Unit of Study:           Beginnings to Colonization

Lesson Title:            Native Worlds

Discipline(s):            United States History

Grade Level:            8th Grade

Author:                      Jacqueline L. Frierson

County:                     Prince George’s County

Length of Time:       Two to three 72-minute periods

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Abstract:

This lesson will examine the first voyage Columbus made from Spain to the New World. Students will interpret and make generalizations about this first voyage working in groups using maps and reading primary source documents of Columbus’ journal. They will discuss his journal and create a travelogue of their own to create a visual record of the journey. Each student will create a travelogue, decorate its cover using paint, collage or drawings and then make entries as if they were Columbus or a member of his crew. Rubrics will be used to assess the Travelogue which will be the culminating activity and assessment. (Even though Columbus is quite controversial now, I want the students to know that he ventured into the unknown to find a shorter way to Asia and even though he was lost he did expand European territory and thought.)

Background:

This is Unit Two, entitled “Beginnings to Colonization.” The previous unit was entitled “Geography,” and students studied longitude, latitude, the study of types of maps, hemispheres, the 5 major bodies of water and the 7 continents. They have also studied the first Americans and have discussed why Europeans were interested in traveling to and trading with Asia.
 

Materials:

Basic Pamphlet Stitch Book
4 sheets white paper (80 lbs. or more, any paper listed as suitable for “wet and dry media”. If students are not using ‘wet’ media, like watercolor, regular office weight paper will work, too.)
1 sheet of cardstock (manila works well) (make sure the dimensions of the white paper are the same size of smaller than the cardstock)
1 binder’s needle or tapestry needle (tapestry needles have blunt points and bigger eyes)
Linen bookmaking thread (or any heavy thread, including button making, dental floss, or embroidery floss) 3-4 times the length of the spine of the book
1 pair of scissors
1 awl or thumbtack (for piercing holes)
1 ruler

Drawing/Watercolor
Pelikan Watercolors (if you have the budget for these more expensive brand watercolor sets, invest in a set for your department. In class, students can share a set between them, and each cartridge of color can be reordered and replaced.)
Watercolor brushes (usually labeled as such in most stores and catalogues. Regular paint brushes will work, but avoid the cheap kind made with hard, wiry plastic bristles.) 
Sanford Design ‘Ebony’ Pencils or ‘General’s Layout’ pencils are a heavy-duty, good quality graphite pencils that make a good dark line and feel very different than a standard #2 pencil. Well worth buying a couple of boxes for arts-related projects in your classroom.
White erasers (or any erasers other than those ones at the end of the standard #2 that don’t work and just rub blackness all over your page!)

Collage
Glue Sticks OR glue with “flat-laying properties” (Yes! Paste, for example)
Use magazines that are scholastic (to limit off-task reading, or at least limit off-task reading to enriching topics)
Maps cut into sections
Velcro or sandpaper
Flannel or Felt Board

Resources:

Davidson, James West. America, History of Our Nation Beginnings through 1877. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2009.
Map: 15th Century Hispaniola
Picture of Columbus entitled The First Voyage
Reading: From the “Journal” of the first voyage
World Map
“Christopher Columbus.” Infoplease.
© 2000–2007 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease. 08 Nov. 2009 <http://ph.infoplease.com/ipa/A0931727.html>

Standards/Learner Outcomes:

Social Studies Content Standards:

2.0 People of the World and Nations: Students will understand the diversity and commonality, human interdependence, and global cooperation of the people of Maryland, the United States and the World through both a multicultural and historic perspective.

3.0 Geography: Students will use geographic concepts and processes to examine the role of culture, technology, and the environment in the location and distribution of human activities and spatial connections throughout time.

5.0 History: Students will examine significant ideas, beliefs, and themes; organize patterns and events; and analyze how individuals and societies have changed over time in Maryland, the United States and around the world.

6.0 Social Studies Skills and Processes: Students shall use reading, writing, and thinking processes and skills to gain knowledge and understanding of political, historical, and current events using chronological and spatial thinking, economic reasoning, and historical interpretation, by framing and evaluating questions from primary and secondary sources.

2. B Cultural Diffusion
1. Analyze how America continued to evolve into a society consisting of diverse cultures, customs, and traditions
a. Describe the effects of cultural exchange and interactions among Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans on the development of the United States

5. B Emergence, Expansion, and Change in Nations and Empires
4. Analyze patterns of immigration to the United States before 1877
a. Identify the push and pull factors responsible for immigration to the United States, such as the forced migration of Africans and Western European migration

6. A. Read to Learn and Construct Meaning about Social Studies
2. Use strategies to prepare for reading (before reading)
b. Preview the text by examining features, such as the title, pictures, maps, illustrations, photographs, charts, timelines, graphs, and icons
3. Use strategies to monitor understanding and derive meaning from text and portions of text (during reading)
c. Use a graphic organizer or another note-taking technique to record important ideas or information
4. Use strategies to demonstrate understanding of the text (after reading)
b. Identify, paraphrase, or summarize the main idea of the text

Fine Arts Standards:

1.0 Perceiving and Responding: Aesthetic Education – Students will demonstrate the ability to perceive, interpret, and respond to ideas, experiences and the environment through visual art.

2.0 Historical, Cultural, and Social Context: Students will demonstrate an understanding of visual art as an essential aspect of history and human experience.

3.0 Creative Expression and Production: Students will demonstrate the ability to organize knowledge and ideas for expression in the production of art.

Objectives/Skills:

Content Objectives:

Students will identify early Native American and West African cultures in order to draw conclusions about why their worlds were attractive to European empires.
Students will create a travelogue in order to illustrate their vision of the first European New World encounter and the journey.

Fine Arts Objectives:

1. b. Represent accurately in visual form spatial relationships, detail, and specific features of subject matter
2. b. Compare images and forms that explore universal themes about human experiences from different times and places
3. 1. Demonstrate how media, processes, and techniques communicate ideas and personal meaning
3. c. Create visual images or forms from observation, memory, and imagination to convey ideas and personal meaning with attention to point of view, detail, and spatial relationships

Keywords/Vocabulary:

Hispaniola
Genoa
Portugal
King Ferdinand
Queen Isabella

Scope and Sequence:

Day One

Motivation, Warm-Up:

Have you ever been lost? Describe a time when you were lost. Include the following in your response:
1. How did you know you were lost?
2. How did it feel?
3. What did you do?
4. What happened?

Teacher Directed:

Students will share their responses to the warm up.
The teacher will then say to students: “I am going to share with you a story of someone who was lost, but did not know it. Before I tell you about him, let me share with you where he was.”

Guided Practice:

Teacher will pull down the wall map showing the Caribbean specifically Hispaniola. Students will be asked to share what they know about that part of the world.
The teacher will give each student group a folder with cut up pieces of a map. Each student will examine the part of the map they have and write a description of what they see.

Independent Practice

Individually, students will examine the part of the map they have and complete the following tasks:
Describe what they see, what the map tells you about the people who live there and then they will write what they want to know about the area depicted on the map.
Each part of the map has a letter of the alphabet. Students will get up and find the other people who have the same letter on the map as theirs. They will assemble the entire map, sticking the Velcro to a flannel board or felt board. They will then describe what they see, determine what the map tells about the people who live there and then they will write what they want to know about the area depicted on the map.
Students will then go back to their original group and share their findings. Students will take notes on the information shared by each group member.

Day Two

Warm Up:

Think about yesterday’s assignment. What are three things you know about the first voyage of Columbus?

Teacher Directed:

Students will briefly discuss what they learned in day one of this lesson and prepare a group summary. One person in the group will share out with the class.
Teacher will pose several questions:
1. How do you share with your friends the events in your life?
2. How do you think Columbus shared the events of his trip?

We are going to create a travelogue of Columbus’ trip.
Question: How would you define the word travelogue?
The teacher will share examples of travelogues and model the pamphlet making process.

Guided Practice:

2 students from each group will come to get materials for their group. There will be magazines on each table.
Students will create the book.

Independent Practice:

Students will decorate the cover or covers of the travelogue using paint, pencil or collage. They will then complete 5 journal entries describing their experiences.

Assessment:

The completed Travelogue will be the assessment. The final grade will be determined by a journal rubric.

Closure/Reflection:

Thinking back over Columbus and his journey to the New World, respond to the following:
1. Why was Columbus interested in finding a faster way to Asia?
2. How did Columbus react to his “discovery?”
3. How would you describe the first encounter the Europeans had with the Early Americans?