the explorers.
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Website
Other

Radford University: Prelude to European Settlement of Virginia

For Students 9th - 10th
This site traces the early voyages of explorers from Portugal and Spain who were trying to find new resources.
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Unit Plan
Wisconsin Historical Society

American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts Early American Exploration/settlement

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
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Graphic
Curated OER

Etc: Early Voyages of Spaniards in the West Indies, 1512 1580

For Students 9th - 10th
A map of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean showing the voyage routes of the early European explorers in the region between 1512 and 1580. The map shows the routes of Alonzo de Ojeda to Darien Colombia, Balboa to the Pacific, Juan Ponce de...
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Website
University of Calgary

European Voyages of Exploration: Geography and Cartography

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This site provides information on mapmaking and cartograohy of the early explorers. Includes pictures of maps.
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Handout
BBC

Bbc: History: The Story of the Conquistadors

For Students 9th - 10th
A well known historian tells the story of the early Spanish explorers known as "conquistadors". He discusses their motivation, what effect they had on the native American societies and much more. Archived.
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Empire of the Bay: Who Were the Pathfinders?

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Who were the men key to the Hudson's Bay Company? Read through the biographies provided through Empire of the Bay to find out.
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Website
Other

California Historical Society: California History Online

For Students 9th - 10th
With over four hundred original images, this site covers periods in California's history from 1600 to the 1930s. Topics covered include the geography and climate of California, early aboriginal groups, the first European explorers, the...
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Handout
PBS

Empire of the Bay: Sir Martin Frobisher

For Students 9th - 10th
Read through the biography of Martin Frobisher to find out his importance in Canadian history.
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Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: French and Dutch Exploration in the New World

For Students 9th - 10th
An overview of the French, Dutch, and English explorers in the late 1500's and early 1600's.
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Handout
Other

The Norse Settlers in the New World

For Students 9th - 10th
Features a time line of the events of the Viking voyages to Canada. Identifies different events that occurred during this time period of early Viking exploration.
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Extra, Extra!! Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Newscast

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson will be an interdisciplinary lesson that involves both English Language Arts and Social Studies (History). The lesson will be primarily technology-based and also project-based that will have the students performing historical...
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Handout
Countries and Their Cultures

Countries and Their Cultures: Mangbetu

For Students 9th - 10th
The Mangbetu live in the northeastern corner of Zaire. They are the founders of one of the few centralized political systems in Central Africa. The Mangbetu achieved a very high level of technological and material development, as...
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Graphic
Curated OER

Etc: Early Explorers of the Atlantic Coast, 1492 1620

For Students 9th - 10th
A map of the Atlantic coast of North America from the Labrador Peninsula and Gulf of St. Lawrence south to the Santee River in the Carolinas, showing the European explorations and settlements in the region between 1492 and 1620. The map...