Early+Explorers

Social Studies History and Geography Grade 5

Standards: ~Explain the reasons people from various groups came to North America and to other  countries ~Explain why European countries explored ~Describe the lasting effects of Spanish, French and English explorations

 As we begin our unit on Explorers, we are going to preview a video on [|You tube] "Are You Ready for Exploring" to get into the mind set of exploration. Students are then going to look at the website [|All About Explorers] to gain some back ground knowledge about a list of explorers given to them by me. With the website, students, working in small groups, are just looking for information. They are to take notes on interesting facts, fascinating information, and ideas that spark their interest. {No right or wrong answers here} They need to find at least five facts to bring to the table when we start discussing the Explorers.

 Before we begin our discussion, students will go to the [|__Poll Everywhere__] site and take the poll about "Why do you think the early explorers went exploring?" These answers will be reviewed as we continue our study of explorers to see if the choices made are in deed accurate. We follow the poll by a discussion of the facts identified in their research and well as new information.

 We begin our study with an outline of information pertaining to the explorers, why they sailed, for whom did they sail [which country], when did they sail, and what were they looking for or told to find. After finishing a [|chart] in Google using the [|__Enchanted Learning__]  website as well as the <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: georgia,serif; vertical-align: baseline;">__[|All About Explorers]__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: georgia,serif; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">website, students will complete a Google Map using the information found during their research.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: georgia,serif; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> By using <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: georgia,serif;">[|__Google Maps__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: georgia,serif; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, students will pin point where ten chosen explorers landed. They will also add to the tab a brief description of where, when, and why the explorer traveled.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: georgia,serif; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> After completing the map, students will chose one of the ten explorers and complete a short <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: georgia,serif; vertical-align: baseline;">__Voicethread__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: georgia,serif; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> connection to explain why they liked this particular explorer and important facts pertaining to the explorer. The [|Voicethreads] will be used for class discussion about the explorers and why some were more popular or interesting than others.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: georgia,serif; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> To finalize this unit, students are going to complete a short video of information about the explorers. This video should be short and to the point. Look at it as a short info/commercial giving some insight into to explorers. Use <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: georgia,serif;">[|__Flixtime__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: georgia,serif; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to complete your video presentation.

<span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">[|__Thinkquest__] Students then can go to the Thinkquest to play games and/or complete activities pertaining to the Explorers.

Requirements: 1. Link to Brainstorming Poll Everywhere: [|Poll] 2. Link to Creation tool #1 Google Maps: [|Map] 3. Link to Creation tool #2 Voice thread: [|Voicethread] 4. Link to Creation tool #3 Flixtime: [|Movie] 5. Rubric for assignments: [|Rubric] 6. Link to Publishing tool: K-12 Wiki