A Pawsitive Planner for Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus has become somewhat of a controversial topic for elementary teachers. However, the exploration of Columbus was somewhat of a turning point in American and World History and worth discussing, in my opinion.  For the first time, people living in very different regions of the world were interacting with each other.   

Unfortunately, books about Christopher Columbus for elementary students are somewhat limited. 

Here is a look at the books I share with my class during our study of Christopher Columbus.

Integration is a life saver in my classroom because it is the only way I have found to expose my kids to all the topics that I need to cover. 

 I have confessed before that I am not a big fan of the one-size-fits-all basal story of the week.  I want the reading we focus on during the week to be meaningful  for the students and guide them to becoming thinkers as they read.  During our study of Columbus, we use a nonfiction passage to answer comprehension questions with text evidence.  We also work on summarizing the main idea of paragraphs using the same passage.  The student also have a chance to document their learning in a variety of different forms.

This animated clip is just under five minutes and is fairly historically accurate for an animated version.

This short video discusses how Columbus used courage to pursue his dream....a very valuable lesson for today's kids.

A short video produced by the History Channel.

Looking for a fun FREEBIE to add to your Columbus Day lessons?

Check out this FREEBIE Word Search!

I would love to hear from you.....how do you integrate teach about Columbus in your classroom?