History – 8
Lesson Plans
Objective: Students will analyze European exploration to the Americas and decide its impact on the new land.
Materials needed: European Explorer Books (TAH books)
½ sheet of poster board
Colored pencils/markers
Notebook paper
Timer
Procedure:
Day 1
Ø Explorer books from the Alpine Public Library will be acquired by teacher before class.
Ø Students will be in groups of 4-5.
Ø Teacher will facilitate learning about the explorers first through helping the students locate on geographic maps the various countries such as, France, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Holland and the oceans.
Ø Students will label and color maps.
Ø Students will get in groups and explain the geographic location of each country to their group.
Ø Students will fill out a KWL chart with explorers listed.
Ø Each group will have a European explorer book on their desk and some paper. The group will read the short book and discuss important facts while writing and summarizing on their paper.
Ø Each group will have 8 minutes per book/explorer to write information. Then when the timer rings the groups will change tables and look at a new explorer. That group will read what the previous group wrote and add to it.
Ø By the end of the time period, each group will have been to each section and should be back to their original spot.
Day 3
Ø The group will take the information from the previous day, organize and analyze it and begin to create a visual of the information gathered. Must include date of exploration, map of where and what was explored, summary of impact on mother country and new land, what was exchanged, picture of what the explorer looked like, and finally a summary of why this person is historically important. All of this information will be placed on the large card by all of the group members. When finished, the cards will be assembled in timeline fashion in a public viewing area.
Individual and group grades will depend on quality, content, following directions.