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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Vikings and European Explorers Viking Religion

For Teachers 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about Vikings and the god's they worship. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
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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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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Vikings & European Explorers Shipbuilding and Warfare

For Teachers 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about Viking ships and warfare. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Vikings and European Explorers the Vikings

For Teachers 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the Vikings. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
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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...
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Article
University of California

Uc Santa Barbara: What Brought the Europeans to America?

For Students 9th - 10th
Short essay addresses reasons that brought the Europeans to America. Covering many important points, he also provides compelling reasons and a map.
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Website
Teachnology

Teachnology: Explorers Teaching Theme

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Enhance teaching about explorers with this collection of resources including lesson plans, activities, interactive websites and more.
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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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Handout
Other

Planet Explorers: Captain James Cook (1728 1779)

For Students 3rd - 8th
Famous for cartography and exploration of the Pacific and Antarctic, Planet Explorers provides a brief biography of Captain James Cook.
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Lesson Plan
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: European Exploration [Pdf]

For Teachers 4th - 8th
An activity guide where students refer to the Texas Almanac, which is free to download, for information needed to complete assigned tasks. In this lesson, students are asked to research Spanish and French explorers and create a 'living...
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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
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Exploring Borderlands:christopher Columbus

For Students 9th - 10th
This passage features explorer Christopher Columbus as an author documenting his travels and experiences through letters and such. Click on "Christopher Columbus Activities" for related artifacts and activities.
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Unit Plan
Enchanted Learning

Enchanted Learning: Pierre De La Verendrye: Canadian Inland Explorer

For Students 3rd - 8th
The life of La Verendrye is profiled. He was a Canadian soldier and explorer who traveled farther west than any previous European explorer had. This is a brief concise text.
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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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Article
A&E Television

History.com: Christopher Columbus: How the Explorer's Legend Grew and Then Drew Fire

For Students 9th - 10th
Christopher Columbus has long been exalted as a heroic figure in American history: the first explorer to establish a European presence in the New World. Americans have celebrated his arrival as far back as 1792, the 300th anniversary of...
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Handout
Other

Texas Bob: The First Europeans in Texas: 1528 1536

For Students 9th - 10th
One of the first Europeans to penetrate the interior of Texas, read Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's account of his shipwreck and eventual return to the Spanish Court.
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Article
Bullock Texas State History Museum

Bullock Museum: American Indians

For Students 9th - 10th
Immerse in the campfire stories of the people who defined Texas. Find out about how the two Americas: the Europeans' version, and the American Indians' version, started changing forever.
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Handout
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools

Loon Lake Elementary: Explorers: Christopher Columbus

For Students 3rd - 7th
Find out about the life of an explorer in this brief biography regarding Christopher Columbus.
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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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Website
British Library

British Library: The Search for the Northwest Passage

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Detailed third grade lessons help students understand what skills and knowledge were required in order to become an explorer. Includes specific lessons on John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, and Henry Hudson.
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Website
Mariners' Museum and Park

Mariners' Museum: Vasco Da Gama

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography of Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, highlighting his accomplishments to European exploration. Readers will find an accompanying accounts of his voyages and a collection of the tools he and his crews used for navigating the...
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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Indians' Accounts, American Beginnings: 1492 1690

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Four accounts by Native Americans of their complex responses to and reactions toward European explorers near present-day Canada and Mexico.
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: 1492: An Ongoing Voyage

For Students 9th - 10th
An exhibit by the Library of Congress supplies diverse facts on the famous 1492 voyage. The exhibition first examines the encounter between the European explorers and the native people. They explore five geographical areas: The Caribbean...

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