The Explorers Activity for Fifth Grade addresses the following Standards of the Tennessee State Curriculum:

Social Studies -- History--Grades 3 - 5:

Standard 1: Students will exhibit a knowledge of history identifying and describing major events, people, and trends. To achieve this standard, the learner will:

ü Identify people who lived in the United States prior to exploration and colonization.

ü Explain why explorers came from many nations seeking new routes to the Orient.

ü Distinguish the religious, economic, and political reasons for colonizing North America.

ü Examine the roles and contributions made by African-Americans and other minority groups in American history.

Standard 3: Students will address historical events and trends in order to interpret historical information and put it in the context of past, present, and future. To achieve this standard, the learner will:

ü Evaluate how events in American history have influenced and been influenced by events in other parts of the world.

The following sites have lots of useful information and lesson plans for a Social Studies unit on explorers.

The following resources are the ones listed on the student activity page.

These following books complement a study of explorers:

Pedro's Journal, by Pam Conrad

Around the World in a Hundred Years, by Jean Fritz

Encounter, by Jane Yolen