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Lesson Plan
Success Link

Success Link: Explorer Poetry Booklet

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
After a study of explorers in the Americas, students write poetry to show what they know about individual explorers. This lesson plan gives guidelines, ways to adapt the lesson, a graphic organizer, and scoring guide.
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Handout
Tennessee History For Kids

Tennessee History for Kids: Part Two, Explorers and Long Hunters

For Students 3rd - 8th
This website provides information about two early explorers in Tennessee, Hernando de Soto and Daniel Boone.
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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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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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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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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...
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Handout
A&E Television

Biography: Francisco Pizarro

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography of 16th century Spanish explorer and conquistador Francisco Pizarro, who traveled with Vasco Nunez de Balboa and helped to discover the Pacific Ocean. Pizarro also conquered Peru and founded the city of Lima there.
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Handout
A&E Television

Biography: Juan Ponce De Leon

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography of Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish explorer from the 15th and 16th centuries. He was at one point the governor of Puerto Rico, and is credited with discovering Florida. Ponce de Leon is also remembered for having searched the...
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Website
Other

Historical Museum of Southern Florida : The Spanish Colonization of Florida

For Students 3rd - 8th
Follow the early colonization of Florida. From explorers to settlers to trades between England and Spain, and finally to the emergence of the American territory of Florida.
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Graphic
Curated OER

Etc: Routes of Spanish Explorers, 1513 1565

For Students 9th - 10th
A map of southern North America, Florida, and the Gulf of Mexico east the Mississippi Delta showing the routes of the early Spanish explorers Ponce de Leon (1513), De Narvaez (1528), and Hernando de Soto (1535-1542).
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Handout
A&E Television

Biography: Ferdinand Magellan

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography on the life and voyages of 16th century Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, who was the first to circumnavigate the globe, although he did not survive the journey. Magellan was Portuguese but he commanded a Spanish fleet.
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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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Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: Explorers for Kids: Hernan Cortes

For Students 1st - 9th
Investigate the biography and life of Spanish explorer and conquistador Hernan Cortes. Read about how he conquered the Aztec Empire.
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Handout
A&E Television

History.com: Ferdinand Magellan

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography of Ferdinand Magellan, a 16th century Portuguese explorer who travelled with a Spanish fleet, and an account of his voyage around the world, from which he did not return.
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Website
Soft Schools

Soft Schools: Amerigo Vespucci Timeline

For Students 9th - 10th
A timeline illustrating the significant events of Amerigo Vespucci's life and legacy. Amerigo Vespucci is credited for being the first explorer to "discover" America by stating that it was a new country, not the West Indies.
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Website
Soylent Communications

Notable Names Database|nndb: Vasco Nunez De Balboa

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief biography of one of the successful Spanish conquistadors, Vasco Nunez de Balboa. He is recognized for his discovery of the Pacific Ocean and land in the Americas.
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Handout
Curated OER

National Park Service: Hernando De Soto

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography of Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto who explored the southern coast of what became the United States. Read about his travels and demise.
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Handout
Mariners' Museum and Park

The Mariners' Museum: Exploration Through the Ages: Alonso Alvarez De Pineda

For Students 9th - 10th
Little is known about Alonso Alvarez de Pineda's life except for the last year. Read about his explorations for Spain and his contributions to the Spanish empire.
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Juan De Onate and the Founding of New Mexico

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief description of Onate's life and work with links to related stories and many good sites about the Spanish exploration in the U.S.
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Activity
Study Languages

Study Spanish: Los Conquistadores

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource on Spanish conquistadors focuses on Cortes, Alvarado and Pizarro. Additional links are provided for more information on this topic. Great reading selection for beginning and intermediate Spanish students.
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Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: William Clark (Spanish)

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the talented explorer William Clark who helped provide some of the first information about the new Louisiana Territory. William Clark had a life full of experiences that helped prepare him for this great adventure. (In Spanish)
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Website
Enchanted Learning

Enchanted Learning: Little Explorers Spanish English Picture Dictionary

For Students Pre-K - 1st
This engaging picture dictionary encourages reading and vocabulary building among your young students whose first language is Spanish. There are also coloring activities which can be printed out.
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Website
Enchanted Learning

Enchanted Learning: Little Explorers Spanish English Picture Dictionary

For Students Pre-K - 1st
This engaging picture dictionary encourages reading and vocabulary building among your young students whose first language is Spanish. There are also coloring activities which can be printed out.
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Website
PBS

Pbs: Conquistadors: Cabeza De Vaca

For Students 9th - 10th
Click on "The Marvelous Adventure" to follow Cabeza de Vaca's several year journey through the Southeast and Texas. Part of a larger site on the Spanish conquest of the Western world, these pages focus on Cabeza de Vaca. Includes de...

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