Integrated Early American History
Three Worlds Meet
SS0502
Fifth Grade Social Studies: Integrated Early American History
Unit 2: Three Worlds Meet
Big Picture Graphic
Overarching Question:
How did the interaction of three worlds transform human societies?
Previous Unit:
This Unit:
Our Government
Next Unit:
Three Worlds Meet
Colonization and
Settlement
Questions To Focus Assessment and Instruction:
1. How were the worlds of America, Africa, and Europe alike and different?
2. How and why did the three worlds meet?
3. How did Europeans, American Indians, and Africans view the meeting of their three worlds?
Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
www.micitizenshipcurriculum.org
Page 1 of 11
September 8, 2008
Integrated Early American History
Three Worlds Meet
SS0502
Graphic Organizer
Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
www.micitizenshipcurriculum.org
Page 2 of 11
September 8, 2008
Integrated Early American History
Three Worlds Meet
SS0502
Unit Abstract:
In this unit students study early American History with a focus on the period prior to 15851. Starting
with the art of historical thinking, students review the questions historians ask in examining the past.
After they reconsider the tools historians use (primary and secondary sources, artifacts), they explore
their textbook as a type of secondary source. In doing so, students examine text structures, text
features, and the role of informational text in learning about the past. This unit takes a separate
examination of life in America, Africa, and Europe in order to set the stage for the convergence of
these three worlds in America. In doing so, this approach prepares students to understand the
exchanges and conflicts that resulted from the convergence of three distinct peoples in America.
Accordingly, students begin their study with America, using a geographic lens to identify major
American Indian cultural groups and compare how people living in different geographic regions
adapted to and modified their environments prior to the arrival of Europeans. Students take an indepth examination into the life and culture of Eastern Woodland American Indians. Students then shift
their focus to the continent of Africa. In learning about how people lived in western Africa before the
16th century, students create a foundation for examining how the meeting of the three worlds affected
people from this continent. Next, students turn to Europe as global exploration began. They analyze
the goals, motivations, and developments that made sea exploration possible through case studies of
various explorers. Students explore the convergence of Europeans, American Indians, and Africans
in North America after 1492. In considering the Columbian Exchange, students describe the
widespread movement of plants, animals, foods, communicable diseases, ideas, human populations,
and goods, and how human societies were affected. Finally, students analyze the consequences of
the encounters and exchanges among these three worlds and how people from each continent
viewed the convergence.
Focus Questions
1. How were the worlds of America, Africa, and Europe alike and different?
2. How and why did the three worlds meet?
3. How did Europeans, American Indians, and Africans view the meeting of their three worlds?
Content Expectations
3 - H3.0.1: Identify questions historians ask in examining the past (e.g., What happened? When did
it happen? Who was involved? How and why did it happen?).2
5 – U1.1.1:
Use maps to locate peoples in the desert Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, the nomadic
nations of the Great Plains, and the woodland peoples east of the Mississippi River
(Eastern Woodland).
5 – U1.1.2:
Compare how American Indians in the desert Southwest and the Pacific Northwest
adapted to or modified the environment.
1
Since this unit deals with the time period prior to English settlement, 1585 is used as a reference point because that is
the time of the first English settlement in North America (Roanoke).
2
The portion of this expectation that references “in Michigan” has been omitted for the purposes of this unit.
Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
www.micitizenshipcurriculum.org
Page 3 of 11
September 8, 2008
Integrated Early American History
Three Worlds Meet
SS0502
5 – U1.1.3:
Describe Eastern Woodland American Indian life with respect to governmental and
family structures, trade, and views on property ownership and land use.
5 – U1.2.1:
Explain the technological (e.g., invention of the astrolabe and improved maps), and
political developments, (e.g., rise of nation-states), that made sea exploration possible.
5 – U1.2.2:
Use case studies of individual explorers and stories of life in Europe to compare the
goals, obstacles, motivations, and consequences for European exploration and
colonization of the Americas (e.g., economic, political, cultural, and religious).
5 – U1.3.1:
Use maps to locate the major regions of Africa (northern Africa, western Africa, central
Africa, eastern Africa, southern Africa).
5 – U1.3.2:
Describe the life and cultural development of people living in western Africa before the
16th century with respect to economic (the ways people made a living) and family
structures, and the growth of states, towns, and trade.
5 – U1.4.1:
Describe the convergence of Europeans, American Indians, and Africans in North
America after 1492 from the perspective of these three groups.
5 – U1.4.4:
Describe the Columbian Exchange and its impact on Europeans, American Indians, and
Africans.
Other Content Expectations Addressed3
R.IT.05.02: Identify and describe informational text patterns including compare/contrast,
cause/effect, and problem/solution.
R.IT.05.03:
Explain how authors use text features including timelines, graphs, charts, diagrams,
tables of contents, indices, introductions, summaries, and conclusions to enhance the
understanding of key and supporting ideas.
Key Concepts
cause and effect
chronology
cultural diffusion
culture
Columbian Exchange
exploration
historical thinking
human/environment interaction
informational text
perspective/point of view
region
three worlds
3
This unit intentionally draws upon Elementary ELA, Reading Informational Text (RIT) Expectations as students are
introduced to their history textbooks.
Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
www.micitizenshipcurriculum.org
Page 4 of 11
September 8, 2008
Integrated Early American History
Three Worlds Meet
SS0502
Duration
6 weeks
Lesson Sequence
Lesson 1: Thinking Like a Historian
Lesson 2: Text Features and Text Structures in Social Studies Textbooks
Lesson 3: Comparing Southwest Native Americans and Pacific Northwest Native Americans
Lesson 4: Eastern Woodland Native Americans
Lesson 5: A Brief Look at West Africa
Lesson 6: Reasons for Exploration
Lesson 7: A Case Study of Columbus
Lesson 8: Encounters and Exchanges
Lesson 9: Three Worlds Meet
Assessment
Selected Response Items
Constructed Response Items
Extended Response Items
Performance Assessments
Resources
Equipment/Manipulative
Overhead Projector or Document Camera and Projector
Student Resource
1492: An Ongoing Voyage. Library of Congress. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/1492.exhibit/Intro.html>.
Age of Exploration: Build an Astrolabe. The Mariners’ Museum. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://www.mariner.org/educationalad/ageofex/actv_two_student.php>.
American Indians. Americans.net. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.americanindians.com/>.
Beach, Mark. Indians Discover Columbus ’92 Not to Their Liking. Sunday News, Lancaster.
September 10, 1990. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/BEACH01.ART>.
Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
www.micitizenshipcurriculum.org
Page 5 of 11
September 8, 2008
Integrated Early American History
Three Worlds Meet
SS0502
Berson, Michael J. Horizons: United States History: Beginnings. Orlando: Harcourt School Publishers,
2005. 68-90 (or similar 5th grade Early American History textbook).
deRubertis, Barbara. Columbus Day (Holidays and Heroes Series). NY: Kane Press, 1992.
European Explorers. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/explorer.htm>.
Explorers. Enchanted Learning. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/indexa.shtml>.
Explorers-in-Residence. National Geographic. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/council/eir/index.html>.
Famous Explorers. Kid Info.com. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://www.kidinfo.com/American_History/Explorers.html>.
Fritz, Jean. The World in 1492. NY: Henry Holth & Co., 1992.
Fritz, Jean. Where do You Think You’re Going, Christopher Columbus? NY: Paperstar Books, 1997.
Liestman, Vickie. Columbus Day. NY: Carolrhoda books, 1992.
Native American Cultural Regions Map. U-S-History.com. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.u-shistory.com/natammap.html>.
Native Americans. Americans.net. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.nativeamericans.com/>.
Roop, Peter and Connie. I, Columbus: My Journal 1492-93. New York: Morrow/Avon, 1991.
Scenes from the Eastern Woodlands: A Virtual Tour. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://www.nativetech.org/scenes/>.
Tales of the People Series of Books. National Museum of the American Indian. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://www.nmai.si.edu/subpage.cfm?subpage=shop&second=books>.
The Vikings. The Viking Network Ireland. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.ncte.ie/viking/less2.htm>.
Vikings: the North America Saga. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/>.
Why I Hate Thanksgiving! Rense.com. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.rense.com/general45/thanks2.htm>.
Yolen, Jane. Encounter. NY: Voyager Books, 1996.
Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
www.micitizenshipcurriculum.org
Page 6 of 11
September 8, 2008
Integrated Early American History
Three Worlds Meet
SS0502
Teacher Resource
Africa in the Classroom. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.africa.upenn.edu/K-12/chill.html>.
Drake, James and Palumbo, Joseph. Three Worlds Meet: the Columbian Encounter and Its Legacy.
Los Angeles: National Center for History in the Schools, 1992.
Early African History Unit. Exploring Africa website. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m7a/>.
Exploring Africa. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/>.
A Historical Look at Native Americans Theme Set. Washington, D. C.: National Geographic Society,
2005.
Native Americans: Eastern Woodlands Culture. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.u-shistory.com/pages/h922.html>.
North American Ethnographic Collection. American Museum of Natural History Website. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/databases/north_public/north_public.htm>.
Patent Granted by King Henry VII to John Cabot. Memorial University of Newfoundland. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/1496patent.html>.
Starving Sailors Lesson. The Mariners’ Museum. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://www.mariner.org/educationalad/ageofex/actv_eleven_student.php>.
Teaching Resources on Africa. Columbia University Libraries. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/africa/cuvl/teaching.html>.
Three Worlds Meet. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.mrburnett.net/threeworlds.html>.
Three Worlds Meet: Defining U.S. Lessons. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://chnm.gmu.edu/fairfaxtah/lessons.php?browse=timeperiod&function=find&tpd1=1>.
Three Worlds Meet: Teaching and Learning Resources. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://free.ed.gov/subjects.cfm?subject_id=107&toplvl=157>.
Viola, H. and C. Margolis. Seeds of Change. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Publishing, 1991.
We Are Still Here: Native Americans Today, a series from Lerner Publications Co., 241 First Avenue
North, Minneapolis, MN 55401.
The World in 1507 Map. Library of Congress. American Memory Project 4. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://memory.loc.gov>. (Enter “The World in 1507 Map” in the search area).
Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
www.micitizenshipcurriculum.org
Page 7 of 11
September 8, 2008
Integrated Early American History
Three Worlds Meet
SS0502
The World in 1581 Map. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://memory.loc.gov>. (Enter “The World in 1581 Map” in the
search area).
Resources for Further Professional Knowledge
A Hypertext on American History. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/usa.htm>.
American History Websites. 2 Sept. 2008
<http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/history/hista.html>.
Digital History. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/>.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.gilderlehrman.org/>.
The History Place. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.historyplace.com/>.
History Cooperative. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.historycooperative.org/>.
Making of America. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moagrp/>.
National Council for History Education. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://www.nche.net/>.
National History Education Clearinghouse. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://teachinghistory.org/>.
National History Standards: Era I. 2 Sept. 2008 <http://nchs.ucla.edu/standards/era1-5-12.html>.
Wineburg, Sam. Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts. Philadelphia: Temple University Press,
2001.
Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
www.micitizenshipcurriculum.org
Page 8 of 11
September 8, 2008
Integrated Early American History
Three Worlds Meet
SS0502
Instructional Organization
Lesson 1: Thinking Like a Historian
Content Expectations:
3 - H3.0.1: Identify questions historians ask in examining the past (e.g., What happened? When did
it happen? Who was involved? How and why did it happen?).
Key Concepts: cause and effect, chronology, historical thinking
Lesson 2: Text Features and Text Structures in Social Studies Textbooks
Content Expectations:
R.IT.05.02: Identify and describe informational text patterns including compare/contrast,
cause/effect, and problem/solution.
R.IT.05.03:
Explain how authors use text features including timelines, graphs, charts, diagrams,
tables of contents, indices, introductions, summaries, and conclusions to enhance the
understanding of key and supporting ideas.
Key Concepts: cause and effect, chronology, informational text
Lesson 3: Comparing Southwest Native Americans and Pacific Northwest Native Americans
Content Expectations:
5 – U1.1.1: Use maps to locate peoples in the desert Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, the nomadic
nations of the Great Plains, and the woodland peoples east of the Mississippi River
(Eastern Woodland).
5 – U1.1.2:
Compare how American Indians in the desert Southwest and the Pacific Northwest
adapted to or modified the environment.
Key Concepts: culture, human/environment interaction, region
Lesson 4: Eastern Woodland Native Americans
Content Expectations:
5 – U1.1.3: Describe Eastern Woodland American Indian life with respect to governmental and
family structures, trade, and views on property ownership and land use.
Key Concepts: culture, human/environment interaction, region
Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
www.micitizenshipcurriculum.org
Page 9 of 11
September 8, 2008
Integrated Early American History
Three Worlds Meet
SS0502
Lesson 5: A Brief Look at West Africa
Content Expectations:
5 – U1.3.1: Use maps to locate the major regions of Africa (northern Africa, western Africa, central
Africa, eastern Africa, southern Africa).
5 – U1.3.2:
Describe the life and cultural development of people living in western Africa before the
16th century with respect to economic (the ways people made a living) and family
structures, and the growth of states, towns, and trade.
Key Concepts: culture, region
Lesson 6: Reasons for Exploration
Content Expectations:
5 – U1.2.1: Explain the technological (e.g., invention of the astrolabe and improved maps), and
political developments, (e.g., rise of nation-states), that made sea exploration possible.
Key Concepts: cause and effect, cultural diffusion, culture, exploration
Lesson 7: A Case Study of Columbus
Content Expectations:
5 – U1.2.2: Use case studies of individual explorers and stories of life in Europe to compare the
goals, obstacles, motivations, and consequences for European exploration and
colonization of the Americas (e.g., economic, political, cultural, and religious).
Key Concepts: cause and effect, Columbian Exchange, cultural diffusion, exploration,
perspective/point of view, three worlds
Lesson 8: Encounters and Exchanges
Content Expectations:
5 – U1.4.1: Describe the convergence of Europeans, American Indians, and Africans in North
America after 1492 from the perspective of these three groups.
5 – U1.4.4:
Describe the Columbian Exchange and its impact on Europeans, American Indians, and
Africans.
Key Concepts: cause and effect, cultural diffusion, culture, Columbian Exchange,
human/environment interaction, perspective/point of view, region, three worlds
Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
www.micitizenshipcurriculum.org
Page 10 of 11
September 8, 2008
Integrated Early American History
Three Worlds Meet
SS0502
Lesson 9: Three Worlds Meet
Content Expectations:
5 – U1.4.1: Describe the convergence of Europeans, American Indians, and Africans in North
America after 1492 from the perspective of these three groups.
5 – U1.4.4:
Describe the Columbian Exchange and its impact on Europeans, American Indians, and
Africans.
Key Concepts: cause and effect, chronology, cultural diffusion, culture, Columbian Exchange,
exploration, historical thinking, human/environment interaction, perspective/point of view, region, three
worlds
Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
www.micitizenshipcurriculum.org
Page 11 of 11
September 8, 2008